Comments on: Did Swag Pollute BlogHer09?

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:27:40 +0000

Great post! I appreciate your honesty, too. When corporations get involved in any aspect of life, that’s when things seem to get out of control and sustainability and common sense seems to take a back seat.

By: Diane MacEachern

Diane MacEachern — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:57:43 +0000

Ellie,
Thanks for your comments. Yes, I found it weird that people went crazy over Fritos (literally). We need to re-think our notion of “value” – not have it defined in terms of free junk companies want to give us, but in terms of quality experiences and goods that will have meaning and endure.

By: ellie

ellie — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:20:07 +0000

I blog, but I’m not a BlogHer blogger. However, lots of the women bloggers I read did attend the convention here in Chicago.
Gotta say, it’s weird that so many mom bloggers went ga-ga over the giveaways. Isn’t it their children’s world we’re hoping to improve. Shouldn’t they be the first to hug onto the green lifestyle?
When I get a picture in my mind of BlogHer, it’s of women laden down with stuff they don’t need and really did pay for in more ways than they know!
Glad I found your blog.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:48:56 +0000

I love playing golf. I’m playing this week.
This is a great site you have here. I have a blog myself that inspires people and I would like to exchange links with you. When you get a chance, let me know if this is possible, either by email or a comment on my site. Jason

By: Diane MacEachern

Diane MacEachern — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:02:44 +0000

The swag issue is one that hopefully will continue to be examined. I’m personally not opposed to swag per se; I’m opposed to junk that creates a lot of trash, uses a lot of energy, potentially exposes people to unhealthy ingredients, and serves no useful purpose other than to promote the provider. But bottom line: we don’t have to take the stuff. It’s empowering to walk away. How can we get more people to do so?

By: Lexi

Lexi — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:30:34 +0000

Hi
I think your site is great. I was wondering if you wanted to do a link exchange. If you can add me to your blog roll. My site is: http://www.lexiyoga.com
Thanks
Hope to hear from you soon
Lexi

By: Kye Swenson

Kye Swenson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:45:47 +0000

It seems that no matter how many eco-initiatives you set up at these conferences, there is always so much trash strewn about that it cancels out much of the priorities you had in the first place. Does BlogHer 09 can carry out some virtual events in the future to steer away from all of these problems. Companies can use avatars as reps to talk with bloggers and clients about their products and how they are made. This is definitely where the trade show industry is going, so maybe BlogHer can take advantage as well.

By: Condo Blues

Condo Blues — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:10:19 +0000

While I was at BlogHer and speaking to some of the sponsors I often wondered if I should be talking to them as a consumer or as a media outlet? As a green blogger there were many companies that I wanted to ask questions about the ingredients in their products, like all of the laundry detergent and cleaning product sponsors. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with them and make the connection. There were some sponsors that were relevant to my blog topics and some that weren’t but I use as a regular consumer like my cell phone company. I talked to my cell phone company quite a while about how much I liked their company and how in my off line life, I convinced several families to use them. But I doubt that I’ll blog about it. Did they get something out of that transaction? I wonder.

By: CV Harquail

CV Harquail — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:23:43 +0000

Diane, yours is a really important perspective on the ecological sustainability of BlogHer, and I appreciate how you share from all three roles you played– as participant, green purse, and green committee member.
While many of us have been (rightly) concerned about the social and community sustainability of BlogHer in light of Swag Gate (and as I’ve written about myself), the ecological issues are also key.
It’s also a great analogy…. the BlogHer organization tries to influence the experience through policy, community engagement and wise choices, and the problem issues sneak through the cracks and flood the center space, all because the organization/community/sponsors failed to take a truly systematic (dare I say ecological) approach to the problem.
It is pretty amazing to see how so many of the initiatives (e.g., no bottled water, no printed program) created problems that invited ‘solutions’ that were themselves un-green (e.g., bottled water with chemicals, programs printed at home on one side of the paper or participants who had inadequate information about what session to choose, and thus wandered around collecting samples).
So, not only Did Swag Pervert the Purpose (mypost) we can conclude that Swag Polluted BlogHer — and we can see that both the social and the physical/environmental issues need to be addresses. I’m glad Elisa, Jory & Lisa are listening to feedback and that BlogHers like you are giving them important analyses to consider.
cv