In honor of Blog Action Day today, I have dedicated this edition of Speedlinking to a few of the sites that are on my list of regular reads that participated in the theme of blogging on the environment.
1. Darren Rowse asked how can bloggers be environmentally responsible? Darren provided a few ideas, including the simple act of turning off your computer at the end of each day. I’m one that never powers down my machine at home or work unless I am going to be gone for a few days so this is something that I could easily do.
2. Chris Garrett noticed that quite a few people felt that Blog Action Day would make no difference but he believes that bloggers can help, even if only by becoming a more curious consumer. In my day to day activities I admit that I don’t often think about how little things can impact the environment but I will be working to educate myself as well.
3. Brian Clark shared his thoughts on the Butterfly Effect and how tiny actions can save the world. As someone that recently installed energy efficient windows in my home, switched to CFL bulbs throughout the house and negotiated with my boss to work from home more often I think I’ve made a few small actions that will do a small part for the environment.
4. Wendy Piersall reminded business owners that green living is not just for individuals with her post about 10 green business tips to help prevent global warming. Take a look and see which tips you are already following or that you can implement in your business. As an added bonus, Wendy is donating 100% of the commissions received today to The Nature Conservancy.
5. Gary Jones provided some insight into why BlueFur decided to participate in carbon balancing and how some people don’t believe that makes them a green company. In my opinion, I would classify a business that practices carbon balancing to be a green company and am happy to see that my hosting company has taken this step.
If you haven’t already, please take a minute to stop by and read each of these articles and thank the authors for doing their part as a member of Blog Action Day.
There are quite a few reasons why these blogs are on my list of daily reads and their effort to support the environment is just one small example of those reasons.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Of all people, bloggers are probably most environmentally conscious due to their short commutes to their desks and weekly recycling of prizes they’ve won at other blogs 😆
The option to completely shutting off your system is to just set it to hibernate. All my systems hibernate, which uses minimal power, till I’m ready to go back to them. I hate waiting for them to boot so this is the best alternative for me, especially laptops with slow hard drives.
I’m guilty of the “never shut the computer off” action and have considered changing this, but it just seems more efficient and effective to leave it on. I do use CFL bulbs and recycle my newspapers though.
@Stephen :: Hibernate is a good alternative, which is something I actually do with my laptop and have my desktop monitors all go into energy/sleep mode when not in use.
@Nick :: I’d guess that a lot of people leave their computers on all of the time, particularly those with broadband access. Glad to hear that you use the CFLs as well and recycle, every little bit helps.
I have a large 12 outlet power strip behind my computer desk which powers my pc, cable modem, wireless router, monitor, color scanner, laser printer, inkjet printer, police scanner, satellite receiver, and 13 inch tv which all sit on or in my computer desk.
At night before I go to bed, I completely power down my computer and shut the power strip off.
Since I don’t need it on during weekdays until after work, it stays off until then.
On weekends, I simply boot it up first thing in the morning before I need to use it. This way I dont have to wait on the boot.
I’m sure it probably isn’t going to save the world, but it does save a couple of bucks on the utility bill.
Well, I’m not getting rid of my Mustang for an electric car but I’ve stopped using styrofoam cups. I’ve also stopped throwing them out of my car window at hookers 😉