Going Green in London

If you lived in London and wanted to live a sustainable lifestyle and find others who are doing the same, what would you do?

Well, for many Project Dirt is the answer.
In 2008, Project Dirt began with one project and five people. Today, Project Dirt has 430 projects going, and 3340 members. And, they are in the process of upgrading their network!

Success breeds lessons and so I wanted to discuss how Project Dirt is bringing our friends in sustainable living across the pond with one of the founders of Project Dirt, Mark Shearer.

Mark has shared many of his ideas with me as a guest blogger on The Green ABC's blog, and I have learned innovative ways to advance the message of sustainability from him. I wanted to share some of his ideas about how London is going green and addressing the issues of getting information to those in their network.

Here is what I found out.

ABS) Project Dirt wants to make it easier for people to go green. Give me a couple of examples that you think are working exceedingly well for Project Dirt.

Mark) Ok '" a straight forward, practical, if not slightly boring answer to your first question.
If I were undertaking a green project '" I'd ideally want help in the way of the following: a) reliable information, b) personal experience and advice, c) grant funding, d) volunteers to help, and a free website '" to both organize the project and promote what I'm doing
As you've suggested we want to make it easier for people to set up green projects and complete them. All of the above are available through Project Dirt. Let me demonstrate:
People can set up their own project page (mini website) for free. They can invite their friends to this page and coordinate the activities of the project through the event tabs and communication tools. If they need some advice they can network with the wider community and get an experienced person's thoughts. They can access funding (£55,000 has been made available through Project Dirt in the last 18 months) and could seek volunteers through our links with Timberland and Earthwatch.
ABS) Why do you think the people of London have taken the issue of sustainable living so much to heart?
Mark) Being a Londoner '" I'm biased. I do love the place though '" because it's a fantastic melting pot of passionate people living in a high-energy environment. And let's not forget that it's a global city and sustainable living is a global issue. I believe Londoners therefore feel very much on the front line.
Everything happens fast in London. We're bombarded with news, trends, movements, new thinking and different cultures everyday. Information and resource is perhaps more readily available than elsewhere '" and residents can react quickly to address such issues. Sustainable living is a major issue -- and in my mind, it's no surprise that Londoners are moving quickly to address it.
On a more practical level '" there are two further points I should make.
Firstly, London is a dense human habitat (just like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong etc). People live close to each other and share the same amenities (transport, parks, buildings etc). If one person wants to make a change '" their neighbors are very much at hand to collaborate with. And likewise, businesses and government are comparatively accessible to also help out.
My second point is that London isn't necessarily unique (I hope I haven't contradicted my points above!). I hear the US has fantastic momentum in addressing green living. And some of the European countries are streets ahead of us Brits when it comes to clean tech and waste minimization. So '" yes there's lots being done '" but I don't believe London is acting in isolation.
ABS) If you could choose two actions that would advance sustainable living, what would they be?

Mark) I'll give you four. Sustainable living in my mind needs to be: a) better than the norm, b) a cheap alternative, c) trendy, and d) fun!
If you could develop a good or service that adheres to the above, then it'll snowball. Look what Google achieved with a free and better search engine. BUT '" in order for businesses to develop such goods/services they need demand. And that in my mind is driven by people and communities.
If you were to ask me two things that make a successful green project, I'd say that's simple. It's all about determined people striving to achieve a project with a simple objective. The 21st Century offers the current standard of living through past human endeavor. People with a bit between their teeth make things happen.

ABS) It appears that your membership has grown by leaps and bounds, what do you attribute that to?

Mark) We started with one project and five members '" so yes it's been a great journey so far. I organized a "team curry" for the group when we hit 100 members, so be to up at close to 3,500 is great.
We've growth through word of mouth. We did this for two reasons; we wanted this site to be a genuine test of the idea and secondly, we didn't want to over-preach the green message. We figured that if we developed a fun, active and productive community platform, people would be interested in getting involved. Thankfully and with huge relief, that seems to have worked.
We now have a very engaged network. People are quick to help each other, post their events and network. Making sure Project Dirt supports people's activities is key '" we're not here to replace what they're doing, Project Dirt is here to facilitate that.

Project Dirt exemplifies a superlative network of people that started out with a good idea. I am certain 2011 will see this network grow even more.