26 March 2012

The unlikely blogger

I have now been blogging about sustainability for over two years.


I am the most unlikely blogger. I am not on Twitter or Facebook. I do not have a smart phone - in fact, the number for the mobile phone I do have is kept well protected and hardly anyone contacts me that way. I had been blogging for over a year before I told more than ten people about the blog, and allowed Tyson to post links to it on his Facebook page. Readership shot up from two to ... oh, twenty?

More recently it occurred to me that writing this blog is in itself an act towards sustainable living - but not really if no-one knows its here. So in January I decided to enter my blog in the ReNew Magazine's 'blog of the year' competition and to my enormouse surprise, I came second! I have received a lovely solar lantern and woodgas camp stove from Stickman Stoves (thank you!) but perhaps more importantly ReNew magazine ran an article about the blog, so perhaps a few people out there who don't know me personally may now have had a look at it.

Initial Time: I picked at writing the first eleven posts over several weeks - Eva was about 4 months old at the time and 'picking at' was all I could muster. This is why all the early (Jan 2010) blogs are posted on the same day - I launched them when I was happy with the group and confident I may be able to continue writing relatively regularly.

Initial Cost: Zero.

Ongoing time or cost commitment: Zero cost. Time: 2-4 hours per month, depending on the complexity of the blog entry, research required, calculations, and number of photographs.

Impact: My hope is that at very least I have inspired a few people to have a go at simple actions for more sustainable living - that I am showing that it is do-able.

This is where I need your input. In a raging break with my quiet style I am asking for comments (!!!) to answer this section. Has this blog had any impact on you at all? Is there anything, however small, that you have been inspired to try after reading this blog? Please leave comments even if you stumble across this entry in 6 months time - or come back and leave comments here in future if you get around to making changes later on. Thanks!

The second thing you can do to change the impact that this blog has is to let other people know that its here. I'm a shocker at self-promotion. If anyone out there thinks the content of this blog is worth sharing, and might help make a difference towards us living better together on our one small planet, please let some of your friends know.

The third thing you can do is consider how YOU let others know what YOU are doing to live more sustainably. I think more is going on quietly than is publicly acknowledged, and it would help change our cultural attitidues towards sustainable living if more of us went public - even just to our close friends and family - with our convictions and actions for a better world.

That's an awful lot of interactive options for me in one go. I may have to go lie down for a while to recover...

13 comments:

  1. After posting this blog yesterday I realised that I had not myself done item (2) above - tell my friends. So today, feeling very nervous, I have emailed a wide range of people to let them know about this blog. That is definitely my 'one thing' towards sustainability for this month!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Testing... 1 2 3...
    OK I typed a long message and ended up losing it... NICE. So I'll summarise my message in under 50 words. Well done Clare, this is awesome! You brave girl you hehe I look forward to more of what I like to call "awesomeness" from you in the near future. 3 cheers for sustainability... hip hip hooray! x3
    Love Sheeqie

    ReplyDelete
  3. It made me think again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Clare. I actually read your entire blog very recently after Tyson made a post about it on Facebook. I had not yet managed to write a few lines to tell you how impressive I thought the blog (and your household's sustainable living) was. I'll post it to my Facebook (a tool I remain somewhat sceptical about!) profile now. Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. yay!!! Hi Clare! excellent first effort at self promotion!

    I'd say reading this blog a little while back, plus my visit to your house last year, were among various influences that have led me to advocate some small sustainability steps within my sharehouse. I wouldn't say I've made much more progress than that, but I'm more into the big picture systems change stuff.

    In my new job I coordinate volunteers who give talks about how we can transition to zero carbon in less than 10 years.
    http://beyondzeroemissions.org/

    I'll share your blog with my office-mates, I reckon they'd be into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You work for BZE?? That's awesome!!

      Delete
    2. Hi Clare,
      Some wonderful ideas!
      Im no eco-warrior but have tried to make some small changes in my household too and it does make a difference. Look forward to more inspiring ideas. All the best :)

      Delete
  6. I also write a blog about the environment and was happy to come upon yours and note your perseverance and ability to increase readership while spreading a great message - sustainability - my site is UndiscoveredEarth.com

    Dani @ ONNO Organic Clothing

    ReplyDelete
  7. this is really great.....what to say

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Clare
    I really enjoy reading your blog and the wealth of information that you provide on sustainable living.

    I am currently conducting research into blogs that focus on sustainable living as part of my Masters at the University of New England, Australia. We are looking for people to participate in a short online survey (5-10minutes), link below http://uneprofessions.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1MOWwlgbGJlIyJS
    If you could help that would be greatly appreciated.
    Regards,
    Student Researcher, Master of Environmental Systems, Markets and Climate Change
    University of New England
    Email: lshashko@une.edu.au

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Clare, I didn't get a chance to tell you today that I really appreciated what you had to say today. Not just what you said but how you said it. I know that my comments are not in the right place - on your blog but it was important to me to let you know that I am really happy that I got to hear from you today.
    Take care,
    blessings for the labour and adjusting to your new life.
    Regards
    Tania McGhee

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Clare fantastic blog,getting lot's of ideas from it i came across your blog a couple of hours ago and have been sitting here reading from the start so just got a couple more years to catch up with!Found your blog thru the ReNew Mag

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'm so pleased that you are finding it useful.

      Delete