Blogs Have a Carbon Footprint?

Adrienne — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:43:11 +0000

Like most bloggers, I get a log of blog pitches. As a communications professional, I regularly reach out to bloggers and have led training sessions on blogger relations. When I get a good pitch, I generally email the person to thank them. Most of the time, they are simply horrible.

Today, I got a pitch that shows what happens when a Google search for certain keywords is done without looking at the context of those keywords. Given my recent comments on climate change, I’m not the best candidate to approach about this. I hope the language barrier was an issue, but Christin uses perfect English in her pitch. Also, generic blog pitches are never the best way to go.

How does a blog have CO2 emission of 8 lbs per year? A blog doesn’t exist outside of cyberspace. There are no physical properties to a blog. I’m all for planting trees. As a conservationist and nature lover, please plant more of them, but do it to simply plant a tree. Don’t approach me about planting a tree to eliminate virtual carbon footprints.

Hi Adrienne,

I just stumbled over your blog http://adrienneroyer.com/ – nice work!

I am part of a young team in Germany, working for an initiative called “Make it green!”. Our goal is to contribute our part in reducing the carbon footprint by raising awareness of the severe environmental damage caused by carbon emissions. One of our activities is to raise awareness of the carbon emissions resulting from the use of the internet – specifically of blogs. A blog with 15,000 visits a month has a yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 8lb. To neutralise these emissions we have created “My blog is carbon neutral” buttons so bloggers can demonstrate that they care about the environment and the carbon footprint of their blogs. We present them a small but nontheless worthy solution to contribute to environmental issues. Our idea is to show possibilities to make a contribution to protect the environment.

To find out how you can participate please visit http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/carbon-neutral/how-you-can-join

And how do we actually neutralize your blog’s carbon footprint? We are planting trees in cooperation with the Arbor Day Foundation in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for our project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs. Thousands of wildfires burned down many national forests over the past ten years and 88.000 acres of Plumas’ were destroyed by two fires in 2007. To help replanting we need the support of bloggers all over the world! For every participating blog we plant a tree. One blog – one tree.

Why do we do this? We are a German based company called kaufDA, which provides advertisement brochures of local stores online to help consumers search for specific products and find good deals in their neighborhood. This reduces the amount of brochures printed and so the project helps the environment by reducing unnecessary paper in mailboxes. An American on average receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. This has the same carbon footprint as burning six gallons of gasoline.

We’d be glad to plant your tree! Help us and show that you care! Every tree counts!

Best wishes from Germany,

Christin

“Make it green!”- Team

Cosmopolitan Conservative » bad blog pitches

Blogs Have a Carbon Footprint?