He might have gripped the world's conscience with An Inconvenient Truth but even Al Gore struggles when it comes to getting people excited about dry phrases such as sustainable development.

But, with the help of key figures such as Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the chairman of Shell UK and the policy adviser for Lambeth Palace - he is doing just that.

Determined to get us all talking about the environment, the one-time vice-president of the United States has enlisted the help of 200 of the UK's "leading individuals", along with some of the world's most respected climate scientists to launch The Climate Project in the UK.

Using a Power Point presentation, made famous in his Oscar-winning documentary, Gore led the group in an intense seminar about the science behind global warming and brainstormed emission-reducing tactics in order to equip people with the contacts, knowledge and motivation to go forth and greenify.

This training session took place at Cambridge University on Monday and Tuesday of last week. Those participating were chosen for their ability to make big changes happen in big places.

One delegate was Sue Riddlestone, the executive director and co-founder of BioRegional, one half of Bio- Regional Quintain, the company spearheading the planet-friendly section of the housing development in the New England Quarter behind Brighton Station.

She now plans to follow up many of the contacts she made on the course, saying it offered her motivation and energy for her work.

She says: "Al Gore's lecture, with all those pictures of our beautiful planet, melting ice, storms, droughts and human suffering, connects at a physical level and reminds you just how precious and unique our world is and how close we are to losing everything."

Gore brings to the programme a particular talent which is summed up by Caroline Lucas, green MEP for the South-East region, who also attended. She says: "Al Gore is able, perhaps better than anyone else, to describe the true horrors of climate change while delivering an uplifting message about how we can act to prevent its worst impacts."

Sue says: "I admire him. He is a man on a mission and I think it's great he has dedicated his considerable talents as a communicator to galvanise some very powerful people, to treat climate change as the planetary emergency it is."

Even though she is naturally optimistic for the future, Sue says the course gave her hope "because there are so many good and clever people on the case".

So what does a post-climate change future hold?

Dr Jim Watson, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Sussex, has worked closely with Gore's Climate Project. He says: "I don't think we would see some kind of simple life, as the deep greens would have us believe. We'll be using lots of interesting technologies and have different habits. There are so many ways we could meet our targets and so many futures. The world will be very different - but not necessarily in a bad way."

Sue's vision is somewhat more idyllic, with less noise and dirt - and more fresh air because there would be no more cars with internal combustion engines, just electric cars to hire by the hour and plenty of public transport. People would be healthier and happier, with a much greater sense of community as we work and shop locally. Meat and fish would be a treat, not a daily occurrence, and waste would be eliminated through re-use, repair and recycling.

She says: "There would be no more wars over oil or fighting over resources. Our gross domestic product would probably go down but our gross domestic happiness would go up. There are so many opportunities. If that's what we want - and I know I do - we don't have long to put it in place and we have to make it a real priority in our lives."

The Climate Project is a not-forprofit group which has already run courses for thousands of people in the United States and Australia. Its philosophy is based on the old adage "a problem shared is a problem halved".

They say it best themselves: "You can help simply by talking about it. Inform your friends and family, encourage your work, school, or church to reduce its emissions and vote for candidates who support environmental initiatives."