Wow. I have not blogged since October 22nd, 2007. There is one word for that and it starts with the letter “p”…pathetic!

Lucky for me, I remembered my Wordpress log-in info. Don’t ask me how, but I did. I guess it’s like the lyrics to that SClub7 song I remembered the other day (Simmons knows what I am talking about). I vow to write about this important event tomorrow, but here’s a link for the meantime:

http://www.earthhour.org

Last year’s Earth Hour in Sydney was the inspiration for my first ever blog post, so it’s fitting that this year’s worldwide Earth Hour will be the one that revitalizes said blog.

Earth Hour, Global Warming PR, SClub7, Sydney

Today is Blog Action Day and bloggers everywhere are writing about the environment. I can’t help but wonder if the organizers of Blog Action Day purposely chose Monday, October 15, knowing that it would come on the heels of the announcement that former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nation’s Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Just curious, but I’m glad to be a part of a group of people who want to promote sustainability in the United States and beyond.

I’ve been reading editorials on Gore’s win (as well as the many entertaining comments that go with them) and while many are quick to say Gore is simply trying to repair his own political image, or that global warming is a farce, what people forget to note is that by complaining OR applauding his work, they are helping Gore accomplish what, even a year ago, many would’ve called impossible: People are discussing global warming.
At the very least, Gore’s work has helped to shed light on the fact that many Americans DO care about the environment, the future, and our effects on the rest of the world. 
The first time I visited Europe, I remember how shocked I was at the efficiency of the public transportation systems – not just the subways, but also the buses that took us from country to country. I remember wondering why we didn’t have similar systems at home. Granted I come from Albuquerque, a sort-of big city in the middle of nowhere, but why is it that America is SO far behind our European counterparts when it comes to environmental responsibility? I’m willing to bet it’s got a lot to do with money and even more to do with the fact that the United States is notorious for laziness (in more areas than one). 

Here at Eastwick, we created a Green task force to provide recommendations for how we could make our new home in Mountain View more earth friendly. We’ve got CFL’s, our lights are on timers, and, we recycle. While these are small steps, they most certainly make a difference. 

2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore, Albuquerque, blog action day, cfls, Eastwick, Global Warming PR, Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, United Nations, Vice President Al Gore

Since I obviously did not write on the day of our move…I am well overdue for a little blogging. For those who missed LiveEarth, you missed some good concerts (and some pretty decent advertising).

Today I decided it was time to embed a video on my blog - I found this one featuring Cameron Diaz on YouTube’s home page. In all honesty, I’ve spent very little time on said site, but I have to admit that I could probably spend a good portion of my day surfing around for random videos.

Not to mention that companies all over the world (including Eastwick client Scalent) have commercials/videos on the site. I think it’s pretty safe to say that YouTube’s direct-to-user capabilities plus (or minus) star power (see Cameron Diaz above) and the more than 16 million unique visitors the site sees a month are THE secret sauce (or not so secret sauce) to effectively spreading any company’s gospel. As we frequently say at Eastwick, “Get on the Bus!”

Global Warming PR, PR Campaigns

When I moved from Albuquerque (NM) to San Jose last September, I found the most astonishing and troubling differences between the Southwest and the West Coast to be the amount of traffic on 101 North and the perpetual brown haze in the distance.

Ever since, I’ve been thinking a lot about global warming and pollution. I’m pretty concerned about it. Lucky for California residents, CA is one of the most progressive states when it comes to passing legislation designed to tighten auto emissions and carbon standards.

Over the past month, members of the Eastwick team have been pitching the story behind Duarte Design’s revamp of Al Gore’s PowerPoint presentation - which became the basis for his Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” That got me thinking about how PR can maintain the media’s interest in all things “going green.” I also started to wonder what PR campaigns are already out there that aim to save the Earth.

While surfing the web for International PR blogs, (my proposed topic for this fledgling blog), I came across a brilliant PR campaign from the Land Down Under.

At 7:30 p.m. on the evening of March 31st, citizens of Sydney were encouraged to celebrate “Earth Hour” by turning off their lights, turning appliances off stand-by, and enjoying an hour of quiet. The results? More than 2 million Sydney residents and businesses showed their support for Earth Hour, which allowed for a 10.2 percent drop in energy usage across the city, according to Energy Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 10.2 percent was double the anticipated energy saving and represented a reduction of 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide - the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road for an hour.  Pretty impressive stuff.

Even more impressive is the fact that Earth Hour was the kick-off event for the WWF-Australia’s (Worldwide Fund for Nature) ambitious campaign to cut Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by March 2008. In my opinion, PR doesn’t get much better than that. I’m thinking ”Earth Hour” would be a great way to promote this summer’s Live Earth concerts…

An Inconvenient Truth, Duarte Design, Earth Hour, Global Warming PR, Live Earth, PR Campaigns, WWF Australia