Greenwala - The Green Social Network

Social networks are not created equal. First, the primary function of a social network must be established. Is it a job seeker's social network (OC JobTalk), a video sharing network (Vimeo), a political network (Rock The Vote), a network to reconnect with friends (Facebook), or even a specific interest network (Greenwala)? After the function has been decided, the design must be implemented. To me, a unified design must be prominent or the network will never reach its full potential. Factors such as user interface design, visual hierarchy, available community functions like blogs/videos/groups, the ability for users to intuitively navigate back and forth through the network connecting to the people they want, and many other factors contribute to a social network's success and must be easy to use.

I recently joined Greenwala, "The green social network". This year Greenwala is combatting deforestation by planting a tree for every member who joins. Its goal is to plant one million trees and create a million-member community engaged in the green revolution. That ambitious challenge alone sealed the deal for me when I signed up earlier this month.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first arrived at their homepage. But, I like what I see and I like what I get. A large interactive component featuring videos, products, articles, and contests. An easy, and prominent interactive navigation bar. A large news feed similar to Facebook's that updates in real time with user generated content. When you join as a member, all of your relative content (profile, blog, classifieds, videos, events, friends, groups, and photos) and a large personal photo is consistently in the right column of every page. I appreciate the large photo and information throughout the website because it makes each page feel personalized for me.

Overall, Greenwala meets my expectations of user-centered functionality and appealing design, and it exceeds my expectations for a social network with a cause. The cause to go green should be on everyone's mind right now (Greenwala posts the figures to prove that).

Find and connect with me on Greenwala, have a tree planted in your name, and learn how fun it is to go green.

Plane Stupid Polar Bear Commercial

In an analysis of this video by NPR's "All Things Considered," Andrew Revkin addresses that the claims made by Plane Stupid are true, but more importantly asks whether the analogy is strong enough to influence people to change their minds to begin with. Are polar bears the strongest metaphor of the impacts of excessive greenhouse gas emissions and climate change? Meaning, can people really relate to the polar bears of the Arctic, when most people will never set foot on Arctic tundra? Possibly, to most people, the Arctic will only be a place they visit in their minds. Unless people are exposed to videos, programs, and movies such as those seen on PBS or the National Geographic Channel, the general public might not consider their everyday consumer choices, or use of air travel to commute, as the video targets, to be affecting the arctic.

What other analogies could be drawn to the carbon emissions from air travel, and how would they be illustrated?

(While it is true that current air travel carbon emissions are less than a few percent of all emissions globally, when the world population reaches 9 billion people in 2050, how will all of those people choose to traverse our tiny, pale blue dot?)