Barefoot Bloggers
Write to Save the Planet
By: Karin Kloosterman
Published by Green Prophet Press at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Karin Kloosterman
ISBN 978-0-9878365-0-2
This ebook is licensed for single use only.
Contact Green Prophet Press publish@greenprophet.com
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author/s.
BAREFOOT BLOGGERS - INTRODUCTION
Words connect people across our global village in powerful ways. When applied to solving environmental problems, they can translate cultural values, tell stories of hope, kickstart kick-ass business ventures, and mobilize green foot soldiers for change.
If you are passionate about the environment, and want to accelerate the exchange of information, and the impact of change, this guide is for you. It can help you grow sustainable businesses using new and rapid communication tools to help you put out PR fires. You can use it to start your own personal green blog, or to launch your career in green business blogging. It covers the gamut. Drawing on the talents of the world’s best green bloggers, from my own blog Green Prophet to the Sierra Club, Greentech Media, and Treehugger, this group of 10 writers will guide you through the 1-2-3s for writing to a green-inclined audience.
This guide is your private coach and it will turn you into a champion writer for the environment. Think of our writers as your personal green writing coaches –– cheering you on and pointing out tips that can help you leap over the blocks we have stumbled across through the years.
Following this guide might even help you make money doing what you like to do best so you too can work barefooted like many of us do. Barefoot Bloggers covers ways to make money; there are tips on how to write for search engine optimization, how to approach celebrities for interviews, and how to find ideas when you are really stuck. Finally, since me and writers at Green Prophet cover the unique religion aspect of environmental issues in the Middle East, we thought to include essays on writing for the faithful –– including eco-tips on Islam, Judaism, Christianity and more.
Because each writer featured in this guide has a world of tips and experience to offer, follow each word and learn from the experts: think of following these chapters as a process which will teach you the range of blogging styles, from business writing, to writing for non-profits. We can even help you transition from blogging to mainstream journalism if that’s the path you want to take.
Through this guide, we will go on a journey––using the self-hosted blog platform as the perfect tool for self-publishing environmental stories.
And of course for creating environmental action and change.
Karin Kloosterman, Editor of Green Prophet
By William E. Swing
As someone who is a beginning blogger and who sometimes writes about the environment, I was amazed at the breadth and depth of helpful information available to me in this book. And plenty of encouragement as well!
But the most profound surprise came in the book’s approach to religions for example the chapter on "Green Blogging Guide on Islam. –– writing about or for a Muslim audience." I have been ordained for fifty years and have witnessed close up the ways that people of one religion tend to describe people of other religions. Most times, original source material has not been read, accuracy has not been prized, and sensitivity has given way to intemperate generalizations.
"Show a little respect" and do your homework are major themes of this book.
In addition Kloosterman and her guest authors provide avenues to Green Muslim sites and a recommended reading list.
Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Navajos, and Zoroastrians are given quality attention as well for their acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of life. Usual books about comparative religions seem kind of sterile when compared to this book's singular and passionate approach of seeing faiths through a natural lens.
Were I a professor of religions looking for a text book for my class, I wouldn't hesitate to choose Barefoot Bloggers even if it wasn't written for that purpose. While being a resource and a cheerleader for neophyte bloggers, Kloosterman has also fashioned a green course into the mysteries of most major religions. Perhaps she is barefoot because she has taken her shoes off in a gesture of reverence.
By Rt. Rev, William E. Swing, President, United Religions Initiative
Retired, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California
The Basics to Barefoot Blogging
You’ve been thinking about it for a while. Now is the time to untie your shoe laces and take off your socks...in this chapter we are going to go on a quick tour of setting up a blog, and how to get started on your writing.
It seems like everyone on this planet has a blog. Some are great and most others start with a great idea, and then fall the way of the hobby blogger: the blog begins full of enthusiasm and then peters out. Rather than lose momentum for your cause or project, I want you to think of blogging not as a hobby, but something you will do full of passion and professionalism. When people ask you what you do, include “green blogger” as part of your resume.
Blogging software, we should remember, is just a tool like email, the Internet, and your computer. With the free blog software from Wordpress.com, which is open-source, or the free software offered by Blogger.com (owned by Google) you can be an environmental blogger and news maker before finishing the end of this chapter.
It’s that easy, and fast.
But I suggest you put just a little thought and planning into your process before you launch. Not too much and don’t worry, you can change your course of action even after you’ve started.
By the end of this guide, my aim is to turn you into a professional first-rate environment blogger, or blogger with green-inclined readers in mind. If at any time in this process you have material to share with me, please send me a line with some links to your work at karin@greenprophet.com, and I will be happy to give you a quick evaluation.
Now, let’s look at the tools you will need to start blogging.
Checklist:
Laptop, iPad or smartphone for writing
An Internet connection (high speed preferable)
Digital camera or phone camera
Server for hosted solution if you choose wordpress.org.
A URL name (for self-hosted version)
Time, enthusiasm, ideas
A laptop, iPad, or desktop PC at home are the basics. You might consider blogging at an Internet cafe or public library if you are concerned about your safety or protecting your identity. There are tools you can find which will let you blog from your cell phone, but over time it will be difficult to engage with an audience readily using a cell phone unless you have an iPhone or something similar. A digital camera is always good for helping you upload your own images and to avoid copyright issues, and if you want to upload videos, buy one with an high density video function.
While there are dozens, hundreds, possibly even thousands of sites that will let you start a blog or web journal for free, I suggest going the self-hosted route because in the long-run it will give you more flexibility and control over your content, and it will give you options on monitizing your content later on. There is nothing wrong with making money at what you do, and we will explore more on that in later chapters. If you are writing a blog for an existing organization, ask the tech person managing the existing website to help you link your blog through the main website. It is not professional for an established NGO or green business to use a free blogging hosting service.
The difference would look like this:
It looks more professional to have your name only in the URL, wouldn’t you agree? If you approach your blog as a professional outlet from the outset, chances are other people reading it will treat it that way too.
You can find many books on how to use wordpress.org, the self-hosted version of the software. You can find most of the resources you’ll need online, and for free. This guide isn’t going to give you all that technical know how. However, once your blog is set up, it’s a pretty easy tool to navigate, even for those with very little technical experience.
Dazzling from Day One
If you think blogs can’t look professional, go ahead and look at the Wordpress Showcase to see other sites like the Harvard Gazette a news site, which uses the blog platform as a content management system. I am a fan of Wordpress because it’s open-source, free, always updating, and has a very easy to use, and customizable interface, which will be important for you as your blog grows, along with your technical knowledge. It’s always handy to have a go-to tech person at hand should something go terribly wrong though.
The question comes up about finding a hosting provider, the server upon which your blog will live on. Choose your first server wisely, simply because it’s not always easy changing servers. When we first started Green Prophet I really wanted it to be on a server that runs on renewable energy. We found a company in the United States running on wind. Every couple of days after our traffic would spike, our site would shut down. It was gone with the wind, apparently. But this blip affected our growth, and Search Engine Optimization.
The company just couldn’t provide us enough juice on a shared hosting space. There was no choice but to go the conventional route. In the end we found a company that didn’t advertise itself as a green server, but which does use renewable energy –– since it is based in Texas where wind power is proliferating. The choice is up to you.
My advice is to find a company that has good customer service so that if your site crashes during a high point in your career (and hopefully it will from traffic overload!), you’ll have a partner to speak with and work with to get it back up and running quickly.
Like I said earlier, writing on a blog publishing tool like Wordpress requires a little technical know-how. Not a lot, and certainly technology natives born into the age of the Internet should navigate through the technical aspects quickly. You’ll learn as you go, and get better all the time. Don’t be stuck on the details of making your post look perfect. Most important is that the text is well written. Since this guide is intended to be a resource on writing, I am only going to touch on the technical side of blogging.
Most challenges you will come across will have a solution. And as someone who’s been blogging for more than a few years already, I can say that the journey uphill is steep but levels off pretty quickly over the first few weeks.
When I first started blogging, I could spend hours figuring out how to insert links, or how to get the text to wrap around an image. There are a great deal of resources available for you online and for free, and one of the best is your plain and simple search engine. Feel free to drop a line to blogger friends online or in forums, if you have simple questions.
For example: Stuck on how to created a bulleted list and can’t find the icon in your post’s admin? Go to your favorite search engine and type your question. If you don’t get the answer immediately, try using a few different combinations of words. You’ll be surprised how many other people, like you, have had the same question already.
Choosing your blog’s direction
Choosing what kind of blog stories you will write about is nothing like choosing your religion. Thanks to the flexibility of the blogging software, and ease of publishing, you can start in one direction and move swiftly into another direction overnight. If you are writing for corporations or non-profits with fixed goals in mind, you may not have that freedom, but try to approach blogging in an “easy” way instead of getting stuck on small details.
Some quick tips to starting, stopping and starting again in the beginning:
Try to avoid deleting blog posts of any kind, and rather use “updates” at the bottom of any posts to amend content posted.
If you choose to start your own personal blog to talk about your expertise, consider having guest posts from other writers here and there.
If you have a personal blog on solar energy which suddenly brings you consulting jobs, don’t be afraid to re-adjust to the scenario at hand and turn your voice into a more professional sounding one.
Blogs are adaptable, and finding your true writing voice won’t happen overnight. It is something that is created one post at a time. Be patient.
Types of green blogs
There are as many kinds of “green” blogs as there are writing styles:
News and information blogs, like my blog Green Prophet. Usually updated several times a day, even more if there is “breaking” news that the world must know. Don’t miss big news items, or your audience will stop coming to you for the scoop. The blog employs a team of writers, and always has an editor online to ensure the blog is running smoothly. These blogs can be for profit like mine, or not-for-profit, like Grist.
Corporate blogs. You can advertise your company’s new Corporate Social Responsibility activities or its green products. Perhaps you work for an electric scooter company. Or an investment firm? Or a new smart grid software solution? Suggest to the boss that you start a blog on electric transportation that provides input and advice from your company’s engineers and executives. If you are on the outside, pitch an idea to a company.
Personal blogs. These kinds of blogs can recount a personal journey, like the No Impact Man blog who shares his stories greening his and his family’s lives. This blog turned into a movie in 2009, and it runs on Typepad, a company which offers free and hosted blog services.
Niche blogs. These kinds of blogs look at a very specific segment of the green tech industry, or a topic that in itself is very specific like the Alberta Tar Sands. These kinds of blogs can be particularly successful simply because search engines love them, as do researchers and journalists looking to niche topics for information.
Expert blogs tend to be by people who are considered expert in their field, such as academics on global warming, or people with green marketing advice, and the posts style here reflect this expertise. You might find yourself being invited on all-expenses trips around the world, through these kinds of blogs.
Non-profit blogs are set up to help non-profit organizations collect financial donations and share information about the organization’s activities –– externally and internally. I believe every non-profit organization should have a blog and it’s a great assignment for willing interns to take over, should your non-profit have a small budget. In the media world, if you’re not online, you’re invisible. Don’t be invisible! You need donations to keep saving rain forests, to keep lobbyists fighting against polluting coal, and for new standards for renewable energy to emerge.
Start Writing
Okay. So you have chosen your blogging platform. Now it’s time for the fun part –– the writing. You don’t need any kind of special place for writing. You can do it from the office, or after office hours if it’s okay with the boss. You can work from your living room, the beach office on an island in Thailand (been there!), or on the road as a virtual nomad. Of course, there are also corporate green bloggers who might find themselves in a suit and tie and blogging between offices they advise. I have been in all of these scenarios, and that’s what makes blogging very interesting. You can re-invent your persona every year, or every hour.
I’ve called this guide Barefoot Bloggers because there is real personal freedom turning your passion for the environment into a communication vehicle that is not limited by time or place. Of course, being able to do this job with your toes in the sand is just another fringe benefit. Just watch out for the sand fleas.
Before you hit the publish button, I do think it’s wise to consider mulling over what you want to accomplish by writing for the planet.
Do you want to expose environmental injustices that newspapers and politicians are ignoring?
Are you trying to publicize a new kind of technology that can purify water or save energy? Is it a breaking story that no newspaper has reported on yet?
Is your goal to create a green design forum to explore your favorite new building standards?
Are you trying to create more business for the company you work for by showing people how ecologically responsible they are?
What Makes a Story Green? There are as many kinds of green blogs as there are people, and ideas. Keep your main inner goal focused while you start writing. This goal may change over time as you get reader feedback, but try and stay focused for your reader’s sake, at least in each individual post that you write.
If I can’t figure out what a story is going to be after reading the headline, the sub headline, and the first paragraph, I won’t invest my time trying to figure it out. I will go somewhere else. There is no point in writing blog posts for black holes and people who will never read them. It is a waste of time.
Consider this: Sometimes the story that isn’t there is the story. In fact, these are the stories that make the best read. I met a young woman blogger from the West Bank, a Palestinian, and she wanted me to give her ideas on how to write for the environment. It’s an important issue to her, but there was practically no environmental education, resources, or activities in her community, she said, somewhat embarrassed.
There was no recycling in Ramallah, no new technologies to speak of, no community gardens. A lot of wasted water. No composting. Nothing. She therefore couldn’t be an environment writer, she told me. She put her laptop aside at a blogging event I was hosting in Jordan and gave up.
This is where a green writing cheerleader like myself likes to jump in. This young woman probably had more to write about than a green blogger in Berkeley whose entire university is blogging about green events in the community. This woman in the West Bank could be a global change-maker, a pioneer. She could break ground and create a fertile space for cooperation, development, and input from the global community looking to fund new projects for the environment, for sustainable development, and for peace. I saw in her the opportunity to expose these opportunities for development, asking questions with people who are poised to answer them. There is an entire community of activists from Europe and the US ready to help West Bank Palestinians develop and prosper. If only someone would show them the way. Or tell their story with a green narrative.
I also told this woman, let’s call her Lila, that the ways of her mother and grandmother are already green and sustainable. That the older generation is already cutting-edge just by being the way they are. The women in Lila’s town buy local produce and meat, they cook large meals at home, and avoid fast-food. They use local wild herbs and recipes handed down from generations. They keep their family close. They don’t own cars and they make their own clothes. These are all positive green issues and ideas worth writing about.
The point is that young (and older) writers need to know that even though the green movement is a new one, a vast amount of the world which isn’t run by western thought is already very much sustainable. America is learning now from its mistakes of fast-food and a carbon hungry economy, so as less developed countries develop, there is an opportunity to leap over the mistakes from America and Europe and hit the ground green –– and running. I told this to Lila, who got excited about starting her own local compost project.
Give me a story you are interested in writing about, anything, and there will be a green issue in it for debate. I promise. Before you argue with me, and slump over your laptop, let’s get on the same page about what we mean when we say “green”.
When I say “green” in this guide, I mean environmental and sustainable. When I say environmental, I am using the assumption that this global movement is in flux, and that environmental issues can be vastly different from one village to the next, from one country to the next. Sometimes the term sustainable is used, but this too can mean different things to different people. Generally environmentalists assume that pollution in our water and chemicals in the air or in the food we eat is an environmental issue.
What else is green or un-green? We can assume the development of cleaner energy sources, like from solar or wind energy, is green. I also believe that cities can be green, and can include issues like public transportation and access to parks and playgrounds. Food traditions invented before the Big Mac are green. Walking is green, so is independent travelling to small community hostels and homestays. Big, LEED certified hotels can also be green. Can airlines be green? Maybe if they run on biofuel or offset their carbon footprint. The green debate is complicated, and as a blogger you can be part of it by blogging into it.
Maybe the best way I can start your mind working on thinking green is to offer the following story.
BrightSource against the turtles
BrightSource Energy, Inc. is a solar energy company based in the United States. Launched in California to power thousands of homes there, it’s been endorsed by Federal Funds, and lauded by President Obama as a great achievement. Is it green? It depends on who you ask. Renewable energy advocates will say yes, that it will stop so many thousands of tons of greenhouse gases from entering the environment, gases which would be created by burning oil. But there is a deeper green story involved: did it take greenhouse gases to create and install the solar panels? How much? What about the land rights and the activists who are claiming the plant infringes on Native land, and on the right of the local tortoises to roam?
Some advocates of solar energy suggest that rather than build major power plants on open space, we can create all the energy we need from solar panels on the roofs of buildings. There are many angles to this green story.
But what about the stories that on first glance don’t seem to have a green component? Look at the issue and flip it over. Does the issue take into consideration human rights, the health of a community, or sustainable business? You don’t need pollution or animals in a story to make it green. Environmental sites today widely cover smart design, vegetarian alternatives, and faith-based messages for reducing consumption.
I try to see every issue I read in the newspaper as a green issue. I like to see everything as green, or truly ungreen, and am certain that in the future environmental accountability will be a part of every company and community’s foundation. The way the planet is growing and exploiting resources will give us no choice. As people of our world grow to understand that the environment affects every aspect of our life, the health of our cities, the health of our children, our mental state of well-being, we’ll have no choice but to make every issue an environmental one.
Let’s say you are concerned about the conflict in Darfur; consider what the effects of stress are doing to animals, to children. How weapons of war pollute the water. The expression “all is fair in love and war” does not apply to the environment.
Exercising your green minds
1. Pick up a local newspaper from your town, village, or city. Close your eyes. Flip through a couple of pages, and with your eyes still closed, point to a story. This will be your next story. Maybe it’s about an opera in the park, the election of your town mayor, or a business story. Think about a few ways of giving it a green angle. Ask yourself: does this mayor care about our local environment? Is opera in the park an ecological event? What kinds of activities is this business involved in that aligns its values with the community’s? Now blog about it.
2. If you can’t talk with your grandmother, find the oldest living relative in your family to speak with.
Ask what life was like when they were teenagers.
Ask what people did for a living.
Ask about public health and rates of disease back then.
Ask if people were happy.
Ask how they travelled - if they took a plane, rode a bike, or walked.
Ask what they ate, and what they think about food today.
Ask about where they lived.
Compile all your answers in a blog post. Write a good title, like: Interview With My Grandmother – When Things Were Green?
3. Take a walk to your local grocery story with your camera in hand. Walk down the aisles taking pictures of the food you see there.
What percentage of it has been flown in from other countries?
Or is it all grown locally?
Do you have an organic produce to report about?
What about variety? Is it seasonable?
Tell us about meat? Is there any?
How often do people eat meat in your community?
Now look at packaging? What kinds of food are being packaged? Is it needed?
Does fruit come in packages?
What about nuts and grains?
What kind of junk food is available, if any at all?
Now go home and write about it.
4. Open your favorite blog. If you don’t have one, go to Technorati.com, a blog search engine, and find one. Or go to StumbleUpon and choose environment blogs to look at. Pick a story that’s interesting to you and write about why you like it. The “why” is important, and it will help establish your voice and expertise. Write from experience, but without getting too personal.
The take home message: Every issue has a green element. It’s your creative and fact-finding job to find out what that is.
Standards, Sources, and Fact Collecting
Reading a good story in the New York Times about climate change and then copying and pasting this great story to your blog with a lot of enthusiasm and good intent is not in fact called blogging. It is called plagiarism or stealing. Finding a good blog post you love and then copying and pasting it into your blog or even linking back to the source is not blogging, it is stealing.
To some of you more seasoned bloggers, this might be obvious. To many bloggers that I have seen in the blogosphere, it is not. I could point them out here, but I don’t want to give them more energy to continue on this unethical path.
At some point the line between blogging and plagiarism becomes fuzzy. But if you are writing a news and commentary blog, it’s important from the get go, not down the road, to know what’s “legal” in the realm of writing. Later on Chris from TreeHugger will talk in depth about the importance of linking to your sources, and linking often. As a democratic platform from the start, a blog’s lifeline depends not only on links into it but also links out.
So how do you put this into practice? It is generally accepted today, that you cannot cut and paste more than one-third of an article into your own blog post without citing and linking to the source before it is is considered plagiarism. The rule of thumb when rewording is that three or more words is plagiarism. Likewise taking any ideas that are not your own, and not citing where you found them from is also a form of plagiarism. I would go even further to say that reading a story on another blo, then linking through to their source without mentioning where you found the story is plagiarism. But then that area is grey and hard to prove. After all, the journalism business is based on sharing information.
However, not linking to sources when you get information like on statistics is a form of plagiarism, and if your blog rises to success, or if it represents a company or an organization, you can get in more trouble than a lawsuit: negative publicity can harm your reputation and sink your business or fundraising efforts within hours.
This chapter will cover some of the basics of blogging standards and how they fit into green blogging. So many people ask me about the line between blogging and journalism in newspapers and magazines for instance, and I cross both worlds in the work I do.
Basically, the standards that are upheld in traditional journalism are the same we should adhere to in blogging: Original angles to news ideas, original quotes, the citing of sources, and fact-checking.
Many blogs like Green Prophet offer a continuum of this. Some of the news we write is completely reported – our authors find an idea, interview the subject, and write the piece, while on the other side of the spectrum, we provide commentary from our expert opinions on environmental news as it pertains to the Middle East. We cite sources, including the first blog that found the news, and may include a quote or two from the piece.
We can’t just rewrite the story as if it’s ours, without mentioning a source. This practice is called “churnalism” in some circles, and it’s highly unethical from a standards point of view unless you can find all the facts from other sources, or confirm them with the interviewee in the original piece. If not, you can rewrite the news in your own words, and cite the source.
But why would you want to re-write the news? You have something unique to say.
Blogging is a rapid channel for spreading information. If you are just looking to fill your blog with the articles of others, why not put together a collection of links and let the original source holders of the articles earn their fair share of the traffic?
When you blog, you should add value to the reading experience and add insight into the story or post.
When credit is due
As social creatures, it goes without saying that we can’t credit absolutely every idea that comes into our head. Religious Jews to some extent aspire to do this, especially when an idea is particularly wise, and not part of their scripture. You can read more on Jewish thought and the environment in Miriam’s chapter. But for all intents and purposes, we don’t always need to credit the ideas that our fabulous cousin Johan gave us about recycling, or the tips our friend Shira gave us on finding bike paths in Toronto. (Although these people would probably be really happy if you did give them a thanks on your blog).
Giving a little tip by citing a name or a thanks at the end of your post, with a link to that person’s website or blog can be the nicest gesture of thanks. And it’s really just good blogging etiquette.
It can take years to be a good reporter, but the rule of thumb in blogging is that if you think the material is not in the public domain, don’t use it.
But blogging is a little less stiff. Some overview notes on plagiarism.
Using Quotes: If you copy and paste a quote from any news source or blog, from the janitor at the school on Main Street, or the organic vendor at the Farmer’s Market, or Obama at a youth rally for the 100 Mile Diet –– if you didn’t collect it, you don’t own it and you have to cite your source, unless it came from a press release. How would you know? Google a few words of the quote and see where it pops up.
If you want to use the quote from another source, add a link, and you’ll have gone the extra mile. There are a couple of exceptions. If, let’s say, you talked with President Obama after the story was written, and he confirmed that it was true, then you can own the quote. Or if Obama’s Administration released a public statement at the event, you can use it.
What goes between quotation marks “like this” are the things the person actually said.
As you’ll read in the essay penned by Chris Tackett from TreeHugger, citing sources is crucial to success in the blogging world. Don’t be jealous of your competition, link to them, and cooperate with them. Both blogs will benefit.
Finding sources for your stories: Many of the bloggers on my blog Green Prophet have asked over the years how to confirm stories, get more information, or how to get quotes. The easiest is to Google a person’s name and find them at their company’s About Us page, or on Facebook, and shoot them an email or Facebook message. More than half the time you’ll be surprised that people will respond to your questions if they are asked courteously and professionally.