Greening the web with Greenscroll

Webmasters and web publishers, you now have the option to go green! Greenscroll is new a nonprofit seeking to fight climate change in the real world by greening the virtual one. Its mission is to power the Internet by green renewable energy and help save the Earth. On behalf of anyone having a website, Greenscroll will pump green energy into the grid to power clients’ websites and, therefore, the Internet.

John Carson, Co-Founder & Communications Scroller of Greenscroll, began his career in journalism in England in 1995 as a reporter on Streetwise Business Magazine, covering small business and franchising. Said to be passionate about social media, John is looking forward to engaging with the green community online and in person at networking events around the GTA.

John recently took some hard questions from the CSR Digest.

CSRD: Greenscroll is a nonprofit organisation. How does it fund itself?

JC: We are self-funded from our own pockets.

CSRD: How does Greenscroll assure its pledgors that the monies are being channelled to Renewable Energy Certificates?

JC: Our partner organisation, www.,carbonfund.org, can testify to that fact. Once we have enough pledges built up, we collate them and contact CarbonFund to see what projects the money can be put towards,

CSRD: What are the hopes and aspirations of Greenscroll?

JC: Our hope is that Greenscroll will build a loyal and committed base of regular supporters, so that one day we can start to plan some of our own green energy projects. The amount of people who use the Internet is only going to increase, thus using more “brown” power, so we hope Greenscroll can do its part to at least educate them for the future.

CSRD: Many developing countries believe that the environmental issues are caused or have been caused by developing nations. As such, they feel that the onus is on the developed nations to counter the global issue. What are your thoughts?

JC: I can agree to that point of view to some extent, but we all live on the same planet and developing nations are fast catching up in the technology world. Greenscroll only launched one year ago, so there’s a lot of “catching up” to do for us too; if organizations from developing countries supported us as they become exposed to technology, then they will be ahead of the game down the line. Imagine if the Internet had been sustainable from the beginning – how great would that have been!

CSRD: With this in mind, how would you encourage a business or individual from a developing nation to get on to Greenscroll?

JC: I would encourage them to do their own research about the effects of global warming and what options they have. Greenscroll was created in part to educate people, and if they choose not to support us, that’s OK. At least we have given them food for thought to consider helping out at some stage in the future.

CSRD: Businesses from developing nations believe that green initiatives amount to barriers to trade (to an extent) globally. What are your thoughts on this?

JC: I believe, if you are looking at the bottom line in dollars and cents angle, then if a company invests at least $5 a month in going green, their customers/clients would hopefully get a good impression from that – that they’re doing business with an ethical company … and that in turn leads to more business, referrals etc. so that original $5 will soon be covered in extra sales and business.

CSRD: What are the biggest challenges for Greenscroll?

JC: One of the biggest challenges is time! All five of us at Greenscroll have day jobs and other projects that “pay the bills” so most of the Greenscroll work is done during the evenings, or at weekends. We overcome this by being constantly online, meeting via Skype, instant messenger and other tools, using Twitter and social media to chat with supporters and try to find more. It’s definitely not a 9-5 role! But we do it because we believe it’s a good thing, and worthwhile.

CSRD: Any other comments?

JC: At the end of the day, Greenscroll is here to put the idea in people’s minds that, yes, they can use the Internet 24/7, but it comes at a cost to the planet. Hopefully we can guide them in the right direction and encourage them to support some green energy projects to create a sustainable Internet.