There’s no hiding from the environmentally conscious trend that’s taking the world by storm. Environmental awareness has hit everyone from the residential stay-at-home mom to the big business CEO. Everyone wants a piece of the ‘saving the world’ pie. Mom and Dad are buying organic groceries, maybe even cutting down their carbon footprint and buying less meat every week. Businesses are trying to clean up their means of production and making certain that consumers take notice as soon as they do. From purchasing environment-friendly cleaning supplies to joining a social network made for the environmental activist, there’s always an opportunity to do the earth some good. Wait – a social network made for the environmental activist? Yes, the effort to go green is reaching as far as the world wide web. Check out these green social networks:
* BigCarrot
o BigCarrot is a site devoted to rewarding the world’s do-gooders. The whole scheme of the website is all about offering rewards to people who achieve goals concerned with the environment. If the best way you can think to make a difference is by offering 30 bucks to the first person who collects trash at the park by your house, then BigCarrot is the social network for you. It can be a little difficult to get around the site and create prizes, but its relatively easy to find friends in its active community. It’s worth a shot to win some prizes, as well.
* Carbonrally
o Carbonrally wants you to reduce carbon emissions by working with others who use the site. After signing up, each user creates his own personal challenge. To achieve your goal, you’ve got to find team members to help you. You can also sign up for challenges posted by other users. To meet your goals you’ve got to communicate with other team members, discuss the steps towards your goal that you’ve taken thus far, and discuss how the challenge could be improved. Fortunately, the challenges aren’t too difficult. An example of one would be taking your air conditioning down two degrees and maintaining that temperature for one week. The site will tell you the impact that each individual can make by doing this, as well as the impact that the whole group of people that signed up can make.
* Celsias
o The purpose of joining Celsias is to be a good user by raising your Celsias temperature from a beginning value of 0 degrees on up. You can raise your Celsias temperature by participating in green activity. You can do this by turning the air conditioning down, buying more vegetables and less meat, or using energy-efficient lightbulbs. It’s easy to follow and interact with other users as you discuss your strategies and encourage each other along the way.
* Change.org
o Change.org is a great place to start if you want to really make a difference. It encourages you to raise money for green iniatives and improve your ability to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle. You can also discuss a variety of topics with other users. You can make friends with the other users or just join causes. Change.org rates you on the amount of money you raise, the users you”ve recruited to your cause, and the steps that you’ve taken personally to go green.
* Creative Citizen
o Creative Citizen rates you based on “Greenage.” The higher your Greenage the more prominent you are in the community. This is done by engaging in activities that are better for the environment. Creative Citizen is fairly small yet, but the existing community is very involved.
* Green Voice
o On Green Voice, people can work together to start up grassroots projects. Individuals can create their own projects or sign on to ones previously started by other users. The site lets you use photos, videos, blogs, and other forums to get the word out about your campaign. It also provides you with access to petition templates and any other tools or resources that help you achieve your goals.
* HowYouEco
o On HowYouEco, you can build a profile and make friends as soon as you sign up. This website helps the environment by providing user reviews of green products, which has proven to be very useful. The site also has a Twitter-like update box for every profile so that you can share your going green ideas.
* Make Me Sustainable
o Make Me Sustainable is a website dedicated to making you aware of your own carbon footprint. You will first answer questions about your car and your home followed by questions about your lifestyle. Once you answer the questions, the site tells you what your impact on the environment is. You can make this information public to other users, become friends with them, and discuss ways to better your results.
With all these great opportunities for the internet-inclined, it’s possible for anyone to go green these days!