Friends and co-founders, Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley, created the site to educate on and demonstrate the myriad of little, easy things we can all do to make a big overall difference. And they’ve orchestrated an equally impressive set of green communication tactics to engage the masses.

Here are just seven that caught my eye:

1. Daily email tips on what you can do in five minutes
2. Robust website that offers events and activities specific to your city (9th Annual Strong Beer Festival in Phoenix) with an area to post your own events
3. A new book, “New Day Revolution, How to Save the World in 24 Hours” with more than 100 quick read tips
4. Links to other great green messaging causes like “A Pledge for a Song,” where you can download a free tune from Missy Higgins when you pledge to reduce your carbon usage by just two percent. See below for the 10 easy ways to do just that.
5. A library of searchable articles
6. Facebook and other social media venues
7. And of course, YouTube

Sam and Stephen have done an excellent job of making their easy environmental tips as accessible to the public as possible. I leaned about them in a Homestyles magazine (my wife’s an interior designer), so their P.R. machine isn’t bad either. I hope they’re on the front end of a trend to make green marketing and messaging, and the environmental lifestyle tips at its core, as easy, accessible and digestible as possible for the mainstream.

Hey, they got my attention with beer and music.

Ten Quick and Easy Ways to decrease your Carbon Output this year:

1. Drive smarter – keep your tires properly inflated, go the speed limit, drive less and walk more!
2. Buy local and organic – the average American meal travels 1,500 miles from the farm to the plate. Be more conscious of where your food comes from and you can pollute less at dinner time.
3. Call your electric company and switch over to green power! Most utility companies offer renewable energy options for just a few dollars more a month.
4. Replace incandescent light bulbs w/compact fluorescent bulbs. Compact fluorescents produce the same amount of light as normal bulbs, but use about a quarter of the electricity and last ten times as long!
5. Save energy at home! Caulk and weather strip doorways and windows. Keep your thermostat a few degrees higher in the Summer, and a few degrees lower in the Winter. It makes a big difference!
6. Get shower smart. Install low-flow showerheads and faucets and turn your hot water heater down to 120 degrees F to see hot water costs go down by as much as 50%!
7. Replace electronics and appliances with energy efficient models. Look for the Energy Star label when purchasing.
8. Plant a tree! Planting shade tress around your house will absorb CO2 and slash your Summer air-conditioning bills.
9. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Recycling paper, glass and metal saves 70-90% of the energy used to produce new materials while keeping more waste out of landfills. Buy purchasing used clothes and furniture you save the environment from the effects of all of the energy that would have been used to create those same products if they were brand new!
10. Mount a local campaign against global warming and participate at the national, state and local level. Click here for details.

Do you have a tip to add to the list? If so, comment below and feel free to Tweet away!

Let’s face it, none of us in conservation has the marketing budget of Budweiser.  Sure, beer is more fun than water.  But if you had your druthers on a desert island, which would you choose for survival?  Most of us would presumably choose water, unless of course you’re not long for this world and you want to go out like Homer Simpson.

In the “highly romantic,” and mostly underfunded, business of water conservation, we typically get one or two shots at our target markets with our messages.  All while competing in that mass shooting gallery of advertising.  So not only do we have to be great shots, we have to be smart.  That’s where environmental triggers come in.

Brothers Dan & Chip Heath, educators and “idea collectors,” wrote an incredible book on messaging called, “Made to Stick.”  This is an absolute must read for anyone in the business of persuasion – and let’s face it, we’re all in that business in one way or another.  The Heaths are also regular contributors to Fast Company magazine where I came across their article about environmental triggers.

It’s gratifying to note that, several years prior to their book, article and blog, the Water – Use It Wisely campaign was built solely on environmental triggers.  The creative came from an intuitive solution to how to make our message resonate in the every day habits of our water-using customers.  That means everyone.

The whole concept is based around unexpected, but highly effective water-saving devices. Like a toothbrush, for instance. It is a physical prompt that reminds you to turn off the water while you brush your teeth (a razor does the same for shaving). Another example is water-saving device #15, a broom. It begs the question, “How can a broom save me water?”  The answer, of course, is to use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway or sidewalk and save at least 80 gallons every time. We make your broom an environmental trigger; a tangible extension of our message that triggers conscious actions toward saving water every time you use it.

The campaign is all about presenting these “water-saving devices,” each with it’s own number to emphasize the main campaign theme: “There are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you.” You, of course, being water-saving device #1.

In our on-going effort to give voice to water – YOUR voice, and to make your life easier in finding and activating relevant information on ways to produce effective messaging, we highly recommend the Made to Stick blog.

If you’re using triggers in your messaging, or you have seen a great example of them in another campaign, please share it with the water world by commenting below.