One of the best things you can do to help save the earth is simply by spreading the word, inspiring and reminding others of the need to be more proactive in taking steps to protect the environment. The good thing about spreading the word these days is that we have the Internet, making it super easy to reach out to people without having to step out of your living room. Today, updates and tweets on social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is the equivalent of word-of-mouth. By simply posting/tweeting something about the environment on your social accounts, you can already help bring more awareness to people in your online circle.

Flooding people with green tweets might, however be a bit counterproductive. A regular tweet will get people’s notice, but tweets exclusively about environmental stuff and your friends and followers might start tuning out your tweets. If you want to show your support of green living without being to aggressive about it, you might want to instead set your Twitter background to show pictures with an environmental theme.

InstaBG is a great app that can help you do this easily. It uses Instagram photos to make a collage of just about any topic you can think of. All you need to do is sign in using your TwitterID, enter an eco-related tag, choose your preferred settings (Note the difference in tile size, spacing, space colors of the sample backgrounds below), click on preview, and click on “Set this image to Twitter” when you are satisfied with the results. You don’t have to have an Instagram account to do this, although you do have the option of using your Instagram photos for the collage. You can also set the background to automatically change each day if you so wish.

InstaBG generated background using “recycle” as tag

InstaBG generated background using “organic” as tag

By doing not only will you end up with nicer Twitter background, but one that shows (and hopefully reminds) people just how much you support environmental initiatives.

Images generated using InstaBG

Blogging about the environment is a good way of sharing your ideas and personal experiences on helping save the environment. It’s also a good way to encourage your readers to do the same.

If you do plan on starting, or already have, a green blog, dream big and aim to reach as large an audience as you can. After all, the more people you reach, the more people you can help influence to take a more responsible attitude towards the environment.

To make sure your green blog doesn’t end up with just a handful of regular readers, put some effort into promoting your blog. Again, you can do this without leaving the comfort of your own home. Some ways you can promote your blog include submitting your blog details in letting your Facebook friends and Twitter followers know about it, telling people in your household to spread the word, expediting being indexed in Google by submitting your URL, and using the services of web directories.

A good web directory you can sign up with to help you promote your blog is Blog Search Engine. It’s easy to sign up, since all you need to do is fill out their form to submit your blog details, pay the basic $14.99 fee via Paypal, and wait for them to send you a confirmation email. What you’ll get in return is a link to your blog and a review, with an opportunity to become the featured blog if your opt to upgrade your package.

Whatever steps you do decide to take to promote your green blog, remember that what’s important is that you do try your best to help educate and encourage others to save our Earth.

Green Blog icon courtesy of Tutorial Scripts

Global warming or climate change means that the Earth is being affected by the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere largely because of man, industry and globalization. Think of the carbon like a thick wooly blanket that keeps the hot air in, making the Earth hotter than it has been in 650,000 years, resulting in shocking images we’ve all been suddenly exposed to – like polar bears clinging onto tiny patches of ice because so much has melted. And have you noticed that there seem to be an awful lot of tropical storms around the world, more violent and more widespread than you remember growing up?

Do you find the picture above as disturbing as I do?

Here are some of the shocking facts, according to the National Geographic:

• Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

• The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century’s last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.

• The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.

• Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.

• Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana’s Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.

• Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.

• An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

To become more active and do your bit to stop this, visit Stop Global Warming.

It’s over, but it is something worth taking note of. Promotions were carried out during the April 2 and April 9 games of the San Antonio Spurs (yeah, you got a die hard Spurs fan here). Dubbed Green Nights, fans were treated to various delights such as coupons for ENERGY star qualified light bulbs, exhibits of Toyota hybrid cars, and others.

The Spurs also provide “fantastic green tips” in their media center. Here are some of the most practical ones:

Car pool. One trip a year saves money. Talk to people at work, see if you’re going the same way. Go to eRideShare and enter your zip to find people to carpool with. – It’s a great way to make new friends, too!

Ride your bike. Gotta run to the store? Ride instead. Remember, any amount you don’t drive saves. – I love this. Not only do you get to save on fuel, but you also get some exercise.

Get fuel when it’s cool. If you refuel at midday in August, small amounts of the gas are more likely to escape. It all adds up.- Fuel up at night!

Telecommute. If you can, work from home once a month. You’ll save time and money. – More and more companies are offering this option. It will not hurt to ask!

We ask all blog publishers to help bring awareness to the world today on the dire situation with climate change and the need for action!

Why Climate Change?

Climate change affects us all and it threatens more than the environment. It threatens to cause famine, flooding, war, and millions of refugees.

Given the urgency of the issue of climate change and the upcoming international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, we think the blogosphere has the unique opportunity to mobilize millions of people around expressing support for finding a sustainable solution to the climate crisis.

Suggested Posts

We encourage you to write about climate change in the context of how it relates to the topic of your blog. To help you start thinking, here are a few ideas about how you might connect climate change to things that you might already write about:

* A Technology or Business blog might write about emerging clean tech and how innovative companies might be able to help address the problem of climate change.

* A Health or Lifestyle blog might write about how climate change will affect our children’s health and daily living.

* A Nonprofit or Political blog might write about how climate change is deeply connected to many other issues – such as poverty and conflict.

* A Design blog might write about new trends in eco-friendly or sustainable design.

* A Travel blog might write about the places you want to see now before climate change makes them difficult to access or, well, under the sea.

Please join the 7,037 blogs in 135 countries and 11,211,921 readers in uniting over this urgent issue!

Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to help kids understand and get involved with saving the earth. Making Earth Day a fun event to look forward too, with projects that they see through the year, will hopefully instill values of being environmentally caring – something they can bring into adulthood.

Here are some places you can start:

1. i Go Green at Every Age – The folks here at iVillage have great tips on how you can get kids to go green. For example, preschool kids can wash their hands using a thin “pencil” stream of water, while a grade schooler can unplug the tv or computer at night or using reusable containers for school packed lunches.

2. Make Some Crafts - Kids love crafts, so getting creative is a great way of teaching them about Earth Day while having fun. Kaboose has some super craft ideas which uses recycled products to make useful things like a pet food scoop made out of an old laundry detergent bottle or herb planters from empty cans.

3. Do Activities Online – For kids who enjoy learning online, there are many kid- friendly websites you can visit with them. A good one is Roofus’ Home, which shows how a golden retriever’s home can be energy efficient.

4. Host an Earthday Party! – Why not get your kids together with some friends for an Earth Day party? Its a fun way to learn about Earth Day by playing games, eating sustainable foods, and doing a project like recycling or planting a tree. You can can then revisit what you’ve done at next year’s Earth Day and the children will be thrilled to see the results.

Earth Day 1970

Not many of us know that Earth Day has been around for a while. Nearly 39 years, to be precise. The first Earth Day took place on April 22nd 1970, marking the day when the movement for modern environmentalism was born.

The beginnings though, can be traced back as far as 1963, when Senator Gaylord Nelson, a democrat from Wisconsin, first voiced his concerns about the state of the planet. In 1969 he proposed Earth Day “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. It was a gamble… but it worked.” Nelson said.

And on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans rallied with Nelson – in parks, auditoriums, schools and streets – for a healthier Earth. Millions protested the industrial destruction of the environment and the results were tremendous:

” Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts”

I think its wonderful that Earth Day is getting big around the world. Just a few years ago very few people even knew what it was, let alone celebrate it, but today, as early as March, I have been getting emails from people and groups to start planning for the event.

In my community, we have an organic garden and herb center (created from a vacant lot) which we opened on Earth Day two years ago. It has a spirulina fountain, a recycling area and a nifty machine that turns waste into energy which supplies heat to an oven/cooker. A small group of nature-loving ladies (mostly seniors!) started the project with very little money (mostly their own), but with determination, creativity and hard work, the garden is something we are all so proud of today. They sell the produce for a minimal price which goes to the upkeep of the garden and for the foundation they created which also supports other environmental projects in the area (more on that next time).

For Earth Day we have an event planned, where we (I’ve joined the group!) will be unveiling a new part of the garden, some new equipment and talk about the success stories of the year and some great things we have planned for the future. Luckily we also have a chef as part of the group, so the food is always excellent and it becomes a party!

What is YOUR Earth Day event? Click here to find out.

Before you think I’ve gone absolutely mad in suggesting you bring home an actual baby veal to be placed under the tree, let me explain that I’m talking about farm animal adoption, which is a great gift idea for your animal-loving and vegetarian friends and family.

If you find modern farming methods as abhorrent as I do, the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary is an ideal place to get a wonderful present such as this. Take Dylan, for instance, photographed above, a calf who was found stuck in his own feces. Being male, he was of no use to farmers because he couldn’t produce milk.

Through this website (which is 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so your gift is even tax-exempt), you can simply use your credit card to pay and your giftee will receive a photo of the animal, a certificate and their story. So not only do you save fuel by shopping at home, but you also save the earth by forgoing the usual mass consumerism of the holiday season. Needless to say, your kids will love you for saving “Wilbur” from the bacon factory.

“…with the FABULOUS gift of an ANIMAL SPONSORSHIP the lucky (and now adoring) recipient of your uber-goodness will receive a beautiful, personalized photo card of the animal who you select (or we can select for you), including a description of that animal’s rescue story and personality, plus an optional personalized note from you! The recipient also gets full membership to the farm and special privileges to visit their animal any time of year, and your credit card will be billed a modest amount each month.”

The past year has been a pretty terrifying time in terms of the huge amounts of toxic toys (and milk!) found in the market. And if you’ve think the worst is over and the most dangerous toys have already been weeded out in time for Christmas, you are sadly mistaken. According to the non-profit group Ecology Center, one in three of more than 1,500 of the most popular toys in the market, have unacceptably high levels of toxic chemicals, which can cause the following in our children: reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer.

And its NOT just toys from China, nor is it just lead. And according to their studies, children’s jewelry has the highest amount of chemicals. Horrifying since it is what is most likely to come into contact with our children’s skin!

So be safe this Christmas and before you buy, read up on what’s safe here at Healthy Toys where you can search by brand, “worst toys”, “best toys” and so on. The site also lets you make a “holiday list” which can be emailed to family and friends – a wonderful way to make sure the kids you care about are protected.

Please join the fight to stop chemicals in toys completely and check out some of the ideas listed in the Healthy Toys or Ecology Center‘s website – as Mike Shriberg, Ph.D., Ecology Center’s Policy Director rightly said:

“There is simply no place for toxic chemicals in toys….Our hope is that by empowering consumers, manufacturers and lawmakers will start phasing out the most harmful substances immediately, and change the laws to protect children from toxic chemicals.”