Hang on a minute - Dave cycles to work, Gordon’s got solar panels at home, and the Lib Dems have stuck a wind turbine on the Town hall roof…isn’t everyone green these days?

err… well no, actually. Being “Green” means a lot more than finding lower-carbon ways of simply carrying on the way we have been doing. Put it this way - you get hit by a 4×4 barrelling down Highbury Park at 30mph, and you’re not going to care much if it was running on biodiesel, are you?

The Green Party is about turning the conventional orthodoxy for running our economy and our society, on its head. We believe that basing both around churning out ever cheaper goods and constantly encouraging people to spend more on them has not only imperilled the existence of our planet, but made us all bloody miserable in the process. We believe that economics should be run for people, not products, and that a truly successful society should not judge itself on how cheaply or quickly it can produce goods and services, how many hours its members work, or how much foreign investment blows in. A truly successful society looks at how healthy and fulfilled its people are, and how far it is at peace with the rest of the world.

Look around you - Britain..the most successful economy in Europe, they tell us. But you know different - everything from street crime to the quality of the air we breathe, from children’s health to the state of public transport, from the housing waiting lists to declining educational standards, tells you it’s a society in deep trouble.

We can’t carry on like this, and we don’t have to. Being Green is about making that step.