Greetings!  Friday once again… where did the week go?  Ah well, as the saying goes, there are 168 hours in a week; what you do with them is up to you.  I was sitting at my computer, staring at a blank screen (that adamantly refused to write anything on itself), when my wife (who sits at the computer beside me) suggested I ‘follow’ on Twitter someone from England who blogs about rooftop gardens, green roofs, etc. (@gardenbeet on Twitter).  That got me thinking about an article I had read earlier today entitled, “Why you have to engage in social media, even if you don’t want to“.

While it’s true that twenty years ago few people had ever heard of a ‘web site’, the simple truth is that websites now get lost in their sheer numbers and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and more are sweeping the world and very directly changing the way we do business.  Marcia and I wrote a post last month about our own foray into Social Networking, and we now have a Twitter landing page on this site, where we provide links and information related to social networking information (updated as we can).  Social networking affects every group or business, in every field.   During the recent 2010 TED Conference in California, there were over 40,000 ‘tweets’ (short posts) about the conference.   Chris Anderson of TED can be found at @TEDChris. More and more businesses are allowing/encouraging their employees to post about their experiences with and within the company, and while there have been a couple of instances of people being dismissed as a result of their posts, these events were anything but private and reflect back to the company as well.  ‘CoTweet‘ for example is a resource that allows the employees of a company to share one Twitter account, engaging with their clients online.

Curious, I went to the US Green Building Council home page, and they have a Twitter account (@usgbc).  Being Canadian, I also went to the Canada Green Building Council home page, and they’re not (yet?) hooked up to Twitter.  I’ve sent them an e-mail letting them know that when they do, I’ll be happy to update this post!  Some of the groups, organizations and companies I ‘follow’ on Twitter in relation to sustainability and green building, in addition to those mentioned above, are:

• AskNatureTweets (from the BioMimicry Institute)
• Biomimicry Institute
• Living Building Institute
• Sustainable Facility magazine
• Michelle Hucal (editor of ED+C magazine)
• Environmental Design+Construction magazine
• Sustainable Santa Monica
• Zoë Caron (Vice-President, Sierra Club of Canada, among other things)
• Daily Planet (science and technology TV show)
• Elaine Cohen (CSR consultant)

I’m sure you’ll develop your own lists.  Oh, BTW, if you’re like me and tend to be a bit loquacious, I highly recommend Twitlonger.

Articles, sites and news I found this week include the following.  Before I get to that, a reminder that there’s a webinar on ‘Understanding Green Schools‘ on March 17, 2:00 p.m. EDT.  Click on the link to register.

In no particular order:

• The LEED Guide (2009): digital e-book
• ED+C magazine articles
  • ED+C magazine – eNews
• Sustainable Facility magazine articles
  • Sustainable Facility magazine – eNews
• BuildingGreen eNews
• Healthy Building Network – eNews
• The Adam Joseph Lewis Center at Oberlin College
• GreenSource magazine
  • Tending the Wild: Designing for living cities can reduce the impact of buildings and even regenerate the environment
• 2010 Western Red Cedar Architectural Design Awards: Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (deadline July 30, 2010)
• L.A. Mayor, Vincent Villaraigosa: Five Environmental Goals, Four Years
• Green Map: Local Green Maps and Open Green Maps
• Olympic Athlete’s Village: Greenest Neighborhood in the World
• QA Graphics Calls for Entries in Their Initiative to Showcase Schools’ Green Efforts
• Enterprise Green Communities
• 2010 NPO GRANT PROGRAM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTING PROJECTS
• World Resources Institute: Copenhagen’s moment of truth
• Eco-mmunity Greenzine
• Energy modality comparison based on projected “cents per kilowatt-hour”
• The Center for Urban Pedagogy
• Walmart Creates Online Hub for Best Practices in Green Business
• 81 Reasons Why There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be an Architect
• IDEO and DESIGN 21 Launch “Living Climate Change Video Challenge
• Online Travel Agencies Step Up Efforts to Promote Green Hotels
• Sustainability Leads to Growth and Profit in Electronics Sector – MapChange 2010
• BMW Group “Best Innovator” in the field of sustainability

Have a great week!

Mike.

P.S.

If you’re in the Portland, OR area on March 20–21 and are looking for a way to release some of the stress in your life, drop by the Ohara Ikebana Exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden.