Four years ago, when TreeHugger was initially launched, our mission was to drive sustainability mainstream. We pictured a world where people were modern, hip, comfortable, and green and where air and water were clean and products were designed for disassembly.

We have grown from one measly writer (me) to roughly 40 from around the globe and our approach has shifted. Where we once predominantly covered design, architecture, and fashion, today we also cover politics, energy, and transportation.

Of course, it is not just us that has changed. Green has exploded. It's in every newspaper, on New York fashion runways, on chain grocery store shelves.

But it is becoming more and more obvious that the "20 Simple Tips to Save the Planet" approach isn't going to get the job done. I applaud anyone who makes even the smallest change in their own life – doing something is better than doing nothing. To buy the idea that we are not facing an uphill battle – with science, governments, corporations, the clock – is naïve. We need to start investing in quality and durability.

As advertising dollars wane and media outlets shutter, green bloggers will play an ever more important role in green journalism:

1. As staffs are cut and environmental coverage goes down, we will be able to pick up stories the mainstream media (MSM) misses. We are also great trend predictors.

2. When the MSM gets it wrong (like the Washington Post did with George Will recently), bloggers will be all over the inaccuracies, narrow view points, or missing parts of the story. Our role is to think outside the box, and make sure all sides of a story are represented.

As print entities such as Plenty, Elephant, and The Green Guide fold while mega media outlets such as CNN slash their science and environmental reporting teams, it is up to us blogs now more than ever to fill in the gaps. Technology such as Twitter and Digg – allows us to be the modern town crier, affordably. We are on a story and off it again before TV producers can ever get their release forms signed.

What is important to us at Treehugger and Planet Green – and to all blogs that want to be successful – is to remain nimble; to be able to react quickly, to publish effortlessly, and to remain free to speak and be transparent.

"Professionalism" for blogs isn't the same thing as it is for printed media. We will always have typos (sorry boss) and some not-perfectly resolved theories before we hit the publish button. Yes, we will increase our knowledge of SEO, format our posts better, and send more writers to do on-the-ground reporting, and bring in bigger ad deals, but we will also remain down-and-dirty in the sense that being first to net will always appeal to us over perfectly produced videos. We'll take the Flip camera if it means we can get our interview with Nancy Pelosi up sooner than the Today Show.

Anecdotally speaking, the audience for green content appears to still be growing, even as budgets for green media outlets are cut.

Why green blogs matter



Climate change is arguably the most pressing issue of our time. As the burgeoning economies of China and India play catch-up to the rest of the world's middle class, it is imperative that we, the global population, figure out a way to live that meshes with what Earth's resources can support. But we can do better than that. Because what is the point of living in a world where we only meet the bare necessities for life?

What we must do is to challenge humankind to fulfil our potential. To not just live in a world where the water is clean enough to drink, but to participate in a system where water is plentiful, clean, and life within it thrives.

At our very core, TreeHugger and Planet Green strives for a more intelligent way of being. Let's emerge from this crumbling era of greed and materialism and recognise that shopping and money and stuff isn't what makes us happy.

Environmentalism is not a moral issue or an ethical obligation, it is the best shot we've got for increasing our collective intelligence as a species. It is a chance to rebuild economies based on the triple bottom line. Let's make a profit, but let's make it considering all costs, not at any cost. Let's use the hive mind to recognise the interconnectedness of all things and to understand the true cost and value of everything we create or destroy.

Our future cannot be measured only in dollars in cents, it must also be measured by standards of liberty, happiness, and health. This is what the future of green blogging is going to show you.

• Meaghan O'Neill is the editor-in-chief for TreeHugger.com and PlanetGreen.com