Ecoble » Politics and Policy

10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media

ecoble — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:48:58 +0000

This post is a collaboration between Mashable’s Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser and Max Gladwell’s “10 Ways” series. The post is being simultaneously published across more than 100 blogs.

Social media is about connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation. That global conversation is an extremely powerful platform for spreading information and awareness about social causes and issues. That’s one of the reasons charities can benefit so greatly from being active on social media channels. But you can also do a lot to help your favorite charity or causes you are passionate about through social media.
Below is a list of 10 ways you can use social media to show your support for issues that are important to you. If you can think of any other ways to help charities via social web tools, please add them in the comments. If you’d like to retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Write a Blog Post

Blogging is one of the easiest ways you can help a charity or cause you feel passionate about. Almost everyone has an outlet for blogging these days — whether that means a site running WordPress, an account at LiveJournal, or a blog on MySpace or Facebook. By writing about issues you’re passionate about, you’re helping to spread awareness among your social circle. Because your friends or readers already trust you, what you say is influential.
Recently, a group of green bloggers banded together to raise individual $1 donations from their readers. The beneficiaries included Sustainable Harvest, Kiva, Healthy Child, Healthy World, Environmental Working Group, and Water for People. The blog-driven campaign included voting to determine how the funds would be distributed between the charities. You can read about the results here.
You should also consider taking part in Blog Action Day, a once a year event in which thousands of blogs pledge to write at least one post about a specific social cause (last year it was fighting poverty). Blog Action Day will be on October 15 this year.

2. Share Stories with Friends

Another way to spread awareness among your social graph is to share links to blog posts and news articles via sites like Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, and even through email. Your network of friends is likely interested in what you have to say, so you have influence wherever you’ve gathered a social network.

You’ll be doing charities you support a great service when you share links to their campaigns, or to articles about causes you care about.

3. Follow Charities on Social Networks

In addition to sharing links to articles about issues you come across, you should also follow charities you support on the social networks where they are active. By increasing the size of their social graph, you’re increasing the size of their reach. When your charities tweet or post information about a campaign or a cause, statistics or a link to a good article, consider retweeting that post on Twitter, liking it on Facebook, or blogging about it.
Following charities on social media sites is a great way to keep in the loop and get updates, and it’s a great way to help the charity increase its reach by spreading information to your friends and followers.

You can follow the Summer of Social Good Charities:

Oxfam America (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube)

The Humane Society (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr)

LIVESTRONG (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr)

WWF (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr)

4. Support Causes on Awareness Hubs

Another way you can show your support for the charities you care about is to rally around them on awareness hubs like Change.org, Care2, or the Facebook Causes application. These are social networks or applications specifically built with non-profits in mind. They offer special tools and opportunities for charities to spread awareness of issues, take action, and raise money.

It’s important to follow and support organizations on these sites because they’re another point of access for you to gather information about a charity or cause, and because by supporting your charity you’ll be increasing their overall reach. The more people they have following them and receiving their updates, the greater the chance that information they put out will spread virally.

5. Find Volunteer Opportunities

Using social media online can help connect you with volunteer opportunities offline, and according to web analytics firm Compete, traffic to volunteering sites is actually up sharply in 2009. Two of the biggest sites for locating volunteer opportunities are VolunteerMatch, which has almost 60,000 opportunities listed, and Idealist.org, which also lists paying jobs in the non-profit sector, in addition to maintaining databases of both volunteer jobs and willing volunteers.

For those who are interested in helping out when volunteers are urgently needed in crisis situations, check out HelpInDisaster.org, a site which helps register and educate those who want to help during disasters so that local resources are not tied up directing the calls of eager volunteers. Teenagers, meanwhile, should check out DoSomething.org, a site targeted at young adults seeking volunteer opportunities in their communities.

6. Embed a Widget on Your Site

Many charities offer embeddable widgets or badges that you can use on your social networking profiles or blogs to show your support. These badges generally serve one of two purposes (or both). They raise awareness of an issue and offer up a link or links to additional information. And very often they are used to raise money.

Mashable’s Summer of Social Good campaign, for example, has a widget that does both. The embeddable widget, which was custom built using Sprout (the creators of ChipIn), can both collect funds and offer information about the four charities the campaign supports.

7. Organize a Tweetup

You can use online social media tools to organize offline events, which are a great way to gather together like-minded people to raise awareness, raise money, or just discuss an issue that’s important to you. Getting people together offline to learn about an important issue can really kick start the conversation and make supporting the cause seem more real.

Be sure to check out Mashable’s guide to organizing a tweetup to make sure yours goes off without a hitch, or check to see if there are any tweetups in your area to attend that are already organized.

8. Express Yourself Using Video

As mentioned, blog posts are great, but a picture really says a thousand words. The web has become a lot more visual in recent years and there are now a large number of social tools to help you express yourself using video. When you record a video plea or call to action about your issue or charity, you can make your message sound more authentic and real. You can use sites like 12seconds.tv, Vimeo, and YouTube to easily record and spread your video message.

Last week, the Summer of Social Good campaign encouraged people to use video to show support for charity. The #12forGood campaign challenged people to submit a 12 second video of themselves doing something for the Summer of Social Good. That could be anything, from singing a song to reciting a poem to just dancing around like a maniac — the idea was to use the power of video to spread awareness about the campaign and the charities it supports.

If you’re more into watching videos than recording them, Givzy.com enables you to raise funds for charities like Unicef and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by sharing viral videos by e-mail.

9. Sign or Start a Petition

There aren’t many more powerful ways to support a cause than to sign your name to a petition. Petitions spread awareness and, when successfully carried out, can demonstrate massive support for an issue. By making petitions viral, the social web has arguably made them even more powerful tools for social change. There are a large number of petition creation and hosting web sites out there. One of the biggest is The Petition Site, which is operated by the social awareness network Care2, or PetitionOnline.com, which has collected more than 79 million signatures over the years.
Petitions are extremely powerful, because they can strike a chord, spread virally, and serve as a visual demonstration of the support that an issue has gathered. Social media fans will want to check out a fairly new option for creating and spreading petitions: Twitition, an application that allows people to create, spread, and sign petitions via Twitter.

10. Organize an Online Event

Social media is a great way to organize offline, but you can also use online tools to organize effective online events. That can mean free form fund raising drives, like the Twitter-and-blog-powered campaign to raise money for a crisis center in Illinois last month that took in over $130,000 in just two weeks. Or it could mean an organized “tweet-a-thon” like the ones run by the 12for12k group, which aims to raise $12,000 each month for a different charity.
In March, 12for12k ran a 12-hour tweet-a-thon, in which any donation of at least $12 over a 12 hour period gained the person donating an entry into a drawing for prizes like an iPod Touch or a Nintendo Wii Fit. Last month, 12for12k took a different approach to an online event by holding a more ambitious 24-hour live video-a-thon, which included video interviews, music and sketch comedy performances, call-ins, and drawings for a large number of prizes given out to anyone who donated $12 or more.

Bonus: Think Outside the Box

Social media provides almost limitless opportunity for being creative. You can think outside the box to come up with all sorts of innovative ways to raise money or awareness for a charity or cause. When Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer, for example, he created Blame Drew’s Cancer, a campaign that encourages people to blow off steam by blaming his cancer for bad things in their lives using the Twitter hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. Over 16,000 things have been blamed on Drew’s cancer, and he intends to find sponsors to turn those tweets into donations to LIVESTRONG once he beats the disease.

Or check out Nathan Winters, who is biking across the United States and documenting the entire trip using social media tools, in order to raise money and awareness for The Nature Conservancy.

The number of innovative things you can do using social media to support a charity or spread information about an issue is nearly endless. Can you think of any others? Please share them in the comments.

Special thanks to VPS.net

A special thanks to VPS.net, who are donating $100 to the Summer of Social Good for every signup they receive this week.
Sign up at VPS.net and use the coupon code “SOSG”to receive 3 Months of FREE hosting on top of your purchased term. VPS.net honors a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee so there’s no risk.

About the “10 Ways” Series

The “10 Ways” Series was originated by Max Gladwell. This is the second simultaneous blog post in the series. The first ran on more than 80 blogs, including Mashable. Among other things, it is a social media experiment and the exploration of a new content distribution model. You can follow Max Gladwell on Twitter.

This content was originally written by Mashable’s Josh Catone.

10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media is a post from: Ecoble

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10 Ridiculous Wastes of Packaging Materials and How to Stop It

danielle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:00:04 +0000

Over-packaging seems to be the norm in our excessive society but too much packaging causes problems for the consumer, as well as the planet. It’s frustrating to tear through huge boxes filled with endless packaging foam to finally unwrap the tiny iPod you’ve been waiting on – getting rid of all that waste is an entirely new battle, not to mention all the unnecessary space required during shipping for too much packaging. We’ve gathered some of the most ridiculous examples of over-packaging and included a few ways you can help diminish the excess.

These 2 little bitty Bluetooth ear hooks from Motorola were really the only items in this super-sized box. The 2-inch components could have easily shared a padded envelope and maybe even saved on shipping costs – but everyone appreciates a big complimentary box of air. (Source: Overpackaging on Gizmodo)

This over-packaging mishap was committed by the Danish kitchenwares company, Rosti. Within this humongous box, 2 pizza pans and a water pitcher could have safely survived in a container less than half the size. (Source: Bamakko)

The tiny iPhone headphone adapter above, already in it’s manufacturing packaging, was shipped from PC Connection. The bubble envelope it was placed in would have probably been sufficient for shipping, but to be on the safe side(?), the envelope was carefully placed on top of another empty envelope, surrounded by needless paper, and sent on its way in a waste of cardboard. (Source: Consumerist.com)

Amazon seems to be a fan of excessive packaging, earning themselves multiple spots in our collection. This particular shipment was nothing but the minute iPod Nano – in a box big enough to hold a child. (Source: Overpackaging.com)

Dell (or a Dell vendor, according to their spokesperson via Treehugger) is also guilty of overdoing the packaging materials. This lonely little flash drive’s only companion inside a way-too-big empty box was a waste of shipping paper. Source: Overpackaging at Treehugger)

HP isn’t doing much better. What would you expect to find after unwrapping this much plastic and tape – all neatly packaged on its very own wooden pallet? A small box that could have been shipped without the pallet and extras, containing nothing more than a mere PS2 mouse. (Source: The Register)

Notice the small bottle sitting in front of all these boxes? The glass bottle contains 1 gram of a toxic chemical called ethidium bromide. There were definitely no worries of contamination the way this thing was (over)packaged – bubble wrap, inside a large paper-filled bag, inside a closed tin, in a really big box, in an even bigger box. (Source: Too Much Packaging at Wired)

This is a first-class example of waayy too much packaging. The 6 very small boxes in the corner were shipped by iittala. Rather than pack all 6 boxes in one larger box (with plenty of room to spare), each little box deserved its own big box for one great big over-packaging mistake. (Source: Treehugger)

What would you like in your gigantic HP box? I’ll bet it isn’t 32 sheets of paper! The mega box shown here was filled with 16 smaller boxes, each containing 2 pages of obviously fragile info. Do envelopes still exist? (Source: The Register)

This is another over-packaging example from Amazon. The lone webcam couldn’t have asked for a bigger shipping box unless it was coming from HP! (Source: Tom Bullock via Flickr)

What Can You Do?

Employees of LUSH Cosmetics get naked to draw attention to the waste of unneeded packaging. The ‘bare message’ campaign has been held for 2 years now, with 24 different locations participating in 2008.

UK Environment Minister, Ben Bradshaw, has given shoppers a new voice in the fight against over-packaging. After a disappointing reduction of only 12% between 1999 and 2005, consumers were urged to leave their excess and unnecessary packaging at the checkout counter – forcing grocers to take action.

Tesco is working to meet the goal of waste reduction by 2010 – with the help of their customers. Shoppers are asked to dump packaging they find excessive before leaving the store, helping the company learn where the biggest reductions can be made.

If leaving your packaging waste at the counter isn’t an option and getting naked doesn’t seem like the most effective strategy, continue to submit your excessive packaging photos to websites like ours and those mentioned above.

You can also do your best to avoid products with excessive packaging and send a note to online companies that over-package to let them know you’re disappointed. Contact Congress and the Obama administration and urge the US to step forward and take action against excessive packaging.

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11 Pieces of Great Growing Green ‘Furniture’

Maryruth — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:00:45 +0000

Plantware KinderForest

Got a green thumb and a hankering to get into the furniture-making biz? Take the hassle out of finding green furniture for your home by growing your own.

Building furniture from the ground up

Plantware bench

Imagine living green bus benches and playgrounds filling our cities. It’s a bit idyllic, but within the realm of possibility with Plantware’s innovative designs. Ultra practical yet totally biodegradable, Plantware’s award-winning designs could be the way of the future. The living KinderFroest in particular has tremendous benefits: grown from Ficus trees, it’s self-healing, requires only sunlight and rain to produce, is earthquake safe, and produces a ton of oxygen over its long life. What better place for your children to spend their time?

Pooktre Tree Shapers

Melding whimsical imagination with growing green furniture design, artists Peter and Becky work with wild plum and black cheery trees to shape them into both living and harvested furniture. The process can take up to 10 years, and you can even join Becky and Peter to collaborate in the making of your own pieces!

Mr. Wu’s growing chair

In another take on the tree-to-chair concept, a 60 year old Mr. Wu has successfully grown his own chair. While perhaps not the most attractive chairs we’ve seen, these sitters are certainly sustainable. Formed by bending pliable, still-growing elm trees into his desired shape, Mr. Wu prunes and fusses over his chairs (six currently in production) for up to five years each, after which they are “harvested.” This chair “designer” lives in Shenyang City, Liaoning province, China where he extols the virtues of growing furniture.

‘mushrooms ate my furniture’ by Shinwei Rhoda Yen

Made from natural wood and infused with growing mushrooms’ spawn, these are a true demonstration of biodegradable furniture. Designed by Shinwei Rhoda Yen, this stool will slowly break down as the wood is consumed by the mushrooms.

Moss carpet by Nguyen La Chanh

Nestle your toes in real, live moss after your next shower with one of these growing bath mats. Designed by Nguyen La Chanh, they’re made from plastazote (an imputrescible foam) stuffed with ball moss, island moss, and forest moss. You provide irrigation as you drip on it coming out of the shower.

Venus Chair by Tokujin Yoshioka

Perhaps a little less comfy that the preceding options, the Venus Chair is grown not from living green plants, but rather out of natural crystals in a water bath. It’s up for the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2009.

Grassy ass outdoor furniture

Lawnchair by f+bp

The Lawnchair by Fung+Blatt Architects take earthy to a whole new level. Made from renewable steel and rubber, and “upholstered” with a layer of sod, this lounger allows you the feeling of a lazy afternoon in the grass without the discomfort of a less ergonomic random patch of ground. And in case you were worried about keeping it green, it comes equipped with a moisture distribution system.

Peddy furniture by Mindscape

Like something out of a Seuss book, these couches, chairs, and benches help you create a truly green space, even in a concrete jungle. Peddy furniture by Mindscape can be grown by just about anyone and requires only the occasional clipping to keep them neat and trim.

Adding a green touch to old pieces

Photo by sarah.c via Flickr

The wacky embellishment of these furniture pieces by Bob Gromofsky Designs gives a whole new meaning to bringing the outdoors in. We especially enjoy the grassy treatment given to the lamp, although aren’t quite sure what that’ll do to the diffusing quality of the shade.

Photo by blackdenimgumby via Flickr

Your personal care routine has never been this green! The garden powder room displayed at a past New England Flower Show demonstrated how to turn the common vanity desk and chair into a growing work of art.

Chia Obama

And from the realm of the historical memorablia (we couldn’t resist!) comes the CH- CH- CH- CHIEF Special Edition Chia Obama for the mantle of every American home. Emblazened with Obama’s “Yes We Can!” your growing “happy” or “determined” Obama head will add to your green decorating scheme

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Green Politicians: 10 eco-friendly additions to Washington

jbloom — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:20:20 +0000

Change is coming to Washington. Greed is out, and Green is in!

Here are 10 of our favorite fresh new faces: