Today is Blog Day
Today is not just the day before Labor Day – it’s also Blog Day. So what is Blog Day? It’s an event created to celebrate the diversity of the blogosphere. Participants are encouraged to share five new blogs with their own blog’s community.
Here’s the founder of Blog Day, Nir Ofir, on Blog Day: “Did you know that the majority of blog Readers read a very small number of top blogs? Is this social media? I initiated the blogDay in 2005 with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to discover new blogs and expose them to the world.”
I’ve chosen to share five blogs that are outside OrganicMania’s normal coverage of green and organic news and trends. Without further ado, here are five blogs I recently discovered that I hope you enjoy too:
1. Of course, how could I not pick the Blog Day founder’s blog, UGENCO? Short for “User Generated Content,” Nir’s blog focuses on UGENCO articles, news and views. As I literally just discovered this blog, I can’t say too much about it, but it has to be great, right?
2. Learning that Nir blogs from Israel made my thoughts turn to one of my favorite bloggers, entrepreneurs, and all-around “personalities,” Jeff Pulver. I met Jeff back in the ‘90s when he was starting the first Voice on the Net conference and I was Director of Marketing at Telogy Networks, a Voice over IP start-up (now part of Texas Instruments). Reconnecting with Jeff through his blog, his tweets, and his recent meet-up in DC has been a joy. Jeff blogs about diverse subjects ranging from this morning’s Tel Aviv “meet-up” breakfast to musings about how his twin sons will handle separation from always-on Internet access while at summer camp.
3. Charlene Li was known to me as one of the great Forrester analysts on social media and the co-author of Groundswell. But poking around Charlene’s new blog just the other day, I discovered her personal blog, Midnight Musings. Immediately l felt a sense of kinship with Charlene – like her, I’m a Mom who is working hard to balance self-employment and consulting with family life. Then I discovered that Charlene also posts on the great ….
4. Silicon Valley Moms Blog. SVMoms Blog is about “40+ moms [who ]write about being CEOs at work and CFOs at home, where houses are expensive, kids love sushi and have web businesses, and moms are too busy chauffeuring kids to raise a sword in the mommywars.” SVMoms Blog reminds me of why I always loved my business trips to Silicon Valley!
5. Idealist.org is a great site to check out for news about non-profits and the challenges facing them. I love this recent post reminding their readers that “charitable nonprofits in the US are simply forbidden from doing anything with the goal of affecting the outcome of any election, whether for President or for dog catcher.”
So Happy Blog Day! Now you can spend part of Labor Day cruising the blogosphere, discovering great new sites!
— Lynn
Filed under Blog | Wordpress Comment (0) |From Vision to Reality: Family Fights over Global Warming
Last Monday, we celebrated a fantastic gathering of green voices here at OrganicMania. The Green Moms Carnival on Global Warming brought bloggers together to talk about steps we can take to slow, reduce or eliminate global warming.
I don’t know about you, but I was fired up to see so much passion and commitment. So not being one for a lot of blather, I set out to implement some of the ideas proposed by my fellow Green Moms, “Mothers of the Earth,” and “sons of Mothers.”
Then reality intervened.
Changing patterns is hard. Doing things differently from other people is difficult. Living sustainably is a challenge.
Fighting with your kids over global warming? It’s the secret reality. I learned long ago I’m not all that unique – so if I experienced some recalcitrant behavior from my six-year-old, I could not have been the only “Green Mom” going through this.
It all started with a change in behavior – my DH normally drops our son off at camp on his way to work. This particular day, he was walking to metro, about 15 minutes away. Big Boy was running late, but he told me “not to worry,” that he could just be driven over to camp after Dad left and still make it on time.
No.
“What? Why not? I don’t need to walk. I get plenty of exercise at camp.”
“No,” I responded. “It’s not good for the environment. Driving cars too much is what’s causing global warming. You either walk now with Dad or you walk later, but no one’s driving you over there.”
Well, just imagine six-year-old rebellion.
“But all the other kids’ parents drive them there!”
“Maybe those parents are dropping their kids off on their way to work. But your Dad’s not driving today. So we’re not driving you today. We have to take care of the Earth. And sometimes that means not driving.”
It’s amazing how “mean” I’ve become since he turned six. Why do mothers change so when their sons hit six? Suddenly, I’m a real “meanie.”
Well, he did end up walking with Dad, but the ensuing drama caused DH to be late to metro. So all of a sudden, I wasn’t just arguing with my son, but now my DH was annoyed too. Even though DH agreed with me (but of course).
You need to be organized to be green.
You need to change your patterns. You need to plan. You need to think ahead.
It’s not easy. And if at first you don’t succeed, don’t beat up on yourself either. After all, I’m not one for beating ourselves up with “eco-sins.” I much prefer the term Eco-Mistakes.
So how’s the battle against global warming going on your end? What changes have you made to your daily routines? Enquiring minds want to know.
— Lynn
Filed under Blog, global warming | Wordpress Comments (12) |Organic Food Savings: Tweeting at Trader Joes, Whole Foods & Giant
Note: The post below was written before the launch of the Green Moms Carnival on Global Warming. I almost didn’t post this because frankly, my thoughts are not on organic finds right now. But I thought I owed it to everyone who does come here looking for organic savings tips. So stay tuned for my next post, which will cover the aftermath of the Green Moms Carnival on Global Warming – how do you go from vision to reality?
——
You’d think I had a family of eight, not four, with three trips to the market last week. I should be eating less, not more, with the great Tweet-2-Fit weight loss challenge underway this week!
But getting out to three different markets does give one a good perspective on pricing. It’s really tough to say which market has the best deals – it all depends on your family’s buying patterns. And of course, it makes no sense to drive around in search of great deals. Not only is it bad for the environment, but with gas prices hovering around $4 anyway, it’s unlikely you’ll save enough money to merit another trip. But, with some advance planning, you can take advantage of the bargain specialties of each store when you happen to be nearby. I live in an urban area – there are four Whole Foods close to my regular haunts, plus Trader Joes, Balduccis, Giant, Safeway, and numerous CSAs, co-ops and farmers markets.
If you haven’t signed up for Twitter yet, you can sign up here. I’m finding it so useful to send out live Twitter updates on my organic finds that I’m loathe to write-up everything again on OrganicMania, especially on a busy week like last week when I was working on the launch of the Green Moms Carnival on Global Warming (and closing new business for my consulting practice!)
C’mon, join in…you’ll learn where I found organic apples at 3 pounds for $5 (incredible deal when they’re usually more than $2.50 per pound), which “great deal” on bananas was really not a great deal and why, and even be on hand when Baby Boo says fish (or feesh!) for the first time. Plus, did you know you can give time-outs in Whole Foods?
Happy Shopping!
Lynn
Filed under Blog, Consulting Business, Food, global warming, Savings Tips, Where to Buy Organics, Whole Foods | Wordpress Comment (1) |Green Moms Carnival Launches; Tackling Global Warming
Today OrganicMania is featuring some great contributions from around the green blogosphere. We’re blogging about how we can make a difference in the fight against global warming. Most of us are Green Moms (aka Eco Moms), but we’ve got a few “Mothers of the Earth” and “sons of Moms” joining us too.
And yes, I know that this is supposed to be a web log – and not a diary – but these posts were so fantastic, I got carried away! So sit back, relax, grab something to drink, and enjoy!
Why a Green Moms Carnival? Well, as La Marguerite so aptly puts it, “Moms need to have a bigger role in the climate discourse. We are talking about Mother Earth after all. The qualities that come to us as mothers, as in giving, protecting, nurturing, and sustaining life, are the same ones that are needed to remedy climate change.” Read more here.
It was that post from La Marguerite which inspired this carnival, along with some encouragement from Alana at Gray Matters. While there are many, many “Green Moms” or “EcoMoms” blogging about everything from recycling to gardening, very few of us have been blogging about global warming.
Jennifer – aka “The Smart Mama” came to the same realization I did. As she put it, “Okay, here I am trying to protect my children from toxic chemicals so as to reduce their risk of adverse health effects, but it won’t matter much if they don’t get cancer if they can’t live here on Earth. If you read the reports on what will happen if we don’t do something right now, it is frightening and depressing… being non-toxic isn’t always the same as being green, so I decided to pay more attention to being both green and non-toxic.” Jennifer shares 10 simple steps any one can take to fight global warming.
Beth at Fake Plastic Fish is known for her campaigns to reduce personal plastic consumption and to lobby Clorox to recycle Brita water filters in North America, as they do in Europe. In this post, Beth presents a well – researched explanation of how plastic use contributes to global warming.
MamaBird at SurelyYouNest muses about her grandmother’s Depression-era sensibilities and how a respect for the mundane may be the simple solution to shrinking our carbon footprints. Enter a comment to win a copy of The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Your Carbon Footprint.
Over at Green Bean Dreams, the Mommys are Roaring. Discover how you can find the strength to combat global warming and deliver a healthy planet to our children. Helicopter parent? Hover over something truly worth worrying about: global warming.
Wondering how to talk to your kids about global warming? Mindful Momma has some solid tips for you, as does MC Milker of Not Quite Crunchy Parent. And eco ‘burban mom shares how her kids responded to watching “An Inconvenient Truth.”
But get your act together first. Here are OrganicMania’s 10 Things You Can Do to Help Fight Global Warming. And Matthew, who is as he puts it, “the son of a mom” shares three things you can do to fight global warming over at Conservatives and Normals. Our other “token male,” Lane of veganbits.com, blogs about ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Anna at Green Talk questions whether or not we as a society have changed our behavior in response to the threat of global warming. She is tired of waiting for change. She offers simple suggestions, and challenges you to do the same.
And while we’re all trying to reduce our fuel consumption, many of us are wondering how. Read these tips from “Big Green Purse” author Diane MacEachern and you may just save $20 to $50 per month on gasoline.
Leave it to Jenn of Tiny Choices, one of our Mothers of the Earth, to use humor to ask two very serious questions: Do you think global warming is generally accepted as truth by this point? Have you run into skeptics, and if so, what’s the conversation been like? While you’re thinking about it, check out the video Jenn posted of humorist Jill Sobule singing “Manhattan in January.”
Tiffany of Nature Moms brought up the “climate crisis hoax” issue in a poignant post that received more than 19 reader comments! Seems she catches a lot of flack from her neighbors for fighting global warming, but as she points out, she values her environmental actions on many levels. Its simply the right thing to do.
Mary Hunt of In Women We Trust points out that while making sense of green claims can be tough, as more and more products with Product Life Cycle Assessments like the SMaRT Sustainable Product Standard are brought to market, it will be far easier to measure and quantify the pollution and carbon footprint of a product across an entire supply chain.
And if all this talk of global warming stresses you out, remember gardening is a great stress reliever. Did you know that you can reduce your community’s carbon footprint through gardening? Ivory of Little House in the Suburbs shows you how.
Because remember, at the end of the day, don’t you want to be remembered for treading lightly on this fragile Earth, our island home? That’s the question Karen of Best of Mother Earth asked herself after reading an article in National Geographic which “took all the plastics found in a typical American home and put it all out on the front lawn. It was a 2 page spread of junk, or things at the time I didn’t even know were plastic or petroleum derived. I was shocked….I personally want to be remembered for the footprint I don’t leave behind.”
Well put, Karen.
Finally, a big THANK YOU to all the bloggers who participated in the launch of this carnival. Special thanks to Green Beam Dreams for making a cool Green Moms Carnival badge which you’ll see posted on many of the Green Moms sites participating in this carnival, and muchas gracias to eco burban mom for sorting through the many submissions that came in to the carnival mailbox. (Not all were on global warming, but we’ll add yours in if they match a future topic). There were even a few who helped along the way, but could not get a post up today – so Gray Matters, EnviroMom, and Crunchy Chicken, we still love ya!
This will be a monthly event, with topics chosen by each month’s carnival host. So on the second Monday in September, join MamaBird at Surely You Nest to discuss green topics around “Back to School.”
Want to submit a post for next month’s carnival? The theme will be “Back to School,” and it will be hosted by SurelyYouNest. To submit, just go to the carnival submission link here.
Whew! Please leave a comment and let us know what you thought about the Green Moms Carnival.
— Lynn
Filed under Blog, global warming | Wordpress Comments (22) |An Oldie But A Goody: Healthy, Organic & On The Road at Crunchy Domestic Goddess!
Crunchy Domestic Goddess is one of the blogosphere’s original “Green Moms.” Our goddess Amy was green before anyone called it green! So it’s a special thrill to have one of OrganicMania’s favorite posts, “Healthy, Organic & On The Road” featured over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess. Check it out!
Amy’s been blogging since ’04, is a contributing editor at BlogHer and API Speaks, a reviewer at Green Mom Finds, a contributor to 5 Minutes for Going Green and she’s the “Eco Diva” at Blissfully Domestic. She is one of the most outspoken and well informed voices in the Green Mom blogosphere on issues including natural living, extended breastfeeding, and natural birth.
This week, Crunchy Domestic Goddess is featuring some of her favorite posts from other Green voices around the blogosphere. So go take a peek – it’s a great way to catch some of the best green posts around.
Thanks, Amy, for all you do, and have a great vacay!
— Lynn
Filed under Blog, Green Ideas & Stuff, Green moms, Parenting | Wordpress Comments (2) |Green Moms Carnival Launches Monday: Tackling Global Warming
A year ago I didn’t think of myself as a “Green Mom.” Sure, I was environmentally aware, and I tried to do the right things for Mother Earth, but I didn’t associate myself as being part of a larger movement.
Well, take a few months, a heavy dose of the green blogosphere, and media attention focusing on the “Green Mom” or “Eco Mom” phenomenon and just imagine what happened.
Not only did I start to identify as a “Green Mom,” but my interests broadened beyond organic foods, natural products, recycling and pollution control to encompass a whole range of other environmental topics, most of which were brought to my attention by a wonderful sisterhood of Green Women Bloggers.
From Jessica at Surely You Nest I learned about the hazards of lawn pesticides; Beth at Fake Plastic Fish taught me how to reduce my plastic waste, and from Heather and Renee at EnviroMom I learned that those folks in Portland, Oregon have thought about everything green!
But it was La Marguerite who prodded me to think more deeply about global warming. Of course I knew about it already. But it seemed remote. And what’s worse, it seemed scary. As one friend confided, “Being a mother is anxiety-provoking enough. I don’t need to read something that’s going to make me even more anxious.”
And the fact is, most “Green Mom” bloggers have only skirted the issue of global warming. Sure, we refer to it, but by and large our blogs are full of far more references to CSAs, organic cottons, phthalate- free toys and recycling than to the depressing news about global warming.
La Marguerite tried reaching out to the Mommy Bloggers with her Green Drop project. She even profiled some Green Moms like yours truly on her own blog. But it wasn’t until she wrote this poignant post, “Mothers Needed to Protect the Earth,” that I really started thinking harder about harnessing the power of the Green Mom blogosphere to draw attention to climate change and to advocate changes to slow the rate of global warming.
What if, instead of blogging about our usual topics, a group of Green Moms focused on global warming instead? As a marketing consultant, I know any campaign to bring about change starts with raising awareness. One way to do that is through message repetition. What better way than to get a group of Green Moms blogging about global warming?
So this Monday, check back at OrganicMania for the inaugural posts of the Green Moms Carnival. It will be a compilation of posts about global warming from around the Green Mom blogosphere. And what’s more, we’ll have some honorary “Green Mom Earth Mothers” joining us too…
(And yes, the Green Moms Carnival will blog about other topics besides global warming in upcoming months. But I do hope that we continue to use the carnival as a venue to discuss global warming).
— Lynn
Copyright OrganicMania 2008
Filed under Blog, Green Ideas & Stuff | Wordpress Comments (7) |BlogHERs Worrying About What to Wear
On Friday the BlogHER conference, expected to draw more than 1,000 female bloggers, gets underway in San Francisco. It’s the “it” event if you’re a woman who blogs. In a sure sign of giddy anticipation, some tweets and blog posts are full of questions from women wondering what to wear to BlogHER.
For a while, I considered attending, but something stopped me. Among my reasons for skipping the conference was the realization that although some of my anonymity has been stripped away as my blog has matured, I enjoy being just a voice in cyberspace, with a tad of mystery still attached. And frankly, the fact that I still haven’t taken off “the baby weight” makes me feel self-conscious when meeting people.
Of course, I’ve reached out to some of my new bloggy friends by phone or email, but for the most part, they’ve never seen me. These friendships are pure. They’re based on a meeting of the minds, shared ideals, an appreciation of the other’s good humor, and in some cases, the kinship of motherhood.
At times, alone in my home office, I’ve wondered what it would be like to meet my bloggy friends in person. At a luncheon for local power blogger Geoff Livingston, I got my answer.
“Lynn,” my neighbor and bloggy friend Julie Power called out as we walked into the hotel, “Lynn, is my hem straight? Does this dress look okay?”
Now, if you’ve ever read Julie’s witty posts about Internet marketing, you would surely believe that this is a woman who could care less about hems and dresses. She’s got so much else on her mind!
After assuring Julie that she looked just swell, I settled in to listen to what Geoff had to say. But something distracted me. It was all the people in their business suits. I was listening to their voices, as I do when I make calls from my home office, but I was also noticing their appearance. I was making mental notes of who was old, who was young, who was slim, who was overweight, who was well spoken and well dressed and who was not.
It actually shocked me that I focused on appearance so quickly, but I know all too well that this is normal human behavior. I noticed that instead of intently focusing on the words forming from this person’s inner core, I was focused on the external packaging as well.
It reminded me of a time a few years back when I telecommuted and had met very few of my work colleagues. One of the writers I shared a warm banter with shyly confessed one day, “It would be funny to meet you, Lynn.”
When I asked him why, he said, “Well, I’ve worked with you for years but never met you. And in my mind’s eye, I’ve decided that you look just like Catherine Zeta Jones.”
I laughed and confessed that like Catherine, I’m a brunette, have roots in Bermuda, and am a Mom. The similarities stop there, but I didn’t want to quash his dream.
So have fun at BlogHer, ladies. Don’t worry about what to wear. And as for me, just call me Catherine. Catherine Zeta Jones.
Copyright 2008 OrganicMania
Filed under Blog | Wordpress Comments (5) |Thrilled that Blogging Continues to Change My Life
Shortly after starting OrganicMania, I wrote this post about How Blogging Changed My Life, which ran on LaMarguerite. As I wrote then, I “realized that organics and green living are more than simply an interest of mine. I want to find a way to make these passions fit into my work life too. This is obviously a huge change, and I’ll be blogging more about this as I explore what new doors may open for me.”
Happily, many doors have opened since that post. Not only do I want to share this good news with all those who have encouraged my efforts with OrganicMania, but I think it’s important to do so in the interest of “full disclosure” as well.
When I started OrganicMania, my marketing consultancy was focused on technology businesses, which was a logical step since I had spent my entire career in high tech marketing. Yet when it was time to explore social media and blogging, I chose to blog not about tech marketing, but about organics and going green.
Now, thanks to OrganicMania, I’ve expanded my marketing consulting business into the organic, green and non-profit sectors. My new clients are: Mom Made™ Foods, a leading brand of organic children’s foods; Livability Project, an organization focused on building sustainable communities; and .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, which manages the .ORG top-level Internet domain.
At times this journey seemed like something straight out of Oprah. Following my bliss was scary for me, as there was no defined career path, no specific roadmap to follow. There was no rational plan for how all of this unfolded. I met Heather Stouffer, founder of Mom Made, after she left this comment on OrganicMania. I met Dave Feldman of Livability through my volunteer work with Bethesda Green. In fact, I’ve met so many amazing people through OrganicMania – that’s another way blogging has changed my life, and another post for another day.
Thanks again to all of you for your support.
— Lynn
Copyright OrganicMania 2008
Filed under Blog, Consulting Business, Marketing | Wordpress Comments (6) |Looking for Organic Food Savings Friday?
Sorry I’m late with this…this Friday turned into “Welcome Back, DH” Friday instead of Organic Savings Friday. Lots of great finds and observations to share, but they’ll be coming tonight or tomorrow….In the meantime, you can get organic food savings updates by following me on Twitter.
OrganicMania tweets Live! What the heck does that mean? I’m taking my mobile phone with me on my shopping rounds and blasting out “microblogging” updates on all my finds – like this one on Horizon organic cheese 40% off or this morning’s warning about incorrect signage or this great find on organic strawberries – cheaper than conventional. You can register here to follow-me on Twitter and get all these updates as they happen. I’m normally in the stores twice weekly. Plus, I send out updates about all kinds of other “green” things – everything from Bethesda Green updates to Montgomery County’s new carbon reduction plan to discovering a new organic café! Check it out and come join me! Plus, Twitter is two-way, so you can message me and I can easily get back to you!
And in the meantime, I promise to get this week’s post up soon – thanks for bearing with me. Single parenthood was rough this week – I have no idea how people do it on a regular basis (and I say that as someone who was raised by a single Mom!)
Lynn
Copyright 2008 OrganicMania
Filed under Blog, Product Recommendations, Savings Tips | Wordpress Comment (0) |Time for Fun: The Oregon Trail Game
Needed a bit of levity this morning, and found the perfect thing: a fun challenge to list the four bloggers you would take with you on the Oregon Trail, courtesy of Crunchy Chicken, who found it on the Arduous blog, who found it at this great site called Cinco (Making Blogging Fun Again: 5 Steps at a Time).
Anyway, on the crazy OrganicMania wagon (blogger edition) is Jessica from SurelyYouNest, because she’s the only person I know who does as much research as me! Between the two of us, we’d lay out an eco-friendly trail. Then there would be Expat Chef, because she would make sure we were well fed! I’d want La Marguerite along because she would challenge us to think Deep Thoughts and so it would be a very interesting trip! And finally, it’s a tie between Sher from WrekeHavoc and Julie from Internet Marketing Report because they always make me laugh!
There’s also a celebrity edition. But they’re too high maintenance! I’ll stick with my bloggy pals!
Who would you take?
–Lynn
Filed under Blog | Wordpress Comments (2) |
My StumbleUpon Page
