Loading ...
MuseGreen is five women, a blog, and some chocolate. All trying to let the planet rest a little easier.
This is the third installment of our 1.5 million-part series, Better Know a Blogger. MuseGreen is written by a group of women, most of whom are also moms, and they are committed to promoting the green life. Founder Lorraine Williams and friends built a blog, a store, and lounge for all things green.
Max Gladwell (Max): What is MuseGreen in 140 characters or less?
Lorraine: “Tips, tools and commentary on living green by 5 regular women who want nothing more than to let the planet rest a little easier.”
Lorraine Williams
Max: How did MuseGreen come about?
MuseGreen (Muse): Well, I was on a flight back from the UK, flicking aimlessly through the 500 channels on my in-flight TV when I came across the movie The 11th Hour. Being a bit of an eco-diva it was one that had been on my watch list for a while, so I tuned in….and, well, that was all there was to it. I wanted to get off the plane, do something right then and there. I felt I just had to do something to at least try and inform people, motivate people, to take stock of what the hell we’re doing and change our behavior. Obviously this is completely ridiculous. Nobody’s going to listen to some mad mother ranting about climate change. If it doesn’t affect them in their day-to-day lives then it’s obviously blown out of proportion, right?
Well, it just grated on me for weeks. Trying to find a way to reach people, people in my own community, my neighbors, my peers, who are still living large like there’s no tomorrow.
Then it dawned on me that it didn’t need to be a one-women crusade. I approached four of my dearest friends, all of whom have been committed to making great environmental choices in their daily lives for a long time and, about 10 seconds into our 30-second pitch, MuseGreen was born. Obviously, that was the easy bit! What came next was very tough on all of us, trying to get the site up in record time while also holding down day jobs, children, homework, husbands…just life in general. But it’s been worth every 12-hour day!
Max: MuseGreen is fundamentally a blog, but it’s much more than that, right?
Muse: Well – yes, that’s correct. It is first and foremost a blog and for that we are truly thankful to the WordPress gods! It is how we can connect, how we share our hopes, fears, loves, dreams, our opinions – whether controversial or not – it’s all open for debate. It’s a great vehicle to communicate and stir up the pot.
However, once the blog was in place, that wasn’t enough for us. We didn’t want to just talk about issues in the vain hope that somebody may actually act on them – we wanted to influence, to engage people enough so that their actions would result in something magical happening, no matter how small, that would make this planet a little bit better. Sounds pious, I know, but that’s when we decided to introduce The Lounge – a side of the site geared toward audience participation – from playing our environmentally friendly quizzes and games to submitting your own articles.
Max: There is a charitable aspect to MuseGreen, as well. How does that work?
Muse: Yes, this is the best bit! This is what we really feel passionate about. We offer several ways in which people’s actions can directly benefit the planet. No gimmicks, no points, no prizes, it’s not about you, it’s about the global ‘us’.
We have chosen several fabulous causes that we support and donate money to. They include Project Green Hands, The Children’s Nature Institute, and various special ocean causes such as those run by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It’s all about our trees, our oceans, our children, our future. If you absolutely have to shop, then why not shop and benefit the planet without even trying? We donate 2% of the proceeds from every purchase directly to the above causes. It’s powered by Amazon and features just about anything you could ever need.
Max: But you’re also trying to monetize it and build a business out of it, yes?
Muse: All the goodwill in the world doesn’t belie the fact that somehow we must generate the income to pay for all this. If it were up to us, we’d give it all away, but then that wouldn’t help sustain what could be a great motivator for change.
Right now, we are able to donate to our causes due to the revenues we get from our shopping and advertising activities. Our blood, sweat and tears are all gratis, of course, as it’s all for the greater good. But without shopping activity or click-throughs on our selected ads, we’d have no funds to donate. It’s not ideal, but without an investor to help, this is how we have to provide our support at this time. That’s why we really want to encourage people to at least shop with us, if nothing else.
Max: How are you using social media to market the brand?
Muse: We use Twitter a lot to get our message across and to also learn from like-minded and quite frankly, very smart people! Feel free to also follow me on Twitter. We just love that medium! Pure genius, but so simple.
Max: What’s next for MuseGreen?
Muse: So Pandora’s box has been opened. We have so many great things in line. We are definitely going to expand the site to encourage the involvement of children a lot more, as they truly are the future of this planet and they’re so receptive to new ideas and doing the right thing. We also have some fabulous eco-shopping choices coming online very soon that we’re excited about and hope will appeal to those interested in making good green choices that also benefit the planet.
We feel that it’s all about empowering people to make good choices, to raise their head a little bit and recognize that they are part of the bigger picture. The MuseGreen team has lots of ideas in the pipeline to try and get that message across!
1 response so far ↓
1 Sara // Oct 13, 2008 at 8:51 am
I didn’t know about Muse Green – they are awesome! Thanks for profiling them.
Leave a Comment