My experience with Blog Action Day 09 was amazing. Being a part of the largest online collaboration to date ranked as one of the more thrilling experiences that I’ve had in a long time. People all over the globe came together to blog one–just one–topic for one day. Everyone who participated last year was allowed to vote on the topic for 2009. The landslide topic was global climate change.
Here’s the amazing part. By utilizing the power of the internet, Blog Action Day 09 had a registered 13,158 sites that participated.The total number of readers reached (drumroll please!) was 17,951,296! So far, I’ve had a range of comments about my pieces for Blog Action Day 09 Global Climate Change. Those reactions have ranged from surprise that slowing global climate change is so easy, to dismay that more isn’t being done. Be sure to ready my Factoidz article on How to Slow Global Warming for more information.
For me, I was surprised at the huge variety of blogs that joined in the effort to speak up about global climate change. The people who participated ranged from bloggers with lots of name recognition to none at all. Pastors, teachers, politicians and regular folks like you and me all made up the blogging mix. The wide array of voices were amazing. Here are a few of the Blog Action Day 09 Global Climate Change participants and why I think you will enjoy them too.
Rev. John Crabtree is the pastor of a small country church in East Tennessee. His blog Jacksboro UMC has an article that is short, sweet and to the point. You don’t necessarily think about rural areas being big into speaking out about climate change. Rev. Crabtree reminded us on his blog that "We need to be aware, be conservative, and be good stewards." Personally, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Bigger blogging names included the Official Google Blog with their article called "A Green Tour of the Google Campus". One of the things that struck me is how Google doesn’t just take care of the environment but they use the environment to help charity. On their blog entry linked above they write that any of their employees who "self-power to work can earn points that translate into a donation from Google to their charity of choice". Wow! How many employers think of doing something like that?
Not to be left out of the mix there were two big contributions to Blog Action Day 09 that let us know our voices are being heard. One blog entry is on the White House blog. In her post Green Blog Action Day, Heather Zichal writes "President Obama is committed to energy and climate change legislation ". The other stir causing blog entry came from Gordon Brown’s Blog on Climate Change. To me, his most powerful statement is "we all have to take responsibility to cut emissions ".
From big names to obscure pastors to you and me, we all must do our part to reduce global climate change. May Blog Action Day 09 be a continuation of the discussion and not the end.
