The Gaiam Community site is a great resource for information on not only green living, but also health and wellness, mind-body fitness, and even spirituality. The site contains articles, discussion forums, and videos, but no blog… at least, no blog yet.
In October, Gaiam Community will launch it’s blog, and, judging from their plans, it will quickly attain the status of a "must-read." They’ve already lined up yoga guru Rodney Yee, and Gaiam Real Goods founder John Schaeffer to write for it. In fact, the only thing they don’t have is a name. Rather than hand that task over to the marketing department, they’ve decided to hold a contest.
The "Name Our Blog" contest will end on September 16th, so start thinking quickly. They’re looking for a name that "will encompass the spirit of all the subjects we cover here in the Gaiam Community — and be clever and unique too!" The winning entrant will receive a $250 Gaiam.com gift certificate; five runners up will receive $50 gift certificates.
We’re happy to give the Gaiam Community a plug, and encourage you to enter the contest. And we’re looking forward to the blog itself…
As many of you know, Green Options is not my first foray into the world of green blogging: I started sustainablog in 2003, and have written for Treehugger for about 14 months. Since Green Options launched, I've had to curtail my blogging a bit — I cut back on my Treehugger schedule, and put sustainable on hiatus at the end of May.
Things change, though, and during a recent discussion with TH founder Graham Hill about the direction and success of Green Options, we decided that it was a good time for me to "call it a day" as a TH contributor. I've got nothing but respect and admiration for the folks at Treehugger, and thoroughly enjoyed my time writing for them. But, it is time to move on… I've got plenty to handle here!
At the same time, a blogger blogs… and I'm definitely a blogger at heart. So, I've decided that the split from Treehugger means it's a good time to get sustainablog going again. I also looked at the calendar and realized that tomorrow, July 10th, is sustainablog's fourth anniversary. So, to celebrate that anniversary, I'm relaunching sustainablog. While I should probably wait until tomorrow, I'm just too excited… my baby comes out of hiatus tonight.
Please come by, say "Hi," and let me know what you think. I'll keep my writing at sustainablog largely separate from the work I do here — maybe an occasional cross post, but, otherwise, I won't be "GO's Senior Editor and Content Director" there. Rather, I'll go back to where I started: a passionate student of and advocate for sustainability in all of its myriad forms. I can't wait…
Most of us have a fairly narrow view of what it means to recycle: we gather materials (aluminum, paper, glass, plastic) in blue bins and either leave them on the curb for a pick-up service, or take them to a drop-off point. British site How Do I Recycle This? takes a much broader view of the concept — essentially merging reuse and recycling — and provides a forum where users can submit there own ideas for getting more use out of items that most of us would throw away without a second thought.
If you don't live in Great Britan, don't let the UK URL, or location of publishers Louisa Parrry and John Leach, put you off: there's very little in this blog's many posts that applies only to Brits or Europeans. Furthermore, don't expect the tried and true reuse projects that many of us did when we were kids (i.e., making bird feeders out of milk cartons) — the range of materials and recycling/reuse ideas at How Do I Recycle This? is quite eclectic. Some of the more unusual items:
Parry and Leach post new items on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and users are welcome to submit suggestions (whether they've successfully reused or recycled them item themselves or not).
The most impressive aspect of the site is its focus on harnessing the ideas of its users: Parry and Leach do offer their own suggestions when they have them, but every post is geared towards gathering ideas from readers. This is Green Web 2.0 in a pretty pure form: anyone can contribute their "authority" on the subject. While some items require an explanation of regulations for safe disposal (i.e. CFLs), the majority of the "trash" listed on the site encourages a free and creative exploration reuse possibilities.
"How Do I Recycle This?" has been online since April, 2006, and appears to have recently grown in its offerings — as recently as April, most posts appeared at the end of the month. I have no doubt, though, that the site's readership will keep it in "junk" that can find a better place than the trash can or landfill. The publishers have also launched a companion site, Compost This, that's a bit more directive, but still very useful.
We've been thrilled by the recent pick up in blog comments and discussions going on at Green Options: we're glad many of you feel comfortable participating in discussions here. Ninety-nine percent of those comment have been constructive, thoughtful and informed. The other one percent… well, we're making some changes to address spam (which has picked up also) and uncivil behavior.
After deleting a ton of spam yesterday, I asked our developers to turn on moderation for comments submitted by users not registered at GO. This does not mean that you won't be able to add your voice to the discussion without becoming a member; rather, it means that those comments will have to be approved before appearing on the site. The content team will be checking the moderation queue frequently, so it shouldn't be too long before your comment appears.
On the issue of civility: let's face it — people find it way too easy to be rude or obnoxious online. We're not speaking face-to-face; we probably haven't even met the person with whom we're having a conversation. From our perspective, though, knock-down, drag-out flame wars add nothing to a given debate, and certainly don't add any value to Green Options. So, feel free to engage in spirited argument, but, if an exchange devolves to name-calling, insults, obscenity directed at another user, etc., we will remove those comments (or, if we're feeling cheeky, we'll disemvowel them). We don't want to stifle discussion; rather, we want to encourage it. We believe that a community is built by people who treat each other with courtesy, even when they disagree. We want all GO users to know that they can offer their opinions and knowledge without being bullied, insulted or otherwise mistreated.
We value your participation at Green Options, and are always interested in your ideas for making the site the place you want to discuss sustainability and green living. Let us know if you have questions or concerns.
We're coming up on our two-month birthday (next week, in fact), and we'd like to celebrate by adding a few more writers to our already talented stable. If you're passionate and knowledgeable about green living, and write well, you may be just the person we want. We're looking specifically for the following:
- A Los Angeles-area resident to cover the many green things happening there.
- A "green teen" — an active and passionate pre-teen to teenager who can cover green activities and development by/for that age group.
- A "green senior" — replace "pre-teen" and "teenager" with "senior citizen" or "elder" in the above description.
- A green entrepreneur — Amy's doing great with the wide world of green business; now we want to add an "insider" to the mix. We'd prefer someone who's running a business, not just thinking about one.
- UPDATE: One more… I knew something wasn't right here! We're also looking for a writer to jump into Ryan Thibodaux's Red, Green and Blue spot — a progressive environmentalist who likes to argue politics… and does it well. Ryan's not leaving… just moving on to other areas.
- Another UPDATE: We'd also like a Chicago-based writer… just too much good stuff going on there…
We'd want each of these writers to contribute weekly at a minimum. While each writer at GO has a primary "beat," there's always room for branching out.
Finally, we'd like to build a pool of young, hungry journalists (or journalism students in their 3rd or 4th year) that would be interested in doing longer-form pieces… perhaps even some investigative journalism. We anticipate publishing pieces like these monthly, but would be willing to do it more often for the right stories.
Think you might be the right person for one of these positions? Email me, or send me a private message — please note the position for which you're applying in the subject line. Please introduce yourself, and submit or point to a few writing samples. You don't have to have previous blogging experience, but some knowledge of web publishing software is always a plus.
All of these are independent contractor positions. We pay per post/article, and have just implemented a bonus structure for writers.
On Monday, we announced the Green Options The Lighter Side of Green contest, and we've been really pleased with the response we've received. Of course, we'd love to see more contest submissions, so if you think you can make us laugh, take your shot at a $100 cash prize and a starter contract as GO's resident funny man or woman.
Having trouble thinking of a topic for your 250-500 word column? That's probably not because there's not enough material out there; rather, there may be too much! Nothing's off limits: our personal habits and quirks, the statements of politicians and/or activists, or even the statements and actions of green critics are all fair game. We're looking for light humor vs. biting satire; poking fun vs. roasting over the coals.
February 1st, the contest deadline, is getting close — one week from today. Send your submissions to lighterside@greenoptions.com.
While we're quite happy with the team of writers we have on board, we could use a couple more. If you're a writer or blogger with a passion for green living, and can commit to daily blog posts (6 per week), we'd be interested in talking to you.
When we launch, we want to publish 8-10 quality blog posts per day that inform and enlighten our readers about the wide world of green living. Our bloggers do have areas of focus, but there's lots of room for branching out.
We're looking for writers with a lively style, and a command of the facts on their chosen topics. We want writers who can communicate sometimes complex ideas to readers who may be fairly new to green ideas. Experience, particularly with online writing and/or blogging, is good, but not necessary: we're certainly willing to nurture the right person. The main requirements are solid writing abilities, and the ability to communicate your passion about the green life. We will pay you for your efforts.
Interested? Questions? Email or private message me. Quill pen not required.
UPDATE: Wow! Thanks to all of you that have expressed interest in blogging for us — and I do mean all of you! I'm in the process of responding to inquiries — if you haven't heard from me yet, you will. Because we've received many excellent inquiries, I'm going to close this offer for now. I'm sure, though, that we'll be looking for writers again in the near future.
Also, if you're interested in contributing entries to the Green Living Wiki, please feel free to contact me.
We're so happy to have all of you here to beta test the Green Options portal. My name is Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, and I'm the Senior Editor and Content Director for Green Options. I'm in charge of the blog, the wiki, the news center and the discussion forums; I'm also responsible for any writing that you see around the site. If you run across issues with any of these site elements, please feel free to send me a private message, or to leave a message on the Beta discussion forum.
I'm very excited about the group of writers we've brought on board for the blog. All them are people you'll likely recognize from around the green blogosphere, and we're grateful that they've agreed to join us. Our writers, and their areas of focus, are:
It's an impressive group, and we'll putting them right to work — check the blog every weekday, and on the weekends, also. You'll find stories, tips, innovations and developments covering the wide world of green living. We believe we'll be moving quickly into the ranks of top green blogs.
Thank you for your help! We're glad you're here.
