1. Fly-on-the-Wall: By searching appropriate keywords on Twitter, (“green advertising”, sustainability, “environmental marketing”) and then following the conversations, I can better understand the thinking and trends in the industry. I also capture quick links to relevant websites and articles, and learn what like-minded eco-conscious Tweeple are looking for. This way I know how and, more importantly, IF I can help. Plus, it helps me define the green community I want to engage.
2. Cheerleader: Blogging gives me the forum to applaud the best green marketing practices, (Like the Kohler toilet promotion) at least as I see them, and share those insights. GreenRaising.com is another good example.
3. Encourager: Social media gives me the voice to invite great companies to do better with their green initiatives, like Telluride Ski Resort’s modest participation in SkiGreen.
4. Boo-Hisser: I can also call out those greenwashers of the world: The “Clean Burning Coal” industry comes to mind, or StopNestleWater.org.
5. Advocate: Social media allows us to also become advocates for those in bureaucracies. Large government organizations often have important conversations they need to have with their constituents but can’t use social media due to policy. Water conservation is a good example, where towns and cities partnering in the Water – Use It Wisely campaign can’t always engage in social media. So the campaign’s website, that we manage, does it for them.
6. Utility Infielder: SM isn’t only about commentary. Being a resource for identifying and sharing cool websites like Coke’s LivePositively.com, linking to great causes like Brighter Planet and featuring their badge on my blog (look to the right), or offering useful downloads like the Earth Hour to Earth Day calendar for the easy things you can do in five minutes or less to save the planet.
7. Pollster: Where else can you administer a FREE poll and get solid, relevant information from around the world? (Take a second and vote on your favorite green website.)
8. Organizer: With free programs like TinyChat.com, you can easily gather your world and host a conversation on the green and sustainable topic of your choosing, inviting in experts, followers, clients and interested parties.
9. Connector: Sean Daily of GreenLivingIdeas.com uses social media to connect eco-conscious writers and help them promote their work through podcasts and social networks. Sam Davidson of CoolPeopleCare.org connects with their followers daily with simple things you can do in five minutes or less to save the world. I use it to connect folks like these with you.
10. Educator: Webinars are your digital pulpit to help educate and train participants about your work in sustainability. Once produced, your presentation can be re-purposed through a blog, as a free eBook, and with slideshare, to name a few. I have recently posted my webinar, “How to Reduce your Carbon & Hype Footprints” which was part of the iGreen Virtual Conference.
11. Enabler: Barack Obama’s campaign demonstrated that social media is one of the greatest enabling tools of all time. Take a page from his playbook and build community around your environmental mission, green cause, eco-conscious rants, or global warming march. You don’t even need a worldclass strategist and/or web designer.  You can start on Ning.
12. Individual: Is mass media dead? Probably not. But more now than ever the individual consumer is in control. As David Ogilvy once said, “Word-of-mouth marketing is THE most powerful form of advertising.” As a marketer of sustainable, green, and eco-conscious people, products and/or programs, consider yourself blessed to have such a powerful, far-reaching and empowering medium at your finger trips…for free.  There’s something or someone bigger than us all out there, and he/she may have endowed us all with social media as THE tool that saves this planet.

What’s your 13?

If you would like to follow the tweet string from the Wisconsin MBAs, search #bizpitch. Thank you Melissa for this terrific opportunity to work with your students.

Cheers!

You can start by signing up for Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge on Twitter for your daily tip.

For each of the 26 days, take five minutes to do one of the following:

1. Turn off ALL lights on Friday when you leave for Saturday’s Earth Hour.
2. On Sunday, make five minutes to take your lunch to work.
3. On Monday, change out one old fashion light bulb to a compact flourescent lighting (CFL) and encourage your staff to do the same.
4. Take five to learn how to control heating and cooling costs.
5. Calculate your monthly commute cost.
6. Promote carpooling through easy online sources like erideShare.com., and with companies in your area like RideShare.com.
   
7. Give up your car and telecommute one day a week during the EH2ED Challenge and see how it goes.
8. If you have to drive, learn how to increase your gas mileage, whether you own a hybrid or not.
9. Tricks and tips for biking to work. This site is pretty good, too. Or the book.
10. Purchasing always loves to hear from you. So forward this site and encourage them to buy greener office products.
11. Opt out of receiving wasteful yellow and white pages printed phone directories.
12. Take five minutes to learn about zero-waste offices. Actually becoming one usually takes a little longer.
13. Pick-up a desk-side recycling bin.
14. Paper comprises up to 40% of the municipal waste stream, so take a minute to learn how you can start a paper recycling program.
15. Give your dead mouse a proper burial. Reduce, reuse and/or recycle old computers and other electronics.
16. Take a second to learn how to recycle printer cartridges.
17. Every company needs to print something, sometime. So start by making a list of green printing companies in your area and then use one.
18. Take five minutes to learn how carbon offsetting works so that you can apply it in your office.
19. Whew, take a five minute break and play “Tip Tank” water conservation concentration game.
20. Locate a green web hosting company to host your Earth-friendly site.
21. Use your blog or website to offset 350 pounds of carbon by placing the Brighter Planet badge on your site.
22. Make your website carbon neutral with a click of your mouse (and a small monthly fee).
23. Wake up five minutes earlier every morning and put that time to use for a green project or thought.
24. Sign up for CoolPeopleCare.org’s daily email on easy things you can do to help the planet five minutes at a time.
25. Donate/recycle your office furniture and computers to Goodwill.
26. Go green with your gifts to employees, colleagues, clients and vendors?

What are you going to do at the office to make a difference for the Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge? Please let me know by commenting below and/or sending me and your followers an email or tweet.

CoolPeopleCare.org demonstrates easy ways you can save the world in five minutes or less.

BestGreenBlogs.com is the web’s largest directory of green and sustainable themed weblogs.

Ecopreneurist.com is part of Green Options Media, a network of environmentally-focused blogs covering a broad spectrum of information for making sustainable choices.

LazyEnvironmentalist.com offers easy, stylish and super convenient ways to green your lifestyle

RealClimate.org is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.

TreeHugger.com Owned by Discovery, this site is a media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.

Grist.org where news about green issues and sustainable living isn’t predictable, demoralizing, or dull.

GreenLivingIdeas.com provides ideas, tips, and information to help you improve the environmental sustainability of every aspect of your life: home energy, green building and remodeling, cars, food, waste recycling—and everything in between.

DoTheGreenThing.com is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life, with the help of brilliant videos and inspiring stories etc. from creative people and community members around the world.

EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.

Celsias.com offers tools to help people combat climate change, and bring the green community, companies and organisations closer together.

TheNaturalStep.org is a non profit organization founded with the vision of creating a sustainable society.

TinyChoices.com is a colorful blog about all things green.

Conservation.org has a mission to conserve the Earth’s living heritage – our global biodiversity – and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.

ExperienceBiOH.com Brought to you by the BiOH polyols business — a maker of soy-based ingredients for foam, The BiOH experience offers resources for you to learn and participate in helping communities and the environment.

TwilightEarth.com is dedicated to saving the the environment through schared news, deiscuss, advocacy and activism.

MoreEco.com offers a single entry point to some of the finest green online retailers whilst rewarding you for your ethical shopping habits and helping to reduce your carbon footprint.

EcoTrendSpotter.com provides readers and shoppers with the latest eco, organic, green products.

RecycleFund.com A site dedicated to easy and earth-friendly fundraising for your organization by recycling empty printer cartridges and cell phones.

HyperLocavore.ning.com Join hyperlocavore to find or start a yardshare in your town. CSAs and community gardens fill up fast. Food is expensive! Grow together!

Inhabit.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Green.com is a unique online world where people can safely gather, learn, and interact with each other.

Please feel free to share this poll with everyone you know to drive votes for your favorite green website.

Don and Gary have a rich history in animation dating back to many well known Disney films. Over the years they have produced a total of 12 films, including:The Secret of Nimh, Thumbelina, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Anastasia. It was thrilling to partner with such esteemed talent, and bring their experience to the Water-Use It Wisely cause.

Let us know what you think of the spot by commenting below. To view other Water – Use It Wisely TV spots, visit the campaign’s YouTube channel.

My Top 10 Favorite Tips:

1. Wake up earlier: Since I wake up at 4:59 a.m. practically every day, this one resonates with me. I get more meaningful things done between 5:23 and 7:19 a.m. than practically any other time during the day. They point out that getting up a few minutes earlier every day buys you as many as 50 extra hours per year. Just think of what you can do with 50 extra hours.
2. What’s that lever for? Personal pet peeve: Use your friggin’ blinker and relieve some stress in those drivers around you. Your blinker is the only human element on your car. It’s kind, considerate, and courteous, and it says, “Excuse me, pardon me, I’d love to get over, thank you very much.”
3. Trick your plate: The next time you renew your license plate, sign-up for a plate that supports a cause. You’ll be a rolling brand evangelist and your cause will raise some money.
4. Digital donations: We spend one-third of our lives at the office, so naturally it’s an environment where we can make a big impact. Start by donating those old computers, printers, cells phones and other electronics to schools and charities.
5. Personalize the mug: More than 44 billion paper cups are used each year for hot drinks. So pal around with your own coffee or tea mug and use and reuse it.
6. Just click it: *Sam and Stephen prove in their book that that you don’t have to do much to end up doing a lot. For example, they point to the Animal Rescue Site that enables you to provide a half a bowl of food to a needy pet with a simple click of your mouse.
7. Get fresh: Frozen food requires 10-times more energy to produce than fresh food. Chew on that for a bit.
8. Take the bag back: 500 billion plastic grocery bags are consumed worldwide annually. So either use canvas (some prefer hemp) shopping bags, or re-use your existing paper and plastic.
9. Change the bulb: If every American household changed their five most-used light fixtures to energy-saving incandescent bulbs, it’d be like taking 8,000,000 cars off the road saving $6,000,000,000 in energy costs. That’s a lot of 0′s!
10. An email a day helps keep global warming away: Ok, so I wrote that one. You can’t blame Sam and Stephen.  Fact is, though, I subscribe to their daily email on the handful of simple things that I can do, and the cool events happening on and offline around the country to help me save the planet five minutes at a time. I highly recommend it.

What tips can you add to the list to help save the planet in under five minutes? And don’t forget to get your own copy of New Day Revolution.

Plug Out Boy feat. Green Monday from Green Thing on Vimeo.

You can subscribe to DoTheGreenThing.com by clicking here: subscribe@dothegreenthing.com. Their emails are always fun, and the creative that comes with them is immensely inspirational.

Youth Noise, a social networking site for people under the age of 27 who like to connect based on deeper interests than Paris Hilton’s wardrobe and want to get engaged within a cause, just hosted it’s inaugural DROP Water Summit at Parsons New School for Design in New York. The November 15 summit convened youth environmentalists, social entrepreneurs, innovative leaders, and revolutionary thinkers to discuss water issues and develop projects around global water challenges. Check out the event photos

Here are the rules he’s been living by:

The Rules

1. If something is waste that I have generated, I’ve got to deal with it. If I buy something for myself, the packaging is mine to deal with. Hopefully this will entail figuring out what it is made of, what would happen to it if it were “thrown away” and what I will be doing with it.

2. Any waste that I generate that can be recycled, will also be saved. Recycling is better than “throwing away” but it still takes energy and creates waste so I think accounting for recycling will be an important factor.

3. Any waste, which for health reasons (dog poop, medical waste from doctors visits, etc.) cannot be saved, will at least be noted and examined regarding the impact of its creation and disposal.

4. Food preparation has been something that I have been struggling with as I have a wife and two daughters who are not undertaking this experiment. Since food will be prepared for the family at times, I’ll have to figure out how to account for this and will be as honest as I can be in my accounting as I go along. In order to make up for any possible discrepancy in this area, I have decided that when out with my daughters, I will be responsible for any waste they generate as well.

5. Finally, I know there will be gray areas that I haven’t thought of, and some of this will have to morph as I go along. That said, I think the golden rule is going to be “when in doubt, it’s my responsibility to deal with”.

Ok, so maybe we’re not ready to tackle our 365 days worth of trash this year. So how about a One Week Trash Challenge?

Can you sustain that?

Happy New Year!

• The Story of Stuff is user-friendly: This is an entertaining jaunt through the five stages of product consumption, including extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal with tangible examples in every chapter.
• It’s believable: Annie talks about the process in a very friendly, matter-of-fact way that is impactful, because instead of ranting, she’s educating.
• It is efficient in its storytelling: The simple animations are fun and clever as they accentuate her points without being overproduced. The creative style further supports the central message of the video: “Conscious consumption.”
• It’s universal: The video doesn’t solely rely on its narration to deliver the story.  The visuals tell a powerful story in their own right, which makes the piece more accessible to non-English speaking audiences. Demonstrating its global appeal, The Story of Stuff has been translated in 11 languages, which can be downloaded from Annie’s new international website.
• Evangelist distribution: Annie has made it easy for anyone to promote and distribute her movie with free banner ads, posters, movie trailers, and the movie itself. She even educates you on how to host a screening.
• The Story of Stuff Blog: And of course, Annie has a blog to keep all of her followers up to speed on new stuff about stuff.

It’s a brilliant production backed by a brilliant use of rich, online media to activate the word-of-mouth buzz of person-to-person interaction.  That’s how you get nearly 5 million hits to your green video on sustainability.  See for yourself.

Does anybody really get the term “carbon footprint?”  I know I’m a resource-consuming, carbon-spewing organism on this planet, but making me aware of my carbon tonnage, in the words of the famous robot from Lost In Space, “Does not compute.”

That’s just one example of the problem with green marketing.  It’s too distant, intangible, confusing and filled with empty promises.  And sometimes a little creepy, like Dr. Smith.

It’s enough to make you want to blog. I’ve spent 15 years in the green marketing business and I’m not crazy about where it’s headed. Green is losing its luster because:

1. Corporations toss it around like a buzzword without backing it up.
2. Marketers either weigh too heavily on “soft, feel good” messaging or harsh scare tactics.
3. Engineers and bureaucrats make it too esoteric for us commoners to relate to. Carbon calculators do the math for us, but give me a backdrop or reference point to what those numbers really mean.

Let me ask you, by creating this blog, what does it cost the earth and what’s my impact on you relative to my carbon footprint? Environmental marketing and messaging can be so intangible.

Corona has a ball selling beer. It’s one of the most distinctive consumer brands out there.  Why can’t we have as much fun encouraging consumers to rethink their environmental habits.  Why do corporations have to sound like corporations when they’re trumpeting green causes?  Is it really so hard to make environmental messaging human?

These are the kinds of questions and subjects I will be exploring in my new blog. I’m a typical ADHD entrepreneur.  So to keep it simple and focused for me, and hopefully for you, I have five categories for my deeper-shade-of-green blog.

Consuming Green Stuff is a look at the environmental marketing consumers are being fed, and what is actually resonating with them.

Corporate Enviro Causes will be a collection of best (and worst) environmental messaging practices. I’ll be looking at companies large and small and commenting on how they walk their green talk.

Green Marketing focuses on the growing trend of creating environmental messaging that’s more tangible and consumer-friendly. IBM, for example, has done a nice job in this area, combining cold, blue capitalism with warm, friendly green in their current Disneyesque campaign.

Happy H Wisdom are articles about my background and the influences that guide this blog, starting with my formative years as a kid growing up on the “Happy H” in Woodinville, WA., my folk’s 12-acre spread just above the beautiful Sammamish Valley.

And finally…

My Social Media Odyssey, where I will document and archive my learnin’s, using social media as a tool to promote smart green messaging.

So welcome, and please feel free to comment and share. Who knows, maybe I’ll even offer some carbon credits to offset your time on line.

Cheers!