Despite my sparkling new social media diet — which is off to a shaky start today — I’m still using and enjoying my key networks. Twitter remains my favorite. If you can look past the occasional Fail Whale, it remains the simplest gateway to and active and diverse online community.
One of the things I’ve ignored of late is EcoMonday. Now that we have the ability to make lists on Twitter, it’s easy to display groups of recommended users: just put them on a themed public list. People can browse and follow as they wish, and we avoid cryptic-looking posts with the #ecomonday hashtag and long groups of Twitter screen names (a tactic spammers have learned to slip into your Mentions column).
But I miss the opportunity to highlight Twitter users from whom I draw high value in the areas of environment and sustainability. So I’m going to start recommending them here. It will give me the opportunity to be a bit more specific about why I’m singling out particular users. Let’s give it a try, shall we?
The list
@hyperlocavore: This is Liz McLellan, a Brooklyn transplant now living near Portland. Liz runs Hyperlocavore, a cool site about yardsharing. It’s a brilliant idea: If you’d like to be growing some of your own food, but don’t have the space to do it, Hyperlocavore might be able to connect you with someone nearby who has a few feet of humus to spare. Liz is fundraising to improve her online community, and her Kickstarter project page is worthy of a look.
@DerekMarkham: Derek is an eco blogger I’ve known for quite a while, and the publisher of Natural Papa. He writes about green parenting from a male perspective. He’s also amazingly active and consistent on Twitter, with lots of high-value links and real conversation. Derek is a big-time rock climber, which is why he’s currently hobbling around on these.
@guardianeco: The Guardian has become my primary source of online news. While I’ll generally tip people, not sites, the Guardian’s environment feed is of such high quality, I’m happy to recommend it. The writing is sharp, the editing is solid, and someone is taking the time to actually participate on Twitter, not just broadcast links. The Guardian’s environment page is here.
@gfriend: Gil Friend is one of the people helping define the green economy. He’s the CEO of Natural Logic, a company which provides Sustainability consulting services to business, and the author of The Truth About Green Business. On top of all this, he runs an active, low-noise Twitter stream with an emphasis on business, science, and progressive politics.
@lutzfernandez: Being entirely carfree these days, I’ve become interested in transportation issues. Anne Lutz Fernandez is the co-author of a book at the top of my reading stack: Carjacked. It’s about how we’ve largely built American society around cars, and the enormous cost of car-centric culture in terms of money, energy, real estate — and lives.
Got anyone to add?
I’d love to see your #ecomonday recommendations. If there’s someone you think deserves special attention, drop me a line through the Contact page or shoot me a @reply online. Of course, I’d love it if you’d follow me on Twitter. Have a green and healthy week!
