When this tweet appeared in my twitter stream I thought it was a joke.
Then upon further investigation it really wasn’t. The barbarian beer house in London is after Chinese people to attend an event. And you can see they’re asking a lot of people who they presume are Chinese or have a Chinese audience.
Using football as a medium to appeal to the masses is a very clever thing to do.
WWF teamed up with Brazilian agency Grey 141 to raise awareness of deforestation in Brazil. Every four minutes the equivalent of a football field is clear cut, so what better medium to use than a football field to show the damage? And then of course hijack four minutes of a game to show the real rate of clear cutting.
It’s a brilliant stunt – and apparently led to an increase of 73% traffic to WWF’s website.
PS – Another brilliant Brazilian Football thing is the team that lost their red stripes until enough blood was donated to their local blood bank.
30 reasons is a month long email poster campaign that aims to encourage people to vote for Obama. This is one of my favourite amongst the lot, although there are *so* many great ones. Well done 30 reasons for helping re-elect President Obama. What a relief that is.
10 years ago, Facebook was still an idea and Google wasn’t used as a verb. Encyclopaedias lived in libraries, and tweet was the sound a bird made.
And now, the internet more so than any other platform in the past decade has changed the way we connect to the world, how we do business, receive and share information and so much more. It has even saved lives.
For Blog Action Day this year (a day where bloggers all over the world write for a cause), the theme is ‘the Power of We’. With the help of the internet we can now make a difference in ways we couldn’t in the past. We can now mobilise millions of people to support causes. We can crowdfund. And share energy. And the list goes on.
To fall in line with this year’s theme I thought it would only be appropriate for to help others to be the ‘we’ and be a part of something. So I’ve found five things you can do with a click of a mouse. Easy peasy.
1. Save the Arctic.
2. Stop land grabs.
3. Share GOOD inspiration with your friends.
4. Support a project that could change peoples’ lives.
5. Pledge to make difference – and then get others to join you.
To find out more about Blog Action Day, how you can get involved and to see some lovely posts, visit: http://blogactionday.org/.
When I first came across Do The Green Thing, my first thought was was ‘Wow. They’re brilliant’. My second was ‘I want to work there’.
I *patiently* waited for about 2 and a half years, always keeping tabs on their content and website, hoping one day I’d be able to join their team. That day came in April 2010. Since then I’ve have been super lucky to have worked with such talented and wonderful people on a really good cause.
But all good things must come to an end and I’ll soon be moving on.
Working at Do the Green Thing can be unpredictable: my 5th day on the job I was asked to interview Ben Fogle, in the summer I appeared on a Mexican TV channel, and I was once sent to Scotland to help showcase the world’s first biodegradable tent.
Also my sitting room from time to time turns into a sewing room.
Do The Green Thing is an exciting and creative place to work and if you like the sounds of that then definitely apply.
I’d like to say a MASSIVE thank you to Naresh and Andy for everything they’ve taught me and the opportunities they’ve given me. I feel so lucky to have worked with both of them and their world class talent. SO lucky.
And of course there is Kim. Everyone needs a Kim. I haven’t met a harder working person. And it pains me to say I know someone who is more organised that me.
One of the best things about Do The Green Thing is the people. The masses of volunteers, interns, producers, designers, writers, thinkers, etc .. that lend their time and skills is incredible. James, Jo, AWO, Hayden, Liz, Liv, Vicki, Zoe and Jay: thank you for making life at green thing fun, easy and brilliant.
So what’s next for me?
Properly launching Laces Community Club into the world and very likely more work in sustainability.
Stay tuned.
As a person who a) plans to return to Canada in the not so distant future and b) has spent the past 4 years working in the internet realm this whole “Metered Internet Use” legislation being thrown around in Canada is pretty scary.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has passed a ruling that allows large incumbent Internet service providers (ISPs) to force usage-based billing onto their independent competitors and the Canadian public. Basically, it’s allowing three companies (Bell, Rogers and Shaw) to control the market, making it very difficult for independent ISP to survive, and thus controlling how Canadians can use the internet.
By imposing a pay-for-use basis on smaller ISPs, this is not using internet technology as an enabler, but rather an oppressor and excluder. Those which can’t afford regular access, or rely on connectedness to places beyond their own physical community and many others quality of life will not improve should this legislation see the light of day.
This is not to mention the hindrance this would have for any web-based start-ups. It would absolutely crush innovation and I never thought I’d say such a thing, but Canada should take a cue from the States. Look at the wealth, opportunity and entrepreneurship that has flourished in the States from Silicon Valley. Similarly, here in London, East London Tech City is being developed as the British version of Silicon Valley, where high concentrations of tech start-ups congregate and will reap the benefits of ultra fast broadbrand connectivity by a variety of ISPs as initiated by the UK government.
More and more people are using the internet for creating social value and for sharing information in different and new ways. Some schools around the world have started using the internet to teach students when weather and other events prevent them from attending school. Skype, an internet based phone service has connected people with friends and family around the globe. Why on earth would Canada let a distorted telecommunication market control its citizens ability to use the internet by making it unaffordable?
By letting larger companies control and set exceptionally high rates for internet usage (Canada has the highest monthly charge for access to an unbundled local loop of any OECD country*), we are smothering potential economic growth, innovation, social change and community building.
Let’s not let this be the only way. Sign the petition. Make a fuss online – while you still can.
*Harvard Report, 2010.