Eco-Activism 2.0
by Sarah on June 23rd, 2009
President Obama’s recent televised fly swatting impacted more than just the fly. It sparked both PETA to send Obama a device that traps flies for subsequent outdoor release and an online debate across social media sites as to whether or not PETA overreacted. The result may influence whether or not Obama swats again. It is clear that Eco-Activism 2.0 is in full swing but it begs the question ‘can online eco-activism actually make a difference?’
For those people who are unfamiliar with the term ‘Eco-Activism,’ it is used to describe a person, such as Van Jones or Al Gore, who is involved in heightening consciousness and promoting potential behavioral solutions to environmental issues. There are many types of Eco-Activists. The type to which I am referring is rooted in good old fashioned person to person conversations. The more people to whom you speak, the more likely you are to reach the ‘tipping point.’ As the need to ‘go green’ intensifies, so too does our need to spread the world quickly. And what spreads the word more quickly than social media? The problem is to make sure that the word does not just spread online, but that corrective solutions are taken offline.
Two social media websites, 2people.org and changents.com, are designed to enable eco-activists to connect and to form online communities focused on solving environmental problems. 2people.org’s goal is to create a critical mass of activists who will create enough buzz about global warming that it will cause people to do something about it. Its basic social networking features allow people to form activism teams, to create a virtual workspace, and to monitor events, people, and actions in the world. Changents.com then enables Change Agents (Changents) to team-up with a receptive audience of Backers who can respond to, spread, support and consumer their innovations and ideas. They have offline abilities to back a Change agent through Action Requests.
Although still in Beta, in its first year, changents.com has already received 235 action requests for 157 Change Agents. One such Change Agent is the Big Green Bus team – a group of 15 Dartmouth students who are driving a huge green solar paneled veggie-oil powered bus cross-country to bring awareness to how we can all change the reliance on energy. The requested action: that their 122 Backers forward their schedule and message to their friends. Eco-Activism 2.0 is working. The team met with Senator Jeanne Shaheen and House Representative Dave Reichert last Friday.
For those people who are unable to make the time and effort to “change the world,” supporting an online eco-activist site makes it incredibly fun and easy. All it takes is just getting online and enabling social media to spread the word.
We really can move a nation—if each of us moves two people. And going out and changing the world is really as simple as clicking a mouse.
Tags: community development, Eco-Activism, green banking, green transportation, ShoreBank, social media, triple bottom line
It looks like Obama’s fly ended up with its own Twitter account. http://twitter.com/aflyobamakilled
Thanks for the post Sarah! It has been an incredible honor to bring together some of the most amazing change agents on the planet in a social media environment. We have much to learn and grow, but the response has been really quite powerful and the connections that change agents are making with the general public on our platform demonstrates the power of “story” and “connectivity.” As an aside, I would like to learn more about Shorebank and invite you to contact me: deron at changents dot com. I would have emailed you directly, but do not have your contact info. Thanks!
Deron Triff
CEO
Changents.com
You are very welcome, Deron. I too believe that “story” and “connection” really can make a tangible difference. Many people cannot believe that the amount of participation that people have on social media is usually magnified when that same group of people converges offline. Members of the Social Media Club in Chicago actually cannot be shushed at our monthly meetings. What has been your experience? And what type of nay saying do you most often hear?