Content writing advice blogger Jeremy Rivera shared a story with me this morning which seems to have pretty much flown under the blogosphere radar undetected. Yesterday, Internettrees.com became the center of a controversy on both Sphinn and Twitter on the basis that the concept of the site was immoral. The site offers to plant a live tree to help restore damaged forests and a virtual tree in the form of a link on their site for a donation of $2 ($1 for each tree). The controversy? The second dollar clearly isn’t a charitable donation and thus winds up in the owners pocket. This has lead many to believe that this is all just a way to make money and not really about the charity. I say, who cares?

Let’s be honest here the concerns people have brought up about the fact that profit is being made off of what is posed as a charity are warranted. But at the same time IT’S ONLY $2! And are we forgetting that you are getting something in return? You get a link back to your website AND you help the planet that we live on. Nobody is losing here people! So what if this guy is making a little bit of money, at least he’s doing it in a way that benefits the environment.

Some will argue that if you’re trying to help the environment why not do so directly through the Arbor Day Foundation? Well, because the Arbor Day Foundation isn’t going to give you a link, and let’s face it, most of the people going to this site are not doing so because they are hoping to plant a tree. Furthermore, a number of the people who would buy a link probably wouldn’t think to donate to this cause. In this instance the site capitalizes on those who seek out links while benefiting their charity of choice. So again I ask you, what is there to lose?

An additional concern that Jeremy brought up in his post that wasn’t part of the original debate was what kind of stance Google would have on a site that is essentially selling links. And honestly I think they are going to look the other way on this one unless someone makes a big stink about it. First off they are not promoting the site as a site that sells links. They are simply providing a link to those who donate. The site is also trying to direct its efforts towards bettering the planet, and Google is clearly an eco-friendly company.

The biggest kicker about all of this is the fact that this site and the stories related to it were so quickly shot down by various outlets. Sphinn.com quickly took down the site saying that it was no relevant to SEO. Then Jeremy’s post which was sphunn was also taken down, followed by the debate that continued on twitter after the bashing on Sphinn. There are bigger fish to fry and I don’t think that slamming a guy who is trying to provide a means to sustain the environment while making a couple bucks is really who you should be attacking. How about the spammers, hackers, and various other internet scammers that aren’t providing anything of value through their sites or services? If you’re helping the environment who doesn’t profit from it? It’s one more way to sustain a greener planet for generations to come.

So today Misty and I were supposed to go to the Whole Children Whole Planet Expo up in Nothridge, CA. But unfortunately a small feud and a late start ruined our efforts and after seeing how horrible traffic was while trying to leave Corona we decided against it.

Though we missed out on some great opportunities on green and natural family living, I still did my part today to make myself and now others more aware.

While at Target I stopped by the snack bar to get an Icee and some nachos. Sadly this will probably be the last time I order nachos from Target. I discovered that instead of pulling a serving of chips from a large bag, they have the chips pre-packaged by serving. This clearly creates significantly more plastic waste than one large bag would create.

In addition to finding out about Target’s nacho serving practices and my decision to no longer order their nachos as a way to help cut back on the amount of waste we produce, I decided to try and go green with one of my favorite beverages today. While shopping at Cost Plus World Market I discovered Blue Marble Organic Pilsner; an organic beer that is brewed here in California. The beer it self has a nice full flavor and the cost wasn’t bad for a six pack. I am definitely going to consider buying this beer again in the future.

The advantages to switching to an organic beer are not only that I am putting nothing but organic ingredients in my body, but also that the farming done for the ingredients is done organically without harmful pesticides or chemicals. The beer is also brewed here in California, meaning that the short distance required to transport the beer cuts back on the pollution caused by transporting goods from one place to another.

As the year progresses Misty and I also progress with our strive to live as green and as natural as possible given our current living situation. Switching to more organic produce, making sure we recycle everything we possibly can, and cutting back on waste have been some of our biggest changes.

So Earth Day came and went this past week, and with it came everyone’s yearly attempt to make a difference. Sadly, for many this effort only lasts the week of earth day. Regardless I was happy to see that my hometown of Corona, California decided to do its part and host an earth day festival. Unfortunately my enthusiasm ended after the idea itself, as the event turned out to be quite a disappointment.

The Green Valley Earth Day Festival was put on by GIVE (Green Institute for Village Empowerment) and held on April 19th at one of Corona’s newest developments; Dos Lagos. The bulk of the event took place in the heart of Dos Lagos in some grassy patches just past the centers two lakes. And featured a number of booths purchased by local groups and vendors, and a performance/symposium in the centers amphitheater.

The event was advertised as having vendors there who were out to promote Green Living and their efforts to better the environment. Sadly, about 50% of what I saw there was made up of local businesses looking for nothing more than to get their name out there. Furthermore, my wife and I arrived at about the midpoint of the event and it appeared that many of the vendors that had booths had either already packed up and left or simply never showed. Many booths displayed signs for vendors, but nothing was actually displayed at the booth, nor was anyone there to promote a product or service.

Fortunately, the handful of green living and environmental groups that were there had some very useful information and were actually worth the little bit of time my wife and I spent at the event.

GIVE itself actually had a very friendly and very knowledgeable young girl working their booth. The girl gave us a lot of information about the organization that both my wife and I had never heard of. The organization, which strives to educate and promote sustainable lifestyles put on the event and though the event itself was a disappointment their efforts to spread their message were successful and I am now quite interested in what the organization has to offer.

Another great organization that we talked with was The Sierra Club. I had heard of the organization before, but never really knew what they did or what their purpose was. The folks working the booth were very friendly and provided us with a lot of information related to The Sierra Club and its events. They discussed the advantages of becoming a member and talked about the local hikes that members often take as part of being the club. Their overall presentation was great, and again this is definitely something I am going to be looking into further.

A handful of other organizations and companies also captured my interest, but not nearly as well as GIVE and The Sierra Club. Southern California Edison was on site giving out energy saving light bulbs to their customers, The Gas Company provided water saving shower heads and faucet adapters to its customers, and the California Department of Conservation provided some interesting information on recycling and land protection, as well as some interesting information on children’s recycling programs.

There were a number of other vendors that were in fact green living related, but since my wife and I don’t own a home yet they weren’t of much use to us. However, the remaining booths were simply local businesses hocking their wares and services. Chiropractics, massages, wine, and a hobby store, don’t exactly fit into the Green Living or environmental categories as far as I’m concerned and sadly the majority of the booths consisted of garbage like this or were simply empty.

My recommendation for next year, try harder to market the event to businesses and services related to the festivals subject matter. Maybe even filter out businesses like Hobbytown USA who offer nothing to the environment as a business. I’m sure they dumped you some money for the booth, but honestly they didn’t provide me with anything of relevance to why I came to the event. More people than ever are finally realizing the impact we have on the planet and our local communities. If GIVE is committed to education then provide us with as many resources as possible at events like this. I appreciate your work and I appreciate what your organization does, but next year let’s try and make the event more educational and resourceful.