Are You a Change-Agent? User-Experience Inspires Environmental Change

Timberland + Changents provide an innovative platform, strategy and user experience for change

What do a bus, a canary, an artist, a rocker and a college grad have in common? Getting green. and inspiring others to follow suit.

Today, Timberland, the outdoor company, and Changents unveiled a new online experience where individuals can be catalysts for change by teaming up with environmental “Change Agents” from around the world to advance the green revolution.

Engage ::

Watch broadcasts of firsthand experiences from the field through blogs, videos, photo albums, Flickr streams, phoned-in podcasts, Twitter dispatches and more.

Back a Change Agent by assuming the roles of:

• “Fan” (a shout-out of support),
• “First Responder” (being on-call if their Change Agent gets in a pinch),
• “Buzz Builder” (promoting a Change Agent’s stories and Action Requests through viral sharing),
• “Angel” (helping fill their Change Agent’s piggy bank) and
• “Advocate” (influence policy makers with respect to a Change Agent’s cause)

Plug in to ‘Earthkeepers,’ where you can follow and interact with 5 extraordinary Change Agents, dubbed, “Earthkeeper Heroes.

• Big Green Bus (12 Dartmouth students travel the country this summer in a tricked-out school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil);
• The Canary Project (an artist couple convey the story of human-induced climate change and potential solutions through media, events and artwork);
• Agent 350 (a recent college grad and his scrappy team sprint to build a global, online/offline climate action movement from scratch);
• Reverb (a group of rock and roll road warriors green summer concert tours for Dave Matthews, John Mayer and Maroon 5/Counting Crows while engaging fans around environmental sustainability);
• POWERleaper (A 23-year old designtrepeneur created a blueprint for urban flooring systems that generates electricity from human foot traffic).

Become an Earthkeeper Hero yourself! Nominate yourself or others to compete for a chance to join the ranks of this amazing group.

About ::

Changents.com is an entertainment-driven Internet destination that connects innovators of social and environmental change – Change Agents – with a global network of people who want to help them. In 2007, Changents was founded by two social entrepreneurs, Alex Hofmann and Deron Triff, who set out to engage a digitally-connected, socially-conscious generation on its own terms.

“We started Changents to give a new generation of social and environmental problem-solvers the tools they need to build teams of active followers and help them become ‘rock stars’ of change through the Internet,” said Changents Co-Founder and CEO Deron Triff.”

What’s Your Favorite Earth Day Logo? Google? Yahoo? YouTube? and others join in!

Today was an exciting day off- and on-line. In celebration of Earth Day, many company’s changed their company logo. Which was your favorite?

Ask.com

Search Engine RoundTable

AOL.com

Google

Cre8asite Forums

Yahoo (Original is in Flash)

Kentucky.gov

Other’s that had Earth Day logos that I couldn’t get to upload during my mini-break in thesis writing include: MSN, the BBC and YouTube’s.

What ones have I missed and what ones are your favorites?

Cheers!

18 Fun, Unique Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Going green on a daily basis is great….but who doesn’t like another reason to celebrate?

Join millions around the globe in celebrating Earth Day, this Tuesday, April 22, 2008. Here are some of the many ways you can join in the celebration:

1. I first want to congratulate you because the easiest way to celebrate Earth Day is to learn more about the earth and earth-related topics (recycling, global warming, agriculture, the ozone, water use, etc). You are already being proactive in this area by reading this blog post. =)

2. To learn more, plan a library day and check-out books about the earth.

3. Read about the history of Earth Day from the perspective of the founder of Earth Day, former Wisconsin Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson.

4. Go through some serious ‘Spring Cleaning’ and donate games, clothes, books, movies, etc. to your local Goodwill.

5. Wear green or brown. If you dig this, more companies are created earth-friendly clothing, check out this brief article to find out what popular brands H & M, Victoria’s Secret, Lucky Brand Jeans and others are doing to get green.

6. Cook a special Earth Day dinner featuring organic foods.

7. Have an Earth Day Arts and Crafts Day. Kaboose lists some great earth-friendly arts and crafts activities that both you and your children/students will enjoy that use fun materials such as egg cartons, laundry soap containers, rocks, toothbrushes, coffee grounds and more!

8. Rent a movie that covers earth-related topics. This site lists environmental movies based on a subject search from Free Willy to to Banana Split, March of the Penguins, UnNatural Causes and more for every movie interest.

9. Plan an Earth Day Observance among friends or in your community. Charge $2-5 and donate the funds to a local earth-friendly charity.

10. Plant trees and do a dedication.

11. Build a birdhouse with your kids and/or family to encourage the local bird population, using various recycled pieces.

12. Review my post “Going Green,” which lists 40+ ways to go green in the kitchen, restroom, when cleaning, around the house, when shopping, eating, for activities and in entertainment, etc.

13. Leave your car at home and bike or walk to work. Or, plan a carpool.

14. Check out this Earth Day 2008 Calendar to see if there is an event being held in your area.

15. Change your avatar or icon on any of the social media: Twitter, Facebook, in comments, etc. to green.

16. Check out The Earthday Network for more information and opportunities to have your voice heard regarding the politics surrounding Earth Day issues.

17. Register your Earth Day event with the current list of over 12,000 and growing!

18. Share your message on Google’s interactive Earth Day map!

Add your own Suggestion in the comments! =)

Defining Green, Including the FTC

Nowadays, when someone says Green, what’s the first thing that pops in your mind?

…a color? a movement? a cause? a political party? earth? environmentalists? global warming? a marketing tactic? Al Gore? Recycling?

Being a full supporter of going green, I still want to stand back, observe and ask the question: In today’s world, how do we, you, define the word green?

…Even the FTC is struggling to answer this very question. Today, the FTC held its first green marketing workshop to discuss its green advertising regulations a YEAR early because of the growing buzz…and concern! Check out this article for more information about the meeting.

It’s interesting how the choice of diction creates images or perceptions in our minds. Green, or going green, is becoming a mantra for environmental movements and going green is the new trend of ’08…or was it the trend of ’07? Even the AMA (American Marketing Association) has adopted the movement and now acknowledges the concept ‘green marketing.’ GreenBiz, a green conscious information resources that tracks companies eco-friendliness, offers green marketing as one of their hot topics by offering features about the various shades of green that run in-style among us marketers.

However what does being green really mean? In 2006, this same question was asked in an article written by Brandweek titled: Companies Find It’s Not Easy Marketing Green. In the article, the authors state quote:

“Spiraling fuel prices and global warming fears have increasingly put environmental issues on the front page and in advertising efforts. But as more companies adopt these campaigns, consumers are growing increasingly confused over what it means to be “green,” making it harder to create effective environmental marketing efforts, according to a recently released study by Landor Associates, New York.

“Is it about the environment, organic food or ‘good-for-you’ living? … It could be about all of those things,” said Allen Adamson, managing director at Landor. “It is easy to say you are green, but consumers are skeptical. And because everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon, all of a sudden it is noisy in this space, and it is hard to break through.”

The article continues offering statistics on how consumers are weary of the increasing levels of products, services and companies who claim to be green. Though it is an older article, the trend seems to escalate still today, just do a Google search for ‘green marketing’ and it becomes clear that the term continues to grow discussion, especially since the FTC even took notice.

• So, how do we as social marketing break through the clutter?
• What does this trend mean for us?
• And, what does the word ‘green’ mean to you?

Feel free to share your thoughts. This discussion will be continued in my next post. =)

To get a sneak peak about the next post, read this article about greenwashing…