EKOS Communications, Inc.

John Gough, IT Manager and blogger for GLOBE-Net, has written a thought-provoking piece on the rising power of social media and its influence on government policy, entitled "Social Media and Climate Change." In it, he asks three sets of questions:

1. "Can and will social media really affect world and government policy? More importantly, should it?"
2. Should social media be used as a tool in our efforts on climate change and if it is to be used, will it be taken seriously as the climate change problem is?
3. If public opinion could influence the campaigns of Napoleon and MacArthur, what better cause could there be than the campaign to save the world from the ravages of global warming?

Regarding the first, the horse is out of the barn already. Social media has already had a profound impact on both world and national affairs as well as on news coverage in conventional media. The protests and the violence in Iran and the devastation wrought by recent earthquakes in China have all been brought to global attention through the instanteous sharing of tweets,  text messages, video clips, and photos of everyday people turned "citizen journalists." 

Should social media be used as a tool in our efforts on climate change? Absolutely! And again, it is already. And has been for some time. For instance, a few years ago, James Hoggan launched his desmogblog to cut through the negative spin perpetrated by some public relations companies. A more relevant question, perhaps, concerns how to use social media to effectively engage, educate and empower people to act in ways that dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions very, very quickly.

His last question is largely rhetorical, but the point is valid. Mounting evidence clearly indicates that global warming is rapidly undermining the planet's ability to sustain life.  This makes it a very compelling cause to get behind and support, for sure. However, we can not afford to turn our backs on other equally important causes either, such as global poverty, womens' rights or species extinction. This is why we need all hands on deck.

Social networking is not new. Humans have been doing it all along. What is new is the speed and scale at which it can be carried out as evidenced by the near-sudden popularity of Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube and more recently, Twitter. If used wisely, social media could unleash and enable the groundswell of effort necessary to avert massive collapse of the planet's life-support systems.  In this, I find great hope.