At the end of Netroots Nation 2008 the organizers stood at the podium and asked who in the audience would be willing to help sponsor attendees for the 2009 conference. I'd was high on the energy of the previous few days, and I could feel my NRDC Action Fund credit card burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted to stand up and shout "I will!" Anyone who has ever worked for any large organization knows that very often those sorts of outbursts can get you in to hot water with the Accounting department. So I stayed in my seat, but started plotting for 2009.
I should add a quick description about myself here. I'm the Netroots Campaign manager for NRDC (501 c3), and the Director of Online Strategy for the NRDC Action Fund (501 c4). Everything I do every day involves bloggers and online activists. I LOVE my job. I've been at it for a couple of years now and I still can't believe they pay me to do this.
So it made sense to me that we should show our support for the netroots community of bloggers, vloggers and activists for all the hard work they do every day. Now I knwo not everyone agrees with all of NRDC or NRDC AF's positions, and we don't agree with everyone's either, but more often than not we find ourselves on the same side of the fight. Together we drive the conversation and movement to make this environment a better place for ourselves and future generations.
The work I do every day involves you more that you will ever know. So I want to do what I can to thank you, and this year that means covering the cost of admission for a dozen or so folks from the netroots. So I've got about a dozen NRDC Action Fund Environmental Netroots Leader grants to give away. Please note I can't cover travel or hotel, just admission. We cover a lot of issues here, from coal to climate, from whales to birds. More issues than I have passes for. Below are the issues we are really putting our energy into, issues we read about, watch videos about, send alerts about. We'd love to hear from you if you blog on these things regularly, or know someone who does a superb job doing so. I'd like to cover you admission to the event, invite you to a special dinner or two, and maybe feature a post or two over at our OnEarth website.
There is no formal selection process, just me and a couple of my campaign managers looking at blog posts and deciding who moves us, who captures the cause, and who has a great voice. Time is short. The event is August 13-16th. So any nominations should come in the next day or two.
Please send your nominations to nrdcactionfund at gmail.com with NETROOTS NATION in the subject line.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the event.
Issues List:
> BioFuels
> Climate Bill
> Renewables
> Dirty Fuels (Tar Sands, Oil Shale, Liquid Coal)
> Endangered Species
> Transporation
> Toxins (Pthalates, BPA, etc.)