Video Volunteers is a simple way for you to help raise awareness for causes you care about, and compete for recognition of your work on the YouTube homepage.

Each month, the channel will feature a different relevant issue on the Video Volunteers channel with a new guest curator, and you could have the opportunity to showcase your work (and your favorite org) to a huge audience. [YouTube]

It is a celebration, meant to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was started by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970.

YouTube has put it in the spotlight for today:

The Bay vs. The Bag

The Unravelling: Eggs, String, & Climate Change

Then it made me think, what is it that makes geeks hate the new social networks hype? It’s not like we are unfamiliar or feel uncomfortable, come on, we create these things for breakfast! And there definitely is an issue with geeks and social networks – all my geek friends avoid them, at least the fashion ones. It does not matter where everybody is, I just don’t care if I get a thousand invitations to Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, etc. And it is not like we don’t have social contacts also. It’s more like “you go into that fancy place and mingle with the fancy people. If you want to contact me, come where I am”.

So far so good. But then again, where am I? And most importantly, what makes it different from the other places where people communicate on the Internet?
I am on Twitter, I even have 2 accounts – one personal and one for the blog. I am on LinkedIn. I am on Jamendo. I may even be on some, or even most of the other social networks, but I am not really on them.

What is common between all of these places – they are not commercial. Even though Twitter is so popular, it is somehow clean. No marketing, no spam, no SEO bullshit. It got out of nowhere, some people were just having fun, others thought it is fun too. Another thing common is privacy – you are not bugged 20 times a day with invitations for mindless activities, fake causes and not embarrassed by someone, who thought it is very funny to share a picture of you when you had a bad day. Without asking you do you mind, or giving you any choice. And it is more personal too. You are not part of the crowd, it is like going out with friends.

What do you think about it? How is it for you? And don’t forget to share this within your social network!

[Image by Davide Guglielmo, taken from www.sxc.hu]

This is the initiative that makes you take an action to show that you care for global warming. To make a stand. It started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, as a display of the people’s position on global warming issues. For a third year in a row, it is organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) with the support of many NGOs, governments and corporations. The Earth Hour’s message, at www.earthhour.org and www.voteearth2009.org:

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Help spread the word and vote by switching off the lights – 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet Earth, Saturday 28 March 2009!