who else is at the party?

One of the first things I do when I get to a party is to look around to see who else is there. Sure, there could be a great spread, good scotch at the bar and a DJ who knows what he's doing, but if the crowd sucks or, well, if it's just you and a host who looks a little embarrassed because no one else is coming, the party is never going to quite going.

Am I the only one? Probably not.

So, when there is yet another social network, I'm not interested in joining unless I know that, in addition to all the pretty features, there are some people in the network with whom I, well, want to be social.

Hope Equity, a new social network from Heifer International, brings people together who are interested in investing in solutions to hunger, poverty or the environment. Looks great, great organization, but who the hell else is using it? Will I be playing in the sandbox alone? Do I really need to create a profile before I see what organizations I can contribute?

delicious tags: environment

JetBlue has launched Jetting to Green, a new environmental initiative.

BP is promoting its Helios House eco-friendly gas station in Los Angeles through thegreencurve.com. I tried to take the test to assess where I am on the "green curve," but got defensive over poorly worded questions that don't take into consideration those of us who own cars but rarely drive it and (oops) haven't washed it for, um, years.

Patagonia encourages you to vote on November 4 and to do so based on how they score on the League of Conservation Voters National Environmental Scorecard.

del.icio.us tags: moms

Revolution Health, which The Washington Post reported will be doing an additional round of lay offs this week, released momScore last month in connection with Mother's Day. The tool "evaluate(s) maternal and early childhood health across the country." Proud to say my home state of Connecticut ranks #2, second only to Vermont. My adopted hometown of DC ranks #20. The lowest scoring states are all in the Southern half of the country, with Mississippi coming in at the bottom.

Max Gladwell, who posts at Sustainablog as well as his own site, refers to moms are the most "formidable" of the "demographic groups gaining power through the social web." This post lists 16 "blogs and tools that are part of the nexus of social media, green living and motherhood." Max started following me on Twitter (I'm not worthy!) and I'll be returning the favor and subscribing to the RSS feed on his site so I can hear more.

two out of three

Does this ad make me laugh?

Yes.

Does this ad make me want to share it with others?

Yep.

Does it make me want to take action to address deforestation?

No.

Two out of three . . . is bad.

del.icio.us tags: environment

Burst Media has released research about the impact of "green marketing."

• At least 2/3 of consumers at least occasionally recall green marketing messages.
• Despite the recall, nearly 23 percent never believe what they are being told -- or sold.
• Nearly 80 percent of consumers use the Internet to find additional information about a company's green initiatives, but most are disappointed with the information they find.
• Being green is the way to go (when consumers are asked in a survey, hopefully it's true). Only about 13 percent say they are not green at all.
  

del.icio.us tags: environment

I don't imagine it would shock any of you to hear that the "buzz" about sustainability grew about 50 percent last year — moving from a discussion of global warming to a conversation about actions individuals can take to alleviate their negative impact.

Nielsen Online's research also indicates that the increased attention to "green" issues has led to greater cynicism about the credibility of many companies' efforts to portray themselves as acting in a responsible way toward the planet. 25 percent of consumers point out a company's "contradictory actions," 21 percent think that the actions being taken are "incongruous with the company or industry" (oil companies, perhaps?), 19 percent think companies are making "false/misleading comments," 18 percent think the government should be able to regulate claims that companies make about their "green" behavior and 17 percent of consumers are just plain suspicious.