Green Options

The second Carnival of Green Crafts is now posted at BlogHer.  Crafts and DIY editor Deb Roby has done a fabulous job, so head on over and check out what she’s whipped up. I think the haiku is my favorite.

We have been so pleased that so many green crafters and craft aficionados out there have sent in posts, commented, and visited the carnivals thus far.  For those [...]

Eleven ways that moms are leveraging social media to pursue the mom agenda.

It’s a self-evident truth that moms know best. Until recently, though, this knowledge was largely confined to the family unit. With the spread of social media such as blogs and social networks, the walls of motherly wisdom are coming down. Concurrently, the sphere of motherly influence is expanding, most notably to board rooms and chambers of congress. This isn’t to say that moms don’t already wield influence in these areas. Speaker Pelosi is, indeed, a grandmother. But of all the demographic groups gaining power through the social web, from techies and teens to musicians and green activists, we’d argue that none is more formidable than moms. Marketers, politicians, and CEOs take note: networked moms have become a force to be reckoned with, and they continue to gain strength.

Anyone who’s ever feared or respected their mothers (that means you) knows what we’re talking about. Indeed, when you step back and consider the makings of this phenomenon, it’s nothing short of awe inspiring. The technology of social media has extended the power and reach of the individual to a point where it’s possible for anyone to spark a groundswell of action and impact, fueled by network effects and viral distribution. It is the proverbial butterfly that flaps its wings and causes a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Only this butterfly is highly motivated with a tremendous vested interest in the health and wellbeing of the next generation. And they number in the tens of millions in the U.S. alone.

For the past several decades, Oprah has been the voice for so many American moms. From the serious to the mundane, she covers issues that matter to women and holds tremendous sway with her viewers. We’ve seen firsthand how companies are nearly capsized with demand when their product becomes one of Oprah’s favorite things. But this is a waning, one-way channel. It’s Media 1.0, where companies produce the infotainment and we consume it. By and large, if it wasn’t important to Oprah, it wasn’t important to her audience. Media 2.0, on the other hand, is about creation and participation. According to MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, some 40% of moms in the U.S. are already on MySpace, “using the site for the same reason everyone else is: to socialize.” Social media is about initiating and joining two-way conversations that matter to the individual and finding others for whom the same topics or issues matter. What matters most to moms? Their children, of course.

Debra Roby, crafts editor at women’s blogging mega-site BlogHer, has been all over the green crafting topic this month. As part of the BlogHer series “Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Wallet,” Deb is highlighting green and thrifty ways to get your craft on.

First, in Recycled Crafts: Recycling Crafters of Etsy, she lists some of her favorite Etsy shops that use recycled materials. As commenters point out, this is quite dangerous, because it may not be physically possible to visit Etsy and not buy something. My favorite one of her finds is RePlayGround!, with the tagline “Garbage has feelings too!” RePlayGround! has a shop, but they also have instructions for DIY projects and recycling kits like the bottle lamp kit pictured here. They supply the hardware, you supply the bottles, and let there be light.