The Greens and The Dirties

While our website has primarily been focusing on the blogs of notable politicians, we would also like to note that focus groups, with their ability to sway the vote and draw attention, also deserve recognition for their political work in the blogosophere. From the left side of the spectrum, we have the Friends of Hylebos, a group of Americans dedicated to saving their local wetlands area. Through their blog, they have created a community of like-minded individuals and have definite potential to sway votes. Props to them for creating an easily-readable and frequently-updated blog that involves a large segment of the population in the process. And on the other side, we can at least sleep peacefully knowing that bloggers (if no one else) are looking out for wealthy capitalists who have been accused of environmental crimes by poor natives. Eric Ness has created a blog aimed at clearing his father of pollution charges in Indonesia. Mineweb tells us that the blog has “managed to capture and sustain the attention of U.S. politicians, the international news media, the U.S. State Department, and other stakeholders.” Powerful stuff, I’ll admit. My favourite part is how Eric Ness posts a document that accuses NGOs of undermining democracy. It’s a bold move for a man who hasn’t updated his blog in almost three weeks. In the blogosphere, timeliness is next to godliness.