I got an email back in August from Collis Ta'eed about something called Blog Action Day:
The premise is that if thousands of bloggers all publish on the same day, on the same issue we can make a difference in the conversation on the internet for that day.I was skeptical to say the least, and told him so in my reply. That said, I also told him I wouldn't mind doodling a reddit logo that vaguely referenced saving the environment and wrote something in my personal blog about whether or not this would actually work.
After all, I really do like this planet and I'd made reddit logo doodles for even more frivolous things, so I figured why not. It all seemed like the perfect bit of passive-activism to make my heart grow a few sizes larger.
He probably didn't expect something like this for a logo, but I had to wrap up the storyline that Jeremy started. Redditors will not tolerate plot holes. All I needed to do was get my head lopped off so that a higher power could intervene.
Well, thanks to some reporting over at Wired (remember, we now have the same parent company) I learned this isn't exactly a grassroots-dot-org-style movement. Sorry to say it, but I didn't know this until it was told to me during the interview. This PR stunt isn't just for mother nature (although she's had a serious image problem after Katrina) Ta'eed also runs a for-profit website hosting startup. Yet Blog Action Day is being sold as a not-for-profit and is, after all, a dot-org. Does this undermine the lofty idea? Or should I just go back to doodling aliens?
There are a number of participating sites I respect (like Lifehacker) and organizations I wish I could respect more, like the United Nations. The Day has obviously caught on. Will it make a difference? Or are we all just marketing pawns?
There. Phew. I've done my part -- how about YOU? (See? No one likes that person.)
Just watch us find out later that had we all just turned off our computers and went out for a walk, we'd have done more good for the environment...
