to mean “take over some land”—but you can’t argue with these benign outlaws’ goal of making otherwise wasted space both useful and pleasing on the eye (guerrillagardening.org).


Guerrilla Gardening


I


f Banksy had taken his cue from legendary gardener


Percy Thrower, he might have ended up joining this band of civic mavericks, who seek out and cultivate neglected land in our cities. Members spot a section of “orphan” land and post a photo of it online; then they invite like-minded locals to come along on a specific date, armed with seeds and basic tools, and do their bit to rejuvenate the urban landscape. Some of the group’s vocabulary is a little dubious—groups of activists are referred to as “cells”, and “squat” is used


T


The Sea Shepherds


he Sea Shepherds, the scourge of Japanese whaling fleets, were founded in 1977 by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson. Their objective is to uphold international conservation law— by filming illegal fishing ac- tivities, for example—from their two vessels, the Bob Barker and MV Steve Irwin (the croc hunter died just weeks before he was due to join the ship on an An- tarctic expedition). Critics, however, would question the legality of the group’s methods: they’ve included sabotage and hurling


Brine and punishment: the Sea Shepherds protect marine life


bottles of foul-stinking butyric acid at their adver- saries (+1360-370-5650; seashepherd.org).


Coastal Drive A


lthough designed as an urban vehicle,


the four-seater Mega City Electric Car’s range of 50 miles on a full battery


means it could be used to do a town-to-town hop, mostly along the 2,748 miles of British coastline. Making this a less prepos- terous plan than it sounds, the Mega City has been out for two years, so it’s about to hit the second-hand market. OK, so the B&B bill is going to be fairly hefty— but the notion that you can circumnavigate Britain for about £40-worth of elec- tricity (around 1.5 pence a mile) without emitting any CO2 is enticing (nicecar- company.co.uk).


5 Segway Racing I


f stag parties were eco-savvy, this would be a worthy alternative


COURTESY OF SEASHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY


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