Since my Percent for Victory posts, I've been ruminating further on the many different styles of outreach techniques needed to persuade folks to formally give up a portion of their home/work/community land (or patio!) for sustainable plantings and to engage in other simple earth-friendly activities as part of a united effort. Actually, I don't have much more stuff to offer up today, other than I'm pretty much full circle back at patriotism and civic duty being the essential framework for all this. Yet through my research/thinking, I took a look at two sites and wanted to share them to get your feedback.
They both launched in 2007, which is interesting--again, there's some Zeitgeist stuff going on. And they each make a compelling case for going green to their respective target audiences. Read on for their differences:
• Riot for Austerity: The site launched as a year-long initiative to encourage people to reduce energy consumption by 90%. There are seven categories for reduction and a nifty calculator to help you determine your goals based on present consumption. In many ways, this is exactly the kind of initiative that I was envisioning in my second Percent for Victory post. (Their FAQs say that a full 90% isn't required of all participants...just a goal. When I saw the 90% up top of the page, I immediately thought of Pareto's Principle, aka the 80/20 rule, but I digress...) The site's design is simple...austere, even...but the participant bloggers seem committed. A cursory read of some of their posts revealed some great, insightful observations from some very smart individuals. No advertising. And they have a Yahoo Group which anyone can join. The basic pitch? Yes, we can all go green and reduce our energy consumption with some serious planning and commitment.
• Ideal Bite: Their tag line is "a sassier shade of green" and the box featuring their recent daily suggestions (which you can have emailed to you) is titled "Let's get tipsy" and feature a green appletini...which I think is why Sex and The City springs to mind every time I visit this site (no wonder...they had a swanky launch party). Was a SATC fan, so that comparison's not a slight...and I guess proves that I'm part of their target audience?) There's a cheeky blog and they sell reuseable cloth bags and such emblazoned with their logo, too. As an avid reader of mainstream health and wellness magazines, I've seen Ideal Bite mentioned a couple of times...they seem to be very good at promoting what they're doing. And they have a lot of advertisers, which suggests making money is definitely part of their plan...and, again, not necessarily a bad thing. (My only real criticism is that their name makes me think it's a foodie site.) The crux for Ideal Bite? Goin' green is easy-breezy and hip.
Like I said, to my mind, both of these sites are needed to bring the public along in taking action toward greener living. I prolly tilt a little more to Riot's simple, intellectualized message, but there is something playful about the other site that is appealing...maybe it taps into my hipper parts buried beneath the food-stained mommy veneer? (For the record, I've yet to join either site.)
Am curious to read your own reviews or suggestions for other similar online initiatives, if you care to share them in Comments.
|