Message on a drawbridge

I like this piece of street art in Amsterdam, reminding drivers about global warming and rising seas levels – which is a big worry in places like the Netherlands.

(Via Wooster)

Blog Action Day :: Keeping it positive

Today is Blog Action Day, where over 15,000 bloggers, including yours truly will post about the environment.

Many of it is likely to be doom and gloom. And there’s reason to be. Both the Antarctic and Arctic are melting, the latest IPCC report on climate change suggests that we have gone past what should be considered dangerous levels of carbon in the atmosphere … And John Howard still won’t sign Kyoto.

But I don’t want my Blog Action Day post to be negative. So here’s a few reasons why we can be positive about the state of the environment:

• In the two years since I’ve been writing this blog, the world has made a huge amount of progress. Sure, plenty more to do. But we need to realise that we’ve come a long way since 2005.
• The market will play it’s part in this. I’m not evangelising capitalism here, but basic supply and demand will work in our favour in many ways. For instance, rising petrol prices (which will never reverse) will reduce the demand for cars and increase demand for public transport.
• Now I don’t want to get all Whitney Houston on yo assess, but I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way! No seriously, the kids of today are smart. They’ll out-flank everyone from Gen X and beyond, and provide us with new ways to deal with global warming.
• The internet, god bless it, is changing the world. It’s giving people like bloggers a voice they never thought they had. It’s connecting people in ways you couldn’t imagine ten years ago. It’s creating a revolution from the ground up. Imagine what it will be like in another 10.

Happy Blog Action Day!
P.S. Hope you enjoy this little video from Three Legged Legs:

Fax machines?

Radiohead does honesty pricing

Radiohead are the latest to jump onto the concept of honesty pricing, something that I talked about a little while ago.

Their new album, In Rainbows, is bound to be a big seller. But not for the record companies. The band are selling it through their website for any price you like.

That’s right … You can buy their new album for any price you specify. It’s a strategy that will create massive word-of-mouth, while giving back to their fans. Almost everyone who even remotely likes the band will consider buying the album. And it might even turn a few 20 cent cheapskates into loyal Radiohead converts.

The other wonderful thing is that when you visit the site, it isn’t immediately clear that the chooser chooses the price. That is, you need to delve deeper into the site to find this out. Which makes it secretive. A discovery. Which in turn fuels the viral-ness (if there is such a word) of the exercise.
This, in my opinion, is a beautiful piece of marketing.