Do Your Part: Spread the “Go Green” Message

(Update - a few folks were having trouble loading these cool badges - this should be fixed now, but please let us know if you're still having issues!)

Kermit the Frog sang, "It’s not easy being green." And though there's no amphibian-puppet we respect more, we’d like to respectfully disagree.

One of the things we feel strongly about at TypePad is taking care of our planet. We truly believe that every act of green—no matter how big or small—makes a difference. And we’ve noticed that a lot of you feel the same way.

That's why we've created these Green Badges for your blog. Now you can show all your readers how green you are, and encourage them to get involved as well.

Each badge links to the One Million Acts of Green in partnership with Cisco website. One Million Acts of Green is a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green. One act at a time. The goal? One million acts of green because, as we all know, we’re more powerful together than we can ever be apart.

By putting this badge on your blog, you'll not only be spreading the message of the importance of going green, you'll be participating in an environmental campaign that could impact the world forever.

And if that weren't enough, when the badges receive 100,000 impressions across the blogosphere, Six Apart will donate $1000 to The Climate Project.

Do your part and add a badge today.

And visit One Million Acts of Green and record your acts of green.

Because together, we CAN make a difference.

Here's how to add your badge:

For TypePad users

1. Choose your badge (scroll down).
2. Click the button for the badge you want to add to your sidebar.
3. You'll be sent into TypePad. Choose the blog you want to add the badge to.
4. Click Add Widget. The badge has been added to your sidebars.
5. View Weblog.
6. If you want to change where the badge appears in your sidebars, go to Design > Content.

For Vox users

1. Choose your badge (scroll down).
2. Login to Vox click on You, then Change Your Design. The design page displays.
3. Under 'Select a layout', click on 'Customize your sidebars'. A pop-up window displays showing all the elements you can add to your sidebar.
4. Check the Embed checkbox and then click on the configure link. A second-pop up displays.
5. For Widget Title, enter 'One Million Acts of Green'. For the Widget Code, copy and paste in the badge HTML code.
6. Click OK and then Apply. Your badge is now on your blog.

For Blogger users

Blogger users can add the badge to their sidebars using Page Elements. Here's how:

1. Choose your badge (scroll down).
2. Login to Blogger. The Dashboard displays.
3. Under your blog's title, click on Layout. The Page Elements page displays.
4. Click on Add a Page Element. A pop-up window displays.
5. Select the HTML/JavaScript element. A configuration page displays.
6. For the element's Title enter 'One Million Acts of Green'. For the Content, copy and paste in the badge code.
7. Click Save. The pop-up closes and takes you back to the Page Elements page. You'll now see the element you just created. Drag and drop it to arrange where it appears.
8. Open your blog in a new browser window to view the new badge.

For WordPress users

1. Choose your badge (scroll down).
2. Login to WordPress. Your dashboard displays.
3. Click on Design > Widgets. The widgets page displays.
4. Find the Text widget on the left. Click on Add to add it to your sidebars. A 'Text' widget now displays in your sidebar on the right.
5. Click on Edit to edit the widget. Leave the widget title blank and for the widget content copy, paste in the badge HTML code.
6. Click on Save Changes. To change the order of your widgets, drag and drop them to arrange them to your liking.
7. Open your blog in separate window.
   
   WordPress.com users: Since you can't have JavaScripts, you'll need to save the image you want to your hard drive and then add it as an HTML widget to your blog.

Here's your badge codes:

160 x 90 pixels
(fits most TypePad Sidebars)

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis1/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis4/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis7/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis10/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

200 x 150 pixels

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis2/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis5/AAMSZ=1X1"type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis8/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis11/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

300 x 250 pixels

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis3/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis6/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis9/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Badge HTML code: <script src="https://sixapart.adbureau.net/jserver/SITE=TYPEPAD/CP=cis12/AAMSZ=1X1" type="text/javascript"></script> Blogger, Vox and WordPress instructions above.

Comments

[Karin H.]

Since we supply FSC certified products I'm all for adding awareness, but I've tried to add two widgets to two blogs (one each) but nothing is happening: the batches don't show up on the blogs.
Plus, the pre-view in Content goes blank!

Any ideas?

Karin H (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

[Lydia]

For those of us in the Six Apart ad program, why not use the 300x250 badge as a default for unsold inventory?

[Lydia]

And same experience as Karin -- the widget isn't working.

[Lydia]

And now it is working!

[Karin H.]

Still not working on both blogs - although I 'see' it in the page source, just not actual on the blog

Karin H

[Quing Obillos]

I've tried putting the "Printed on 100% Technology" badge, but it doesn't seem to work. It's in the content ordering, but it doesn't appear on the actual blog.

[mousa]

I did enjoy this day with my family it was great

[Andy]

Hey Karin - trying to troubleshoot - which blog did you put the code on?

[Andy]

Hey Quing - which blog did you put the badge on - I'm troubleshooting... Thanks!

[Quing Obillos]

Oh... I put it at Quingdom.com blog. Thanks for the response!

[Karin H.]

Hi Andy

1 on http://faq.woodyoulike.co.uk/ (left hand column between 'subscribe by email' and 'search')

1 on http://blog.1plus1makes3.co.uk/ (between 'Me Karin - Kaatje' and 'Recent visitors')

Hope you get it working - it is a great initiative!

Karin H

[Sylvia]

How much renewable energy does Typepad use to power its servers? If not, do you have a plant to switch to 100% renewable energy? How long will that take?

[Sylvia]

Where are the comments?? They show up in coComment but I don't see any here and my comment disappeared. ???

[Ginevra]

I'm seeing your comments - let me know if you refresh and still don't see them?

[Sylvia]

That was weird! I refreshed and still couldn't see the comments. I came back after a bit and now I see a whole bunch of them. When I hit "Reply" the page scrolled to the top and I had to scroll down again. I guess there are still bugs in the system.

But to get back to the question, how much renewable energy does Typepad currently use?

[Andy]

I think we may have had a certain timing for when the badges went
live. They are showing for me on both of your blogs.

[Ginevra]

great response! I'll take a look into this with the 6A Media team.

[Ginevra]

great question - I'll ask our tech team here for their ideas on this. We're definitely an eco-friendly company: we recycle, host the bike to work and bike to lunch days, encourage public transit and carpooling - all sorts of conscious environmental choices. For the colo, I'll ask the team on their ideas so that I can get you a more specific answer to that piece.

[N/A]

Love this and put a variety of badges on my blogs and on the Mom Central blogs I manage.

[have gone vegan]

Badges weren't appearing so I deleted them as I don't want stuff on my blogs I can't see. Please let us know when they actually work! Thanks.

[Ginevra]

we're happy to help - let me know if we can. :)

[Andy]

Try again when you get a chance - thanks for helping us troubleshoot!

[Karin H.]

Well, awfully sorry, but not on my pc - not on Firefox or IE.

Will remove both widgets and try again later. Might help?

Karin H.

[Karin H.]

Before removing the green widget I tried to preview Content again. With the widget in place the pre-view keeps getting distorted (either blank or other widgets all over the place and no scrolling up or down).

Removing the green widget makes the preview normal again.

As promised above, I will add the widget again and report back ;-)

Karin H

[Karin H.]

Nope, still not working and still distorting the preview.

I tried, sorry.

Karin H

[TAS mania]

I love these blog badges and would love to get a heads up and be included in creating the artwork for your next idea. take a look at my earth day art

more at my goawaygear blog.

and Andy, what happened to the WELCOME message idea post... I was going to comment that my 4 blogs all have welcome messages which serve as verbal/visual maps/links to what my viewers might connect with... buying...reading...resources.... and or special groups. By using the feature button and writing welcome ...... itt helps me stay on track and not mix up my content.

[TAS mania]

love the badges and would be honored to add one of my images the next time you have a badge idea.... here is one piece from my collection goawaygear.com

Also what happened to the welcome message post? I've used the feature button to load welcome content, links and general about, road map info and noticed that in helping out a reader I also benefit since welcomes keep me on tac when it comes to my content order and collections.

[Ginevra]

we had to bump that post for this one today - but we'll post it up soon!

and glad you like the badges.

[have gone vegan]

Hi Andy, tried again, but still no luck. This time I left the codes in, but all I see are blank spaces where the badges are supposed to be. It's frustrating as I think they're a great idea. Can you see them? Maybe I don't because I use IE6?

[Mark Kokocki]

This gets picky...can you all make up a widget for the Canadian site for us Canucks?

I only ask because on the US site, there is a link to the Canadian site & there doesn't seem to be any others involved so I had to ask.

[Ginevra]

great idea - let me check with the team and see what we can do! :)

[Ginevra]

are you trying to post them in a post, or in your sidebar? If it's in your sidebar, are you using the "Add to TypePad" links above, or another way?

[Ginevra]

thanks for your support, Anne-Marie!

[Ginevra]

so the preview doesn't work -and- it doesn't appear in your sidebar?

[have gone vegan]

They're in the sidebar of all three blogs. I used the links above, although last night I also tried it manually like I do with other codes, but got the same result.

[daisy barringer]

Unfortunately, at this time, we're only supporting the U.S. campaign. That's a great idea though and something we will look into for next time. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Sylvia]

Comments have vanished again. Hard-refreshed 4 times. Really, really sad.

[Account Deleted]

I don't get it. The badge doesn't show up on my blog. It's in the content ordering, but it doesn't appear on my blog http://signeratkjellberg.se.

[Karin H.]

That's correct. The minute I add the widget, the pre-view of the content gets distorted and the widget doesn't show on the blog (although it is in the page source).
The minute I remove the widget the pre-view of the content start behaving itself again.

This happens on both blog I'd planned to add the widgets to

Karin H

[Luci Weston]

I added the "It's Easy Being Green" smaller badge to my sidebar by using this portal and it was easy. It worked right away. Sorry to read others are having trouble.

[Ginevra]

ok - we've changed a few things on our side, but we're still tweaking it - if you still want to try it out, let's go for it!

[Ginevra]

ok - we've changed a few things on our side, would you be able try it again.

[Ginevra]

we've adjusted a few things -if you want to, would you try it again?

[Ginevra]

Hi Sylvia - I've asked support to open a help ticket for you on this so that we can troubleshoot your commenting problem.

[have gone vegan]

Yay, they're showing up now! Thanks for the adjustments. :)

[MELANCHOLIA]

Yes! Finally, it works! I added 3 different smaller badges on my 3 Typepad blogs without any problem. As I tried many times yesterday with bad result, I assume that the problem is solved now for (almost) all of us :-D
After all, it is still a great badge!

[toppledwagon]

We have reduced the power consumption in our data center by over 60% from one year ago. In the past year we have moved out of a data center with a high PUE into a data center with a lower PUE (that stands for Power Usage Effectiveness - the amount of energy that is used for cooling and other parts of the data center in order to get a watt to the server. This alone saved us 20% in power consumption.) We have also upgraded old servers for new energy efficient ones (not only are they energy efficient, they can do more work per watt than the old ones.) We continue to work with our data center providers to stay ahead of the curve on energy consumption. While we aren't powered by 'green' energy today, we are taking steps to reduce our energy consumption.

[Sylvia]

Thanks, toppledwagon, that’s a very good start. Here’s hoping that some day soon our blogs will be powered by sun and waves and not coal and gas.

(I still can’t see the comments here—I’m trying the reply-by-email feature—someone let me know if it works!)

[Ginevra]

you bet - thanks for your patience!

[Ginevra]

oh, good! I'm so glad it's working for you now.

[Ginevra]

I'm glad it's working for you! seems like we fixed it for most folks now. :)

[Ginevra]

if you try it again, it should work - we made a few adjustments to include other countries.

[Ginevra]

hmmm - you may be able to use this now, if you want to try it! we made a few adjustments to open this up to other countries.

[Ginevra]

I'm seeing your comment - and support should have the ticket open for you, but I'm wondering if it's because you don't have a profile avatar at the moment? Maybe that will help?

I've had some trouble with Firefox and links working lately - maybe that's also it.

[Sylvia]

Thanks. I’m still seeing zero comments on this post (replying by email again—handy feature in cases like this!). I can see comments on other posts on this blog, just not this one. Yes, there’s a ticket open but no result yet.

[Mark Kokocki]

thank you

I replaced the original with the new widget - it's a great idea

[Karin H.]

Although the content pre-view still gets distorted once I put the widget there (pre-view turns blank after 3 seconds), the widgets are now showing on the blogs!

Thanks, doing our bit ;-)

Karin H

[Matt Metzgar]

Why is it every time I load this page it freezes Internet Explorer??

[Ginevra]

I'm working on that - if you have a screencap you can send me at ginevra@sixapart.com, I'm happy to work with our team on troubleshooting this.

[Ginevra]

glad it worked out well for you - thanks for your participation.

[Elissa]

Can you make the badges narrower? The 90 pixel badge doesn't fit into my three column blog.

[Ginevra]

let me find out if there's a easy way to do that, Elissa!

[Andy]

We don't have the badges in the other sizes right now. You can widen that right sidebar a bit or use a tool like http://www.picnik.com/ to resize and upload the image.

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Great idea. Widget worked fine. I'll do a short post on it later. Thanks and thanks for the $1000 pledge - hope we accomplish it!

[daisy barringer]

If you're still interested in contributing, you should enter our "Green by Design" badge contest!

http://everything.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/green-by-design-contest-.html