Bloggers Unite!

"What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day? One issue. One day. Thousands of voices."

Some cyber-friends down under have organised Blog Action Day, a day meant to raise awareness for the environment by asking all participating blogs to include green posts in their publishing line-up. Major blogs like Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, and Zen Habits have signed up to contribute. Other blogs participating include Lifehack.org, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.

We all know the environment is finally getting it's due attention, thanks to news makers like Al Gore and his Nobel Peace Prize. Today, it's time to get the little man involved. By posting about current environmental issues as they pertain to the different blogging communities, co-founder Collis Ta'eed hopes to prove the effectiveness of mass blogger participation. "For just one day, we'd like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment."

Local blogs like Biking Toronto and Treehugger strive to do this everyday, but by joining forces with other web logs around the world- not necessarily just environmental sites- the hope is that the message will reach those readers who might not initially think about how their actions affect the earth. "We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard," Ta'eed explains.

As I'm writing this, 15,861 blogs have signed up to join the crusade (including blogTO), reaching a staggering 12,697,713 readers via RSS feeds. I'm not sure if it's just timing, but on some of the "participating" sites I've visited, there are no environmental posts in sight! Let's hope this initiative meets it's mark, and doesn't become just another traffic-rerouting device.