SEOmoz is very proud to have been the first blog-based company to sign on to join this effort. We were and are more than happy to lend whatever influence we may have to get an effort of this magnitude and importance rolling. The timing of Blog Action Day seems a bit uncanny what with Al Gore and the IPCC winning a joint Nobel Peace Prize just last week for their work in expanding climate-change awareness. However, when it comes to issues like the environment and the climate-change crisis, there's no such thing as too much attention.
We tend to shy away from political issues here on the blog, but I don't consider the current environmental crisis to be the least bit political. It's a humanitarian issue that everyone should care about regardless of political leanings. Climate change, industrial pollution, deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions...these things affect all of us, regardless of nationality, skin color, tax bracket, religious beliefs or voting history. There is only one thing that truly separates people when it comes to the world's environmental problems: those who are willing to do something and those who aren't. And that's really what Blog Action Day is all about, bringing thousands of voices together to talk about what they've done and what others can do. To show that there are a ton of ways you can make a difference and they don't have to be expensive, or time-consuming or difficult...every little bit really can count.
So, soapbox aside, what has SEOmoz done to be part of the solution? Over the last several months, since Collis, Leo and Cyan contacted us about joining Blog Action Day, we've been auditing our records and calculating our annual carbon emissions for all of our business activities. We are proud to say that today, to commemorate Blog Action Day, we made a contribution of $340 to Carbonfund.org to offset 62 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions (slightly more than the 56.2 tonnes SEOmoz generated in the last year) to make SEOmoz officially Carbon Neutral.
Fun Facts:
- 73.7% of SEOmoz' carbon emissions are the result of air travel! Jeez, all of those conferences add up!
- Our office energy consumption is surprisingly low. We're virtually paperless around here and try to be really good about turning off lights and monitors at night (also, almost all of our light bulbs are compact fluorescents).
While we're proud that we've gone Carbon Neutral, and we hope everyone reading will consider taking a little time and a little money to do the same, we're not stopping there. As part of Blog Action Day, SEOmoz will donate 25% of all sales made today to the Nature Conservancy, the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people (they also have a carbon footprint calculator). This is a great conservation cause that we're happy to contribute to. Want to help them and make an impact today? Well, all you have to do is purchase a Premium Membership. Along with all of the great features and materials you'll get, you'll also effectively be donating $100 (on a 1-year membership) to a great environmental cause and joining the thousands of folks participating in Blog Action Day!
Again, we couldn't be happier to be a part of this momentous event. We send thanks and praise out to all of those bloggers and blog-readers the world over who've come together to make this happen and do their part to raise awareness and make a difference by helping to protect the environment and reverse climate change. We humbly invite all of our readers and members to join the movement and do what you can to help.
Cheers,
Scott
p.s. FROM RAND: A friendly reminder that SEOmoz's blog comments are NOT a good spot for political debate. Thanks!
Way to go, guys. I love your argument for the environment not being political. More people need to realize that fact. I'm by no means a treehugger, but appreciate you voicing your support for carbon neutrality. I'm headed over to Carbon Fund right now :)
Great post Scott. Conserve, reuse, recycle, save enough money to retire on. Nothing political about it. It was how our great grandparents lived every day.
Hi Rand/Scott and SEOmozzers,
I am really happy to see SEO's who are a very powerful voice in the internet world take steps to address a humanitarian issue that we really don't fully understand yet it seems even though scientists are talking about it all the time.
I was happy to see the earth day concerts as well and see musicians also talk about this.
In any case I salute you all for this great contribution and effort in doing your part.
In response to Jeremy and what he said I want to reference an article I wrote about a month ago talking about how SEO is in its essence Green. Based on search engine optimization done by SEOmoz in the last year they probably saved tons of server resources from being overused by optimizing web site content. The client's sites they worked on and their own could have used much more server resources, bandwidth etc, but through their optimization they have really saved tons of energy and reduced carbon emissions.
We need to look at the bigger picture and realize how eco friendly SEO is.
https://seoclass.org/seo-class-goes-green
Just another reason to be a proud seomoz member. :)
Scott, I realized the other day that by far the hardest part about becoming carbon nuetral is finding out what exactly your carbon footprint is. haha. so good job.
SEOmoz would be doing a lot better if we didn't spend a lot of time flying around the place in aeroplanes. However, I'm not particuarly impressed with the idea of swimming to London :D
Swimming to London is silly. You swim to Cornwall and then catch the train. ;)
You could try a rowing boat. Think of it as team building?
Why not, should be a walk in the park for you shouldn't it?!
;)
Little bit cold, little bit cold :D
Everyone can make a difference! If you are passionate about stopping global warming and the environment you should check out this website https://www.nvisioncfl.com . Change to CFLs a great way for individual people to really make a difference! You should also check out this site https://www.youtube.com/user/helpourworld for more ideas on how to help our world!
Thanks for donating to the Nature Conservancy!! They are a great organization and it is nice to see such a public-minded company actively supporting conservation!!
My blog action is a tribute to the environment...with Leonardo DiCaprio, award-winning short films, and newsbites from leading conservationalists around the Globe...
check it out:
www.ijulian.blogspot.com
Julian Ayrs
Interesting to learn your opinions on this :-)
Just an FYI on comments here at SEOmoz. It's my view that anti-global warming or anti-climate change positions are political opinions and therefore don't belong on the SEOmoz blog. We'll be removing them from here on out.
Scott - I just wanted to say that I think this is fantastic work. Thanks so much for your efforts into research and for helping to make SEOmoz not just talk about blog action day, but actually DO something active to support it. Ten thumbs up, mate.
The censorship was not cool Rand. You guys put up the post so you need to let people discuss it. For some reason having my comment removed pissed me off. It wasn't even political at all.
Nick - first off, just let me say that based on your other comments, including one that was killed when I deleted Brian Clark's comment (who's a great friend and a brilliant blogger, but took the discussion in a political direction), it seems as though you have great intentions and we merely took your comment on the surface level to be the start of a discussion on whether global warming was real and whether humans were to blame - exactly the type of discussion that we're trying to prevent.
Sorry if I offended - it was me who removed the comment (from my NYC hotel room), and it was simply to stop the flood of discussion and bickering that can happen on a sensitive topic like this. I hope you can understand my motivations, if if yours were pure.
I hope we can keep the subject of comments about Blog Action Day and the intended goals of awareness and response :)
No worries Rand. Thanks. I understand why you did it but my comment was not political. Maybe because I responded to the person that was. Anyway. No harm done. I just believe in open discussion. Take care. nick
As mentioned, our position on climate-change and global warming is not a political one, it's based on the realities of broad scientific concensus. For those who may be unaware of the most recent scientific findings on global climate-change, its causes and effects, the New York Times recently cited the UN sponsored IPCC report as saying:
My point was not political. I simply said that they don't know everything and said that we should pay attention to pollution as a whole not just carbon emissions. What point is there to reducing carbon if green power is used to make carcinogenic chemicals? Other than reduced climate warming of course.
My point being that it was not a political comment in any way and it got removed. Anyway, I guess I have better things to do than argue here with you. If you're going to put out a blog post, you should deal with the responses not just delete them. Your UN quote would have been a better way to deal with the person that posted the link to the UK newspaper than to simply remove the post.
Seems kind of childish to me and no better than the people who blindly claim that climate change is not happening. Living in Canada, we can see these things happening every winter. But censorship, even for positive reasons, is just propaganda.
From the post:
I never gave any indication that carbon emissions are the only concerning pollutant, just that we chose as our action for Blog Action Day to address our carbon footprint. You may wish to consider donating time, money or resources to a group that works to clean up industrial pollutants or replace lead paint in low-income neighborhoods, etc. The only thing that's important is that you actually DO something to help fix the problems that concern you most.
Sorry. The thrust of your argument was for carbon neutrality. I apologize for ignoring your other points on conservation and so on.
Sorry just checking out this blog.I can't see anything positive about sensoring people's comments. I personly believe that the whole anthropogenic versus 'natural climate change debate boils down to whether you trust modern mainstream science, as represented by the UN report (quoted), or not. If you do trust mainstream science well then the evidence seems to be pretty clear and we all need to pull are wait and do something. However for some the debate still needs to be had, so let's have it and try bring them around. Sensoring someones comment because it doesn't agree with your own opinions doesn't strike me as a way to progress positive change.
Thanks for the great post and awareness - been so busy I needed a "poke". Again, not trying to pile on, add negativity etc, but... I get nervous when people put too much stock into Carbon Neutral projects/companies etc...If I could find the link I would add it, but basically read an article about companies donating money to these funds/orgs only to find out that the projects would have been done with or without their support, thereby not really offsetting their footpring ( I believe it was in BizWeek??). Now, not saying that SEOMoz didn't do your homework, just want to point out that in everyone's rush to go green it is important to do your homework and make sure that you are contributing to reputable companies doing actual good.
P.S. Love the commitment to the Nature Conservancy as well - keep up the good work.
Scott,
Great job doing the research and implementing a neutral footprint!! We have been making the shift in the business and at home this year. We drive a VW diesel getting around 38 MPG. We use biodiesel when we can for the green affect and to smell like popcorn when we are driving down the road!!
Saving the environment is a humanitarian issue we should all have a place in our heart for. We need to start making a different now. I am working with a coalition that is trying to improve the cars on the road and energy conservation. Please check out https://electricbill2007.org. Lets make a difference and work towards a smarter, healthier future.
Every litte effort that we make will go a long way into preserving our planet. Commercial cleaning companies are now implenting green cleaning into their everyday duties. Products labeled “Designed for Environment” (DFE) are approved by the federal government’s Department of Environmental Protection. These help to minimize chemical usage, improves indoor air quality and is healthier for your employees, clients, colleagues and the environment. One such up and coming company that puts a stong emphasis into green cleaning is Commercial Cleaners in NJ
[edited for overly commercial link]
Chilled guys..... no one shoulde be political man .... this man giving you a light about carbon and bloging isn't it?
You did a good job! Well done!
Cindy1875
As iam working in <a href="https://www.forexfloor.com" target="_blank">fx currency trading</a> company i need to make some blogs on it. he advice about light bulbs and power consumption and the options for contributing positively are all listed in the post.
I think many people and businesses use carbon offsetting to appear green without making much of an effort to cut their greenhouse gases.
I'm pleased to see that not only has SEOMoz offset their carbon emissions but is also making a concerted effort to reduce them too. Good work!
Scott thanks Scott for calling this to attention. Had no idea... but enjoyed the inspiration to blog off the usual path a bit as well, aye.
So only opinions agreeing with the post are allowed.
Got it.
Vic
That was such an interesting read. Just makes me realize that even though there is so much to do, we need to start somewhere. Thanks for taking the time outto write this post and make all of us stop and think before leaving the fans on all night long. We are <a href="https://www.pragmites.com/">Pragmites Consulting</a> will do our little bit for the environment today!
In order to make the leaps and bounds we must for the environment, we need to inspire and empower the next generation.
Pass on www.edutopia.org/go-green to all the teachers, educators and parents you know. This Go Green Database an amazing resource for educators, students and parents to search for environment-related resources in a very cool and sophisticated way, narrowing down choices on the basis of location, type of resource, cost, grade level, etc. It also is possible to add resources, make comments and rate resources
Finally someone taking on the state of environmental awareness and focusing it in public education.The Go Green documentary www.edutopia.org/east examines the Environmental and Spatial Technology Initiative, which fills classrooms with the latest technology and turns students loose to design and execute community-service projects. Kids in action - cool!
Jeremy, I'm partially with you on this. The end result seems to be just a lot of hot air produced by a lot of bloggers only slightly better informed than their audience. And we all know how danagerous a little knowledge can be.
As for the power thing though I doubt much more will be consumed. The servers would have been running whether it was 'Blog Action Day' or not.
I don't mean to be critical of seomoz here, this post was actually one of the best attempts I've seen today, but I wanted to post this somewhere.
I'd argue that what's even more dangerous than "a little knowledge" is an attitude that doing 'something' won't make enough of a difference, so why not do nothing at all?
Sure, what we've done today isn't going to save the world, not even close, but if everyone just did 'something' it'd add up awfully quickly. The problem is, as Jeremy points out, a lot of people are lazy or think it'll be too much effort to do 'something,' so they just sit back, freeride and do nothing.
What I hope to see from Blog Action Day, as mentioned, is a showing by bloggers of the huge variety of 'somethings' people can do easily, cheaply and conveniently that actually can make a small difference...rather than a large indifference.
Given that SEOmoz is one of about four blogs I have time to read regularly & the only one that I saw who posted on the subject today, I think it was an important post. I knew that "Blog Action Day" was coming, but didn't really understand it, nor did I take the effort to know what it was all about. So count me in the "lazy, free-riding" list...
...EXCEPT that this blog post ACTUALLY encouraged me to go to carbonfund & donate to offset my carbon emissions for the year (just under $40, as a solo small business owner).
Scott, I want to repeat, as I said earlier, it was well worth your time to research SEOmoz's carbon emissions, and to publicize ways to help to all mozzers. You're dead on when you say that
It took me all of about 10 minutes to log in to my PG&E account to find my KwH & go back through my travel receipts for the year for miles logged. You singlehandedly raised my awareness level and "converted" me to click through.
Even if I was the only one who did it, you made a difference, so thanks!!!
Awesome, David, thanks for that. It's always nice to feel that one's efforts have made an impact. Thanks for your support and thanks for getting involved, I truly appreciate it.
David Mihm is figgin awesome.
Davidmihm wrote
"Given that SEOmoz is one of about four blogs I have time to read regularly & the only one that I saw who posted on the subject today, I think it was an important post."
In this case I may have been overly critical. My feed reader has been positively swamped with posts relating to this today. Yet another reminder I really need to trim down my list of feeds.
Scott wrote
"I'd argue that what's even more dangerous than "a little knowledge" is an attitude that doing 'something' won't make enough of a difference, so why not do nothing at all?"
A lot of small changes can make a big difference when it comes to anthropogenic global warming but my worry is at what cost. For example we're told that CFLs are better than incandescent lightbulbs but the facilities for disposing of CFLs correctly are almost non-existant in many towns. At least this seems to be the case in the UK. A little knowledge, use CFLs, versus the full story, use CFLs but be careful how you dispose of them.
I also have two issues with carbon offseting. Firstly that people will use it as a get 'out of jail free card'. The mentality being, "I've paid my dues, I can do whatever I want." I don't think this is the mentality at seomoz, you were already doing a lot, but I believe some will follow this approach.
Secondly, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the carbon reducing credentials of these schemes yet. Reforestation is great for the local environment, reduced erosion, hopefully increased biodiversity, but I'm not sure we really understand the extent of carbon sequestration that results yet. Carbonfund.org doen't seem to have any hydroelectric projects but this is an even bigger issue. You're trading 'clean' energy production for loss of potentially unique habitats and the slow release of carbon from the organic matter which becomes trapped in the reservoir.
Streety, I appreciated your thoughtful, reasoned response.
I agree wholeheartedly it's important not to use the offset as a "get out of jail free" card. That would defeat the intent of the entire program, which seems to be about making more aggressive strides towards limiting your footprint on a daily basis.
I don't know enough about specific environmental issues like reforestation and proper disposal of CFLs, but it does seem to me that a stable, widely-adopted alternative energy source is probably the biggest thing we could do to slow down & reverse global warming...
I hate to be the one to bring the bad news, but the amount of pollution generated from hosting the page views of this blog post and running the computers people are using to read this blog post (power is coming from somewhere) will be more than all of this blog action day talk will actually help save. In the end, people are all talk and no action when it comes to most of these issues in their personal lives.
Jeremy - I have to admit that I'm dissapointed that you're posting this despite the fact that Scott went to the trouble of not only researching SEOmoz's power and carbon footprint, but taking steps to help offset them. The advice about light bulbs and power consumption and the options for contributing positively are all listed in the post. This wasn't a "hey, man, we should, like, do, like, something about, you know, stuff." It was an actual positive contribution to the problem and an excellent illustration of how the little things can collectively have a big impact.
I'm seriously confused by the negativity.
I have to apologize for the negativity. I was just a little tired of the flood of blog posts on the subject today and then SEOmoz's popped up and it sort of got a "not SEOmoz too" type reaction out of me as your one of the few blogs I read that is always pure and on topic with it's core content goals and my expectations of such. The comment was made in haste and I don't want to take away from the effort Scott put into it.
Gotcha - no worries, mate. If anyone is prone to emotional and sometimes off-kilter responding, it's me. Totally empathize with you, there.
Jeremy, I too feel you are right about the energy coming from the wrong resources, and that is just the tip of the iceberg of pollution used to allow us to surf. Plastics in the computer itself, etc.
We hardly stand a chance when it comes to fixing what WE all do wrong. A hopeful energy alternative might be www.jointhesolution.com/earn go there and see how WE all can make a real difference.
Best,
Wayne's World