Colleen Schmid of Heathrow, Fla. Writes:
“I’ve recently started a new business teaching families how to start going green in their homes. I go through their homes and, room by room, show them what things they can be doing to save on power and water bills as well as removing toxins. I will also begin showing small businesses how to do the same.
“Earth Day is on April 22, and I’m trying to come up with a big idea to get media attention for my business. It’s so critical that we all become aware of what we’re are doing to harm our environment, waste precious resources and pollute. It’s also important to show people how living green saves them money and takes care of our Earth.
“Can your Hounds thing of some powerful ways for me t otie my business into Earth Day for some publicity?” Her website is at Green-Irene.com.
Many politicians – from the right and the left – are seeing the wisdom in “going green.” Why not try to coordinate with a local politician – you’ll go through their home (accompanied by a reporter from a local TV or newspaper, of course), and discuss all the ways that they could improve their homes to “go green”.
If you get turned down by local politicians, what about other local community leaders – non-profit execs, Chamber of Commerce leaders, university professors, etc.
It gives reporters a local personality to personalize a story that’s often difficult to “localize” since it’s truly a global issue.
How about using twitter to provide one green tip per day building up to the big reveal on Earth Day? After all, one tip per day is doable for families and doesn’t overwhelm them. With each tip, they’ll think, “Oh, is that all it takes? I can do that.”
So the angle here — how to help overwhelmed and busy families feel like they can make a difference.
You’re building trust and relationships. Then put all the tips in one blog post or article to distribute in its entirety on Earth Day.
My “help this hound” advice for Green Irene is not to pitch an Earth Day story…but to pitch a St Patricks Day story.
Being green is a popular story line already…how about twisting it into a St Patricks Day story. That way you don’t have to compete with all the other “green” earth day stuff.
By the way…being 100% Irish, I’m partial to St Patricks Day – Good Luck! Joel
Solar cookers are a good tie in for Earth Day. There was an interesting article on them in Parade Sunday, March 1. They may not be practical for every day cooking in America, but the connection to refugees and villagers and farmers who’ve run out of firewood is an attention getter. I posted about it in my blog and mentioned that it’s useful for campers and people who live off the grid.
How about a display, blog post, and news release about how the mayor’s residence in your city, or the governor’s residence of your state can go green.
Or go really big and do it for the WHITE HOUSE.
You could combine St Patty’s day with Earth Day.
Start your HomesGoGreen world record attempt on St Patrick’s day and end it on Earth Day.
Of course since this World Record attempt probably hasn’t been tried before I guess any number of homes you get green during that period will cause you to be the World Record holder. So how sweet is that!
Of course you try to break your record every year so you have recurring news story.
Plus besides pub you get opportunity for some great tag lines nobody else will have.
How about World’s Greatest Green Home Educator
My suggestion is to tie into the economy. The new stimulus package has great savings for homeowners remodeling green. There’s a “must-read” link to a Times article on my blog about potential tax rebates. The economy and stimulus package are high on everyone’s news reports, so I’d go with that angle.
Micro Hydropower is a good way to offset the electric bill if you have a stream or small river near your house. I have found that smallhydro.com is a great resource for information on small and micro hydropower.