Yesterday welcomed Earth Day, a time to celebrate the beauty of a remarkable planet we call home. The Practice team have been making a conscious effort to increase our own awareness of sustainability, particularly online. So how have other companies used the digital space this year to show their support?

Social media has of course been at the forefront for orchestrating environmental awareness campaigns. We especially liked Aveda’s Facebook campaign which aimed to raise $4 million for the Global Greengrants Fund towards supporting Japan’s regeneration programme. The haircare company teamed up with Foursquare to donate $1 for every virtual check-in through their “H2O” Facebook tab. The Aveda page also features Earth Month games tabs, with users being offered the chance to donate to a variety of environmental initiatives including the American Rivers Fund. The Practice team also agreed that Starbucks’ Facebook campaign was well strategized. The coffee chain showed their support for Earth Day by encouraging fans to reduce the amount of Starbucks paper cups they waste. The campaign featured the headline; “Last year on Earth Day you helped save over 1 million paper cups.” With it, the company implored fans to post pictures of their reusable travel mugs, and incentivized with the promise of a free coffee for those who brought in their own cup.

Aside from this, social networks themselves have also been active in promoting environmental awareness. Sharing platform, Meebo, for example, is donating $1 for every user who checks in to charitywater.org, a site which aims to improve water sanitation in developing countries worldwide. Video-sharing and self-proclaimed “feel-good” site, HooplaHa.com, has also been actively involved by utilising Vine’s popularity. It’s #GivingVine campaign evolved for Earth Day to become #GivingVine Goes Green 2013 to persuade users to share their Vine videos that feature Earth-friendly good deeds or acts of kindness. Yesterday, The Practice team watched with amusement as people filmed themselves recycling, switching their air-conditioning units off, and even picking up litter at their local parks!

Never ones to ignore a host of new apps, The Practice also put some “green” and Earth-Day related apps to the test. We love any apps where barcode scanning is involved, so we were excited to try out GoodGuide, an app that rates food, cleaning items, and other supermarket items based on health concerns, environmental impact and social responsibility each time you scan its barcode. It’s a useful app if you have any concerns about a product’s provenance, as it gives users ratings out of ten, plus an in-depth description of how each score is arrived at. We also loved iViro, an app that assesses how much energy it takes to power our home in terms of heating, cooling, lighting, hot water, and electrical appliances. Users simply submit their personal data, and wait for feedback and suggestions on how to save money- this is a must for anyone at a loss with calculating energy bills!

All in all, it’s comforting to know that even in today’s world where so much goes to waste, the online environment is helping people to come together and honour the environment. So did you aim to reduce your carbon footprint this month? Or did you participate in any online incentives to celebrate Earth Day? We’d love for you to share your stories, images and videos! So please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and connect via our Facebook page.