Greevents

Saturday, January 21, 2012

TEDx Manhattan

I've been tweeting all day on the TEDx Manhattan conference on Food Sustainability. It's really a fantastic conference with amazing speakers, so I thought I would dedicate a blog post to it (my tweets mainly, which sum up some of the action).

Here is a list of the speakers for the event.

And here is my twitter feed for the afternoon.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Blogiversary!

I can't believe I forgot to celebrate my blogiversary! It was officially January 11 - easy to remember because I launched 1/11/11. It's really exciting to think about all the things i've done since then. I've been to dozens of events, met tons of people, learned more than I could have even imagined, increased my Klout score to over 47, and written 115 blog posts!

I love the learning process of this blog and hope to continue it for a long time. Thanks to the readers, (although I know there aren't that many of you, it's slowly increasing) for support and debate through your comments, Facebook likes, and Twitter mentions.

And I just have to give a special shout out to the members of the NY squirrel rehab community who certainly gave me a run for my money over my controversial article. I guess you haven't made it until you have haters...That wasn't the most fun part of this blog, but certainly one of the most valuable and memorable learning experiences.

Can't wait to continue this journey in its second year!
~Sara

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hand Drier Project

I am currently writing a grant proposal for a hand drier pilot that i've dreamed up. When I first arrived at Penn, I was pretty surprised to see who few hand driers had been installed - almost 0! I had previously worked on a project at my high school to replace all paper towels in the bathrooms with hand driers. There was some push back, a few odes to the noisy things, a few haiku's that people taped onto them, but people adjusted just fine - wiping their hands on their skirts if they were too scared that the Xcelerators would blow off their skin.

When I heard about the Green Fund Grant here at Penn, I immediately thought about the hand drier project. Sharing a bathroom with an entire hall in my freshman dorm means using paper towels to dry my hands after going to the bathroom. I've now switched to just watching my hands in my dorm room and using my towel there, as long as there's no one else in the bathroom, for fear that they might think that I don't wash my hands at all. My proposal involves replacing paper towels with hand driers in 5-10 bathrooms in my dorm as a pilot, and then potentially expanding it to the entire campus if it is financially sustainable. I am currently debating between Xcelerators and the Dyson Airblade. The Xcelerators tend to be rather noisy, but definitely effective. I think it will mostly come down to cost.

I've never written an official grant proposal, so it's been an interesting learning process. I'm meeting with my dean tomorrow and then will set up a meeting with Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) soon. I really hope this project gets off the ground! Suggestions are welcome!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Environmental Facebook

Credit

I've written a number of posts concerning collaboration. It's probably my biggest passion within the environmental movement. In fact, yesterday, during my Environmental Case Studies class, I was asked what my passion is within environmental sustainability. While other people mentioned sustainable food or energy, I just can't pick a topic that is most important. I believe that they are all almost equally important and need to be worked on by everyone. Most importantly, people need to be working on environmental issues in a collaborative manner.

Collaborative sites have started to pop up, but none has had the type of interactive success that the general sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have had. Of course this is due in part to the more targeted audience of sustainability, but I would still like to see a more comprehensive site. Hopefully I will eventually be able to put together some such site, or witness its creation. This is, after all, about advancing the movement as quickly as possible, not about who gets credit for it. Components of my dream site would include:

Quora Factor - a component where members can ask questions and receive answers from professionals and then vote up and down each answer. Quora has been incredibly successful in my eyes in promoting interactive discussion
Klout Factor - This encourages users who receive positive feedback from the community and ranks members based on actual knowledge. This also deters spam and uneducated posting.
User Profiles / Facebook Factor - This would actually be more like about.me where users can link they other accounts like Twitter, Facebook, and company pages, and write a short about me.
Pinterest Factor - The boards on pinterest and Quora have also taken off, exposing people to interesting and cool pictures and articles. These boards could be linked to people's profiles.
Categories/Tags: No more than 10 categories or tags to organize information. When people are able to independently tag their material, organization becomes difficult and people who may be working on similar projects often don't realize it. Of course each category can be further subdivided.
Events / Meetup Factor: The site Meetup.com has been incredibly successful in connecting people with similar interests and uniting them at physical events. This helps increase attendance and promotes networking.

Oh I wish I knew enough code to actually create this...

What else would you

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Greenpeace Solicitors

At what job do you get to stand in the freezing cold being rejected time and time again, while people avoid even making eye contact with you because they know you want to take their money and will make them, too, suffer in the cold or be late for class or work? Behold the amazing job of a Greenpeace solicitor. Everyone has encountered those Greenpeace representatives who stand on locust or walnut and stare you down from the end of the street until you approach. It turns awkward as you attempt to avoid their deathly gaze because you just know they are going to try to weasel you out of the $10 you just made at the behavioral lab.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a full-fledged environmentalist, but I have a hard time supporting those Greenpeace representatives. I am happy to show my support by going to events, signing my name to a petition, or doing a lobbying visit to the local congressman, but it is hard as a college student to give over my money to an international organization that operates on a very large scale with implications that are hard to see for myself. Not only are they annoying, but they make me feel guilty. In fact they make a lot of people feel guilty. People want to be able to help the environment, just not in the way they are demanding. Recently a friend said she wasn’t able to donate money, but would be happy to sign up for their newsletter to receive more information. The representative would not let her sign up unless she paid her dues. However, the newsletter is not limited to money-paying members online. You would think that to increase the organization’s support the rep would have gladly added her to their list and potentially increased their numbers at some events, but those solicitors only have one thing in mind – getting your money. I usually just smile at them, say that I am an active member who participates in meetings [which is true in my home state of New York], and wish them a good day. That usually gets them really excited and their faces brighten up. It’s worth the white lie to see that joy after being rejected all day long.

I propose we set up a simpler way of supporting Greenpeace and other organizations that want to wave down our students. Students are so glued to their computers and smart phones that they are often willing to receive newsletters and will learn something from them. What if students were simply given the option to sign up for the newsletter without being hounded for money? In order to be efficient, organizations need two types of power – money and PEOPLE. They need constituents to lobby to their politicians, citizens to show up to events, voters to pass new bills and elect the best politicians for the cause. They don’t just need money. Maybe if we didn’t think they were going to try to weasel us out of our few pennies we might stop more often or actually learn something about the cause from their newsletter.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Clout Consulting

I am very excited to launch Clout Consulting: Social Media for Environmental Organizations.
I launched the website yesterday and am ready to accept new clients. Interested organizations can email me at Sara.TheGreen.NYC@gmail.com or contact me via the contact page on the website.

About Clout Consulting

Social Media for Environmental Organizations
Clout Consulting is a social media consultancy, founded in January 2012, that is focused on helping environmental non-profits and social enterprises improve their outreach.

The goal of Clout Consulting is to increase your organization's interactive online followers and its presence in your niche of the sustainability movement. The consulting involves 4 steps. It will begin with an assessment of your current social media outlets. We will then create more customized channels specifically targeted to your audience. I will then link accounts and create maximum efficiency. Finally I will set up a sustainable plan of continued interactive posting.

Our success will be measured by your Klout score. This is a unique and effective way of measuring your true reach - not only the views and followers of your website but the people that interact positively with your content. Pricing is offered on a sliding scale and can be made to fit almost any budget. Please contact me here to learn more.

Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year's Resolutions

2012

What better way to create some accountability than by sharing my New Year's Resolutions on my blog! Of course these are the environmentally related ones.

1. Launch Clout Consulting: A social media consultancy for environmentally focused organizations. CHECK :)

2. Learn and Read!

3. Have (first plan) an exciting and productive summer

4. Make a difference.

5. Eat more sustainably.

6. Meet Bill McKibben

Okay, i know that's kind of a random one, but he's seriously my idol. That famous question, if you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be - I would pick McKibben without a doubt.

7. Blog more and freelance blog for some other sites.
8. Enjoy nature.

Those are some good goals for now. I have some more specific ones like get my hand drier grant proposal approved, etc., but those aren't so much resolutions in my eyes.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2012!