This document discusses how to incorporate green blogging into social media. It argues that blogging and sustainability are a good match as they are both about interaction and learning. Green blogging is about publicly engaging with ideas and practices to challenge inherited mental models and invite others to do the same. It is less about activism, teaching, or PR in the traditional sense. The document provides examples of blogs and companies that effectively incorporate sustainability into their social media, and suggests that mommy bloggers, food bloggers, fashion/lifestyle bloggers, entertainment bloggers, and business bloggers could also effectively discuss green topics. It concludes that it is okay to learn on the job through engagement and conversation rather than preaching, and that meeting users where they are and

1. How to Incorporate Green Blogging into Your
Social Media
Jeff McIntire-Strasburg
sustainablog.org
Twitter: @sustainablog

2. A little bit about me
Trained as an English teacher/scholar
Mostly a lifelong environmentalist
Started sustainablog in July, 2003 as a “writing to
learn” experiment
Went “pro” in 2006 with Treehugger, Green
Options Media, and, later, Sundance Channel

3. So, where'd you learn about
sustainability?
Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce
Daniel Quinn's Ishmael series
Consistent (daily) reading and writing...
Engaging with the community at sustainablog...
Went at this all backwards... starting doing, and
then conceptualized later...

4. Blogging & Sustainability: A Great
Match
Parallel growth of social media (including
blogging) and current wave of eco-
consciousness
Ideally, both are about interaction and learning...
not messaging or “evangelism”
Both are focused on journeys more than
destinations.

5. The Cluetrain Manifesto and
Markets
Markets are conversations
That conversation goes on with or without you
“Green” is something that needs to be sold still...
and not just in the form of green products
“Green” is a concept that can enter multiple
conversations/ “markets”

6. Peter Senge's “Fifth Discipline”
Systems thinking
– “Ecological” in scope: interdependence,
holism, inputs & outputs
– The flow of energy, materials and
information...
– Systems exist within environments

7. Green Blogging is about learning
We start with public engagement with ideas and
practices... even if we do it badly
We challenge the mental models that we've
inherited
We invite others to do the same...
We learn about what motivates others to take
action (and it may not be environmentalism)

8. It's Less About...
Activism (at least in the traditional sense)
Teaching (at least not in the traditional sense)
Public Relations (at least not in the traditional
sense)

9. Who's doing it well?: Blogs
Treehugger: environmentalism is cool, hip, stylish
Worldchanging: consistent interrogations of
systems and solutions
Springwise: User-submitted examples of green
start-ups
Mother Earth News: aligning sustainability with
“traditional American values”

10. Who's Doing it Well?: Companies
Wal-Mart (yes, that Wal-Mart): setting BHAGs,
learning how to reach them, and engaging with
the blogosphere (both through their own blogs,
as well as other bloggers)
Seventh Generation: not only in producing more
sustainable products, but in using social media
as a platform for discussing broader issues (and
taking a position on these issues)

11. Who Could Do It Well?
Mommy bloggers
– Audience is already concerned beyond its
immediate needs
– Health & safety are primary motivations
– Already have an “in” with corporate America

12. Who Could Do It Well
Food Bloggers
– Already a huge sub-niche... food may be
one of the biggest environmental issues
people are discussing right now.
– Green & Gourmet aren't polar opposites
– Appeals to foodies sense of adventure

13. Who Could Do It Well
Fashion & lifestyle bloggers
– Design is a critical element of sustainable
thinking
– Green doesn't have to mean “crunchy”
– Integrating values with purchasing decisions

14. Who Could Do It Well
Entertainment bloggers
– Obvious celebrity tie-ins
– Cuts across interests: music, film, sports,
etc.
– Areas that produce huge footprints...
particularly at the point of consumption

15. Who Could Do It Well?
Business bloggers
– Conversations surrounding the value
propositions of “greener” products, services,
processes
– Establishes credibility with a concept valued
highly by consumers
– Creates self-organized focus groups for
market research
– Creates a space to engage (genuinely) with
critics

16. Take-aways
It's OK to learn on the job...
Engagement and conversation are key... no one
likes preaching
Meet your user where they are
Baby steps are OK... as long as they're
understood in larger system