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The challenge we faced was how do we increase awareness

We looked at how with a simple web cam or flip camera we could share the strongest messages that people needed to hear.

most important social media tools can be email and a blog.

tools are important for four reasons. They leverage existing investments of time and resources They allow orgs to add multimedia to existing communication channels eg. newsletters They enable easier sharing than existing tools They are sustainable

Social media strategy needs to be adopted by the whole organisation not just by someone who is technically savvy.

Meetup (www.meetup.com) Meetup.com network makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one already meeting up face-to-face. Free for individuals to create an account, join a group, or attend events. Organizers choose from three pricing plans, starting at $12/month for 12 months (a single $72 charge).

Speaking to a full house at Toronto's MaRS Centre on July 9, 2009, Tom Rand explains why he has decided to focus on buildings in his approach to climate change. “Buildings are responsible in our large urban centres for between a half and three quarters of our carbon emissions. That’s a huge part of our footprint,” he says. “In terms of climate change, buildings are the lowest hanging fruit, as far as I can tell.”

Tom Rand’s talk Green or Green Wash? Lessons from Building North America’s Greenest Hotel in Toronto

According to Tom Rand, if you’re not talking low carbon, you’re greenwashing.

Tom Rand believes any building can and should achieve in the immediate future using sustainable technologies that already exist.  Moreover, he claims to have found a magic bullet, alleging that these carbon cuts can be made without spending a dime.

and has come a long way since then, transforming the Planet Traveler hostel into a kind of cleantech gallery. Utilizing solar-voltaic and solar-thermal heating, geo-exchange, 100% LED lighting, and a wastewater heat re-capturing unit called the Powerpipe, it boasts a rich collection of renewables. It also seeks to educate. The geo-exchanger and Powerpipe are featured behind a glass wall in the basement, and the rooftop mezzanine bar offers a full view of the solar panels in the foreground of Toronto’s skyline.

Rand had to look to an adjacent alley to bury the pipe.

Rand, a carbon tax, widespread education campaigns, and third party support for green infrastructure via green bonds or a geo-utility are sure-fire ways “to build a cleantech economy in Canada without spending a dime.”

If any country wants to participate in the next economic revolution they had better start dealing with clean-tech and they had better start dealing with it quickly.”

* Social Tech Training, or My Charity Connects * Innovation Parkour * Social Mastermind // Social Media for Social Change * The Skills Exchange * Defining and Measuring Social Success And in the evenings, Net Change brings unique community collaborations like: * Mobile Monday takes a social change perspective * Toronto's Internet Town Hall at the Gladstone Hotel * Cocktails and Inspiration: a discussion on profound innovation and social change with Eric Young in conversation with Bill White. * Wired Wednesday gets a dose of Web of Change * Refresh Events encourages collaborative partnerships

Net Change's ticketed and free events are taking place at the MaRS Centre. For more information on events and how to be involved, check out http://www.netchangeweek.ca.