Blog Action Day -- October 15, 2007

Today is Blog Action Day. This first, but hopefully annual, blogebration has lofty goals. Let's get everyone to post about the environment in their field of choice. I'll let the founders explain more:

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

Some notable blogs that commented today:

• Lifehacker did a post on top 10 user-submitted ways to live easier, greener.
• The Official Google Blog writes about how ideas of "small changes, aggregated on a large scale, can bring to people everywhere" work on both topics of environmental change and searching the web.
• Google Finance Blog discusses "The Green Stock Boom" for investors interested in environmentally conscious companies/industries that will benefit from rising oil prices.
• One of my favorite posts of the day, Copyblogger writes on "The Butterfly Effect" and how one action reverberates worldwide, forever.
• Kansas City blogger Mike Swenson writes "...unless we do begin to take all actions large and small to impact the future of our planet in a positive way, nothing else will matter someday. Most especially the economy."

These and 15,000+ other bloggers who have registered to make today a chance for a slight murmur across the blogosphere which, I hope, someday is a fervent yell for the cause of environmental concern. Folks, we got one planet -- it would suck to lose it.

---

What I want in this space is a focus on the future of the newspaper industry.

Last Thursday, my friend Ben came in to OP to have a dinner with my folks and I. Among our varied discussions, I postulated "The newspaper industry will be radically different and almost extinct in 15-25 years."

My dad and Ben were not persuaded. They spoke of the tactile sensation of holding a double page spread, photos arrayed in designer layouts, graphics, and the walk down the driveway to to pick up the paper. This makes me sad and nostalgic too, one of my favorite things in the world is a dinosaur.

Unfortunately, these times are a changing. There are several reasons for that, but the simplest, easiest one is this: the cost of a digital medium will continue to go down to almost nil while the cost of newsprint, distribution, and printing will rise. Market forces will simplify this equation for newspaper publishers.

As more people get their news online -- there are fewer and fewer people wanting to deal with the hassle of getting news that, (believe this!) isn't updated on the minute like the CNN and NYT web sites.

Combining that, with as I'm sure most would guess, the fact that print newspapers aren't the most environmentally friendly:

Tyson Miller, director of the Green Press Initiative, said ... “Newsprint consumption is 9.2 million tons per year, and the average amount of that which is recycled material is 32%, so about 6 million tons of virgin fiber is used to make U.S. newsprint per year,” he said. “That’s more virgin fiber than the books, magazine and catalog business combined. So even though they use a lot more recycled content, and print circulation is dropping, the industry as a whole uses a lot of paper. The good news is that the industry has a fairly high recycled fiber use rate.”

Circulation is down, advertising revenue for the print product is down, and the discourse on environment first thinking is going up.

Hasta la vista traditional newspapers.

What will replace newspapers and how will we get our information? Check back Wednesday for my take on the future of media in this country.

---

My very little thing I did this weekend was finally organizing my recycling at my apartment. Previously, my system involved me throwing all my plastics/aluminum goods in a trash sack haphazardly taking it to local recycling places when they got too smelly to keep in the kitchen. (At best, and more times than I'm proud of, a nearby dumpster) I think you'll approve of the upgrade.



---

Thank you for taking one minute to think about the environment collectively across the blogosphere. If you are so inspired, write something on your blog/facebook note of choice and register with the Blog Action Day folk. Let's just hope we keep the dialog going to October 16 and beyond. Besides, don't you really know what October 15 is?