Odd thing about Myspace's new eco-book, "MySpace/OurPlanet: Change Is Possible": It kicks off with Myspace president Tom Anderson basically declaring the supremacy of the printed word over the web: "I wouldn't be doing this unless I thought it was for something so unbelievably important that it had to be in print," Anderson writes in his foreword.
Is the soy-ink printed, recycled-paper book mightier than the blog? Perhaps, though in Myspace's case, the book's designed to mimic the social networking site, covering a whole lot of topics in a semi-disorganized, but also semi-associative, eclectic, freewheeling fashion.
Published by HarperTeen, "Myspace/Our Planet" clearly aims at a young audience, with advice on greening prom, taking eco-alternative spring breaks, and changing mom and dad. And impressively, the book provides a rather surprisingly informative and engaging perspective on a wide range of environmental topics, despite the web-friendly snippets-and-bullet-points format of the book.
That, of course, makes me think that the book wasn't exactly written "by the Myspace community with Jeca Taudte," as the cover states. More accurately, the book seems to have been written by Taudto, with random pullout quotes from Myspace members sprinkled in. Here's one such brilliant quote included in the book, written by one Lorylicious![[♥rawr]]:
I REALLY HOPE PPL START TO TAKE ACTION ON ALL THE DISASTERS WE ARE CAUSING. GLOBAL WARMING IS GETTING BAD AND NO ONE REALIZES WE NEED MOTIVATIONAL TEAMS TO GET EVERYONE INVOLVE I THINK THERE SHOULD BE MORE RECYCLING, STOP THE WAR BECAUSE WERE ONLY DESTROYING MORE OF OUR WORLD AND LOOSING SOLDIERS THAT HAVE FAMILIES (sic on all spelling, grammar, punctuation errors, and choice to use all caps)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the effort to tie the book in with the social networking site that seems most strained. In the first few pages, readers are advised to employ Myspace as a tool to further their enviro-activism -- by adding eco-organization as one of the "Top 8" friends or using eco-related pics and wallpaper to "make it clear that the earth matters to you" -- actions that seemed so ineffectually small that it actually made me LOL.
But the web activism advice improved as I read on. A chapter tied in personal enviro-activism with larger political activism, for example, also conveniently tying Myspace's Our Planet page with Myspace's Impact Channel. And then the book recommended green blogging "to educate communities and to inspire change." Wait -- that's me!
Maybe I shouldn't have LOL'd so quickly. Serendipitously, I got an "invite" to add Heal the Bay as a "cause" I support -- so I hit "accept." On Facebook.
In about 3 years (2011) Metro hopes to be operating a bus-only lane on Wilshire from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica (about 12.5 miles) during the morning and afternoon rush hours...and it should improve travel times by about 25 percent with a dedicated lane and signal priority. Funding has been recommended in the President's proposed budget and we hope to get additional federal monies next year. Construction could start as early as the 4th quarter of this year.
Three years seems like a really long time, though I'm glad to hear that we at least have a tentative date when the project'll actually come to fruition. The Wilshire bus lane project recently received $5 million in state funding -- though Metro still needs more money to finish the project.
Incidentally, this Metro chat was supposed to be about Metro's new draft Long Range Transportation Plan and ways to fund traffic relief -- though as has been the case with all the other chats, the questions were mostly random inquiries -- or complaints -- people had about transportation issues in L.A.
Still, Metro's ramping up its efforts to get the public -- especially the public on the web -- engaged with the Long Range Transportation Plan. Yesterday, Metro launched a new "Imagine" site that collects the plan's "story," the full draft of the plan, ways to contact Metro about the plan, and information about public meetings on an easy-to-navigate site, hopefully making it easier for Angelenos to get involved.
The "Imagine" site's even got a blog. So far, there's just one post -- penned not by an individual but by "Metro" -- that's basically an excerpt of the Plan's stated goal. Will the blog be as impersonal and canned as the previous Metro chats have been? 23 eager comments on that bland first post seem to show that the public hopes otherwise --
How do you get people involved in big issues that are enormously important but also dauntingly huge in scope -- and seemingly very removed from the realities of the people you're trying to reach? You've probably heard about how many people around the world don't have access to clean drinking water. But in our own bottled-water lives, this faraway problem is usually very much out of sight -- and often out of mind.
WaterPartners International, a nonprofit that provides safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries, is trying to bring the water issue closer to home -- or more accurately, the computer. Can't (or don't want to) travel to see the global water crisis first-hand? Then just have your Second Life avatar walk over to the WaterPartners Village to see it in a simulated digital world. Here's a clip of what that Second Life visit might look like:
Why use the fictional world of Second Life to raise awareness about this real-world issue? "What we were really trying to do was touch people at a deeper level and allow them to interact with what the characters and with the issue in a way that's really not possible otherwise," says Steve Byers, director of development and communication for WaterPartners. "We can't physically take people to these villages, and ... even when you're there physically, there are still some psychological barriers. Its sort of uncomfortable to go into someone's dwelling place, for example. Whereas in this virtual world, we can break down those barriers in a more comfortable way."
Second Life is just one venue by which WaterPartners is trying to bring this issue into the mainstream. Facebook Flickr, Myspace, and YouTube also have a WaterPartners Village presence, thanks to three avatars -- Dahney from Ethiopia, Miguel from Honduras, and Araja from India -- each with their own profiles and regularly-updated blogs. No, the avatars are not modeled after actual people. "From the philosophical standpoint, they're conveying truth through the art of storytelling," Byers says."
Will this e-foray prove successful in bringing attention to the global water crisis? Byers hopes so, noting that this WaterPartners Village is primarily an awareness-building campaign. "If people who have a Myspace page or a Facebook page, if they would link to this, that would be a step.... We hope that will expand our network."
The campaign's clearly aimed at people younger than me -- Araja, the oldest WaterPartners Village avatar, is just 22 -- so although I'm not particularly compelled to make Araja my Myspace "friend," maybe younger would-be social activists will get into their blog storylines. What do you think?
WaterPartners Village is even planning a World Water Day concert in Second Life, starting 5 pm Pacific time on March 22. Unfortunately, I tried Second Life a couple times, but couldn't get into it -- and finally deleted the program from my computer during my effort to speed up my computer a few days ago. If your avatar decides to go rock out, please report back and let me know if I should give Second Life another chance --
How's this for fame in the enviro-world: a shot of your crotch, cropped and framed for all to ogle on the popular eco-blog Treehugger.
I ask because my friend Summer's crotch graces the top right corner of Treehugger's fashion+beauty page right now.
How did this happen? Summer runs an eco-boutique called BTC Elements, and she models some of the clothes for it herself, her store basically being a one-woman shop and all. Back in the summer, she modeled one of the bikinis sold on her boutique.
One day, that photo -- cropped to highlight just the crotch -- started showing up on Treehugger's site. "Fashionista?" It asked. Crotch clickers were quickly delivered to Treehugger's fashion page.
The original bikini shot is no longer on the BTC Elements site, because winter is not a great time to be selling swimwear. But below is a pic of Summer taken during the same photo shoot, this time modeling a basket.
Of course, Treehugger -- recently bought by Discovery Channel -- surely has the money to pay for the photo. After all, Summer paid a photographer for that shoot. The big green site would rather freeload, though, it seems....
Before switching hosts, look for one that 1) has a solid reputation or a reliable recommendation -- just as with conventional hosts, some green hosts are better than others (I highly recommend AISO.net, but had horrible experiences with Sustainable Websites) -- and 2) is actually powered by renewable energy. Some hosts simply buy offsets and call themselves green -- and switching to one of those isn't significantly different from just staying with your current host and buying your own offsets.
Buying offsets has become an increasingly controversial and murky issue; here's a primer on the good, bad, and confusing nature of offsets.
2. Get CO2Stats. This small, free widget measures -- and offsets -- the carbon emissions created by the total electricity usage of your readers' computers while they're on your site.
Two PhD students developed this app, and they're paying out-of-pocket to offset the carbon emissions of CO2Stats widget users through Sustainable Travel International. Again, the controversies surrounding offsets apply, but at the very least, CO2Stats highlights the fact that Internet surfing does come at a cost to the environment.
All you have to do is grab the free code and put it on your sidebar. My one complaint is that the widget isn't very self-explanatory; looking at it, it's difficult to tell what exactly makes the user's site "green" or what is being offset. But the guys say they're looking at adding "a small MouseOver popup of explanatory text that elaborates on our calculation methods to the widget."
Do you know anyone in the Portland area with a blog like yours that includes a calendar? Thanks! Jamie
I decided to start a green lifestyle blog for the residents in D.C. I decided on a variation of Green Hill Girl or Green DC Girl. And then I came across your website and realized how similar the name would sound. As a courtesy, I am writing to ask if you would be okay with me having a blog with a name so similar to yours. Juli
I was thinking of floating this idea by you of me starting a blog called greenbostonboy or something when I move back in the fall to provide the resources you do to Bostonians.... I don't know if you have thought about franchising that s*** or not.... Jordan
Answer: Start writing your green blog already! Yes, be green Portland girl, green DC girl, green Boston boy -- and the like.
I started green LA girl a couple of years ago (before I started blogging at Emerald City), and get e-mails on about a weekly basis either asking me if I know a blog "just like green LA girl" but in their city -- and / or asking me if they can use a variation on green LA girl.
My answer is always "No" and "Do it!" respectively.
Eco blogs are popping up all over the place, but few of them focus on a specific city, and none -- as far as I know -- sport a local green calendar. Yet everyone wants local eco info!
Why do people want local enviro blogs? Because most of the eco advice and info we get is so abstract. Don't put electronics into the landfill, we're told. It'll leach chemicals! But where exactly CAN we dispose of it properly?
The answer to that is much harder to find. And a local blog is usually the easiest way to get that info. However, as far as I know, no one has as of yet created a green [insert place] [boy/girl] blog after writing about one. Why the hesitance, I have no idea.
Maybe to encourage this, I should put together a list of locally focused enviro blogs that really make going green easier for people specifically living in that place. That way, I'll have something to refer to any time I'm asked these questions again. Anyone have recommendations for this list?
Hello again! I say again because while Emerald City officially launched today, I've been blogging here for a couple of weeks already -- and said, "Hello and see you at Green Drinks" in my initial post, which is now sort of buried.
So read it now, along with all the other fun stuff from the last couple of weeks. Already, topics are clustered around predictable subjects:
Other features: Emerald City calendar will detail green events happening around town; a link to it's on the right sidebar, below my bio. And, yes, Emerald City has an RSS feed, though auto-discovery doesn't seem to be working yet --
As a teenager, Siel sped past Paramount Studios on the 10 Metro bus to get to Fairfax High School. Now she cuts through the concrete jungle of Los Angeles on her pink Townie bike to shop at local farmers' markets and socialize in pre-loved Prada heels. A contributing editor to BlogHer, Siel also keeps a personal blog, green LA girl. Send your burning green questions to greenlagirl@gmail.com.
Odd thing about Myspace's new eco-book, "MySpace/OurPlanet: Change Is Possible": It kicks off with Myspace president Tom Anderson basically declaring the supremacy of the printed word over the web: "I wouldn't be doing this unless I thought it was for something so unbelievably important that it had to be in print," Anderson writes in his foreword.
Emerald City calendar