— Environmental Start-up and Partners Turn Twitterers into Climate Change Advocates —
Middlebury, VT – Brighter Planet, a Vermont-based environmental start-up, launches this week #earthtweet, an online campaign to raise awareness of the fight against climate change. Asking the question “what are you doing for the earth?” the campaign encourages Twitter users to do good things for Mother Nature in honor of Earth Day and beyond, and then tweet about it using the #earthtweet hashtag. A live feed on EarthTweet.com brings together all of these user-submitted tips, news, and activities relevant to solving the climate problem.
National climate leaders are joining in to encourage their Twitter followers to share conservation tips, environmental news, and Earth Day plans with the #earthtweet hashtag. Partners include Treehugger, 350.org, The Climate Project and dozens of other organizations spotlighted on earthtweet.com.
“We believe many people are doing good things to combat climate change and wanted to cut through the noise and allow them to organize and converse in real time,” said Patti Prairie, CEO of Brighter Planet. “Our goal is to get 2,000 tweets that inspire environmentalism. When we started designing the #earthtweet campaign in December, we considered Twitter to be the hottest social network on the web. It’s only gotten hotter since then.
Gallup’s recent survey found that Americans over the age of 30 believe now more than ever that the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated. Views of Americans age 18 to 29, by contrast, are more in line with ninety-nine percent of scientists and global proxy reconstructions: that the average global temperature is warmer now, and the temperature is rising faster now, than at any time in the last thousand years.
Americans under the age of 30 are also naturals for Twitter and similar social networking sites. If the opportunity to give and receive user-generated examples of individual carbon reducing efforts isn’t motivating enough, truly inspirational tweets, as decided by the Brighter Planet team, will be rewarded with smart, eco-friendly prizes.
The first #earthtweet giveaway was a “haiku challenge.” The winner tweeted “Reduce plastic waste; reuse containers daily; recycle your cans.” Seventh Generation’s gift basket of healthy home products will help the winner further shrink her carbon footprint. Other prizes between now and Earth Day are from organizations and individuals committed to sustainable lifestyles such as Gaiam, Patagonia, Clif Bar, Brilliant Earth, and Brighter Planet Advisory Board member Bill McKibben.
To further spread the word, campaign badges can be added to web sites and blogs. Their appealing designs ask the viewers to add their voice to the conversation that’s changing the world. Avatars are also available and can be customized to personalize even further.
Brighter Planet values social media as key to making environmentalism more accessible. The Earthtweet campaign follows the success of other web-based campaigns that engage consumers and businesses in the green movement such as the 350 Challenge, Climate Matters, Break the Bottled Water Habit and One Day.
Brighter Planet (www.brighterplanet.com) helps people reduce and manage their carbon footprints. Its engaging web-based campaigns tap the power of social media to help consumers and businesses learn about emissions, conserve what they can, and offset the rest. Brighter Planet carbon offset products fund only the most reputable climate change projects, demonstrating direct community and social value while reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses being pumped into the atmosphere. To date, the company’s members have offset over 91 million pounds of CO2.
Source: Brighter Planet
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