Blog Action Day: 5 ways to use social media to affect climate change

Social media is the new voice of the people. Don’t believe me? Twitter kept alive the civil unrest in Iran after the elections and awoke interest around the world leading to global protests. This week in the United Kingdom, bloggers and Twitter usersfought back against a court injunction that called into question the Guardian newspaper’s right to report on a parliamentary debate. Within 16 hours, they were able to get to the judge to overturn the order. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are filled with groups to join on almost any and every issue you can think of. From Dafur to H1N1 to climate change, groups are forming to affect change. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves. 

Living right next door to Copenhagen, the upcoming United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP15) in December is a constant source of conversation. Climate change has become more and more a topic of daily conversation. Every day, we see more tweets, blog posts and YouTube videos being used to crack the public consciousness. Social media is activating more people in better ways than in the whole history of communication. It’s no longer students on college campuses trying to find a few hundred votes. Now you can mobilize a city, a state or a nation from your living room.

Here are five ways you can help affect climate change though social media.

1. Join a Facebook group – Don’t join a group just to join. Find a group with lots of members and actively post news, videos and content you find online. Start discussions with other members of the group and invite your friends to join.


2. Sign an online petition – Care2.com has an entire section dedicated to petitions involved with climate change.


3. Add a badge to your blog or online profile – If you’re active online these days, odds are you have a blog, a website, a facebook profile, or a Twitter account. Show people that visit your site that you care about an issue. Blog Action Day has done a great job of raising awareness of what they’re doing. They have created a series of badges with the most common banner sizes that you can add to your blog or website. You can also add one to your Twitter profile or add a link to your Facebook profile.


4. Share videos – Here are six videos that will help you get started and give you ideas for our next suggestion.


5. Make your own content – Create a new website around an issue, make a video about a project you are working on, write a song, do a dance and show people how you would affect climate change.

The good news is you’re already doing the 6th thing. You’re reading blogs that promote climate change. Check out more of the bloggers participating in the Blog Action Day. If we all work together and make our voices heard, we can make the people in charge listen and change the world for the better.

So what would you do to get involved in affecting climate change?

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He love to talk about social media and won't shut up about Twitter.

Comments

[Volker from Germany]

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