The Green Festival in San Francisco this weekend bore witness to the fact that the web, specifically social networking software and participatory media networks, is huge right now. The several sustainability-minded sites present at the festival are certainly of the opinion that the popularity of social networking software and new media outlets can be used to cultivate positive changes, like encouraging more sustainable economic choices through the cultivation of online communities.

These online companies that presented their sites at the Green Festival last weekend are interested in cultivating communities of green-minded folks on the web, and like other popular sites of the moment, they encourage social networking and user-participation.

If you aren't really that enthusiastic about Myspace, but really like the idea, why not check out Zaads.com instead? The Dutch social networking site is bringing together progressives, and as the first sentence of their mission states, changing the world.

You may have discovered Yelp.com but would prefer a site that reviews products and companies that reflect your personal values. Sustainlane jumped on the bandwagon to provide people like you a place to find and review products and connect with others like yourself.

Throughout the festival, camera crews in flourecent green T-shirts from Lime, a multimedia online network, patrolled the floor making news. While this site does not emphasize the same level of user-participation as Zaads or Sustainlane, it is a new kind of media network featuring everything from TV to podcasts, all in a bright shade of green.

SustainLane had quite a major-sponsorship presence at the Green Festival, but it was disappointing that their massive site relaunch is behind schedule, so right now it only accepts reviews but doesn't let anyone access them. A startup called EVO had a long online business questionnaire that purported to measure many aspects of sustainability and social justice, but there wasn't time to assess the results or see the underlying model. Co-op America, one of the festival sponsors, has its own certification process for listing in the Green Pages; all exhibitors and many attendees automatically became members by participating, so there could be a lot of new activity happening there post-event (and in the wake of the similar DC event last month); they also hosted a Green Business gathering immediately before the Festival. Lastly, regional nonprofit Build It Green does certification of Green Building Professionals and Green building-supplies vendors and outlets and also conducts tours of Green Homes in the area.

Posted by: Raines Cohen on November 14, 2006 4:20 PM