Around the world Monday, some 15,000 bloggers wrote about one thing. It was Blog Action Day, and this year the topic was the environment. Some wrote about the issues, but a number shared their suggestions, big and small on how to go greener. Read on for a few of their suggestions, and add a few of your own in the comments
At last check (as of 1239 London time), Technorati lists 12,557 blog posts tagged with 'blog action day'. I did a quick Blogpulse comparison over the last two months of posts about Blog Action Day versus posts about Britney Spears - a perennial blog topic. At least for one day, the environment topped Britney in blog buzz.
Top tips
On the Blog Action Day site itself, Leo Babauta of ZenHabits has 50 Quick, Painless Ways You Can Help the Environment Today. One tip that caught my eye was Use the oven less. Great factoid: "You lose 25% of the heat every time you open the oven door".
Simplehelp gives a good roundup of posts on the day. Their favourite quote of the day was from Lighter Footstep. After a list of simple steps to go green, they suggest:
Relearning skills pushed aside by thoughtless consumerism.
Lifehacker is a great blog about little ways to make life better or easier. (British journalist Danny O'Brien coined the term life hack, according to Wikipedia.) They put out a call a week ago for suggestions and highlighted their favourites. Some of Lifehackers suggestions are old ones like wearing a sweater instead of turning up the heat or using cloth instead of plastic nappies. Some are a little newer such as powering down your external hard drives.
Out of Africa
Juliana Rotich has done a great roundup on Global Voices of posts from Africa. She pointed to a great post on Afrigadget titled Where the World Sees Junk, Africa Recycles. They highlight and artist that not only uses scrap metal to create art but also has built a home-made welder. Talk about reduce, recycle and reuse. For more on Afrigadget, they were featured on the BBC's Pods and Blogs last week.
Juliana also points to a great blog by Jenty in South Africa. Jenty is posting a photo a day, and in honour of Blog Action Day, she posted a picture of a refinery and talks about trying to explain pollution to her 4-year-old, who asks:
So, Mom, when are the police going to put the bad men in jail?
There is a lot more out there in a myriad of languages. What are your top tips? Did you spot any good posts? Did you post yourself? Let us know in the comments.
