So you’ve jumped on the “green” bandwagon but are now faced with the daunting task of figuring out what you can do to make a difference. Well you’re not alone.

Feeling your pain, the fine folks at Wire & Twine have thrown together a pretty “green” looking site complete with 50 changes you can make at home to get you on your way.

Link to [ 50 Ways to Help the Planet ]

Ameritocracy is how regular people hold politicians and the media accountable: by reporting, fact-checking, or simply rating short, specific claims from talking heads, campaigning candidates, and other sources of political media and information.

Link to [ Ameritocracy ]

Are you fearful gas prices will continue to soar, making travel nearly impossible?  Most U.S. citizens are not fearful of losing complete transit capabilities, but worry the extra money will infringe upon other aspects of life.  MyGallons released a solution recently allowing consumers to pre-purchase gas at a fixed price.

A MyGallon membership runs $29.95 annually and functions comparable to a debit card.  Purchasing 100 gallons of gas at $3.50 enables MyGallon members budget for a pre-determined price at a number of participating stations including BP, Chevron, Amoco, Shell, Texaco, etc.   Price adjustments are added to account for lower prices or tax in different regions.

Will be interesting to follow the adoption curve of MyGallons, but some early analysis is not encouraging.  Adam Ostrow of Mashable added the following:

Yes, rising gas prices suck. But if you think they are going to continue to rise, the best way to hedge your bets is to buy some stock in Exxon Mobile or BP – not hand over $29.95/year for another piece of plastic.

Link to [MyGallons]

One of the greatest challenges in choosing a place to work is performing an accurate survey of what life is like inside the company.

Glassdoor.com alleviates that problem by letting its members view company reviews and salary charts submitted by current and former employees.

The site is free to use but does require new members to submit either a company review or salary information (which is kept anonymous) in order to view the same.

Link to [ Glassdoor.com ]

Is it all just to much for you? The Information Overload Research Group (IORG) may be able to help. The IORG works together to build awareness of the world’s greatest challenge to productivity, conduct research, help define best practices, contribute to the creation of solutions, share information and resources, offer guidance and facilitation, and help make the business case for fighting information overload.

A few information overload tips:

1. Turn email notifications off - save yourself from being constantly interrupted as new emails arrive.
2. Read the entire thread before responding - ensure you are responding to the latest posts and not repeating points already covered.
3. Set aside time for email - designate blocks of time in your day to focus on processing your email.
4. Limit your cc’s and replies to all - only copy people on emails who really need to get the email.
5. Be concise - write clear and concise subject lines and have each email focus on only one topic.

Link to [ Information Overload Research Group ]

The Internet is an attractive tool for promoting and practicing democratic values.  Honestly…otherwise we would not have commented on “Internet on Democracy” in previous posts.  For busy candidates, policy wonks, and activists, however, tapping the Internet’s full potential can be a daunting, time consuming task.  Fortunately, the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet assists politicians during their quest to quickly master the Internet as a communication tool.

As an extension of George Washington University, the IPDI publishes research on the conversion of technology and politics including the following:

Political Advertising Online - Reaching voters through targeted advertising placements and SEO marketing.

Poli-fluentials - Identifying people willing to donate disproportionate amounts of time to campaign efforts.

Politic Rumors - An analysis of political rumors spreading through Egypt.

Link to [Institute For Politics Democracy and the Internet]

London based MySociety.org is a charitable project dedicated to improving civic life through simple and efficient websites.  Guidelines for the organization are streamlined to the core triad of cheap scalability, tangible outputs, and high usability.  Three full-time staff members guide MySociety projects, but a volunteer community of marketing, design, programming and fund-raising professionals help make quick iteration a reality.  Below are some descriptions of current and past MySociety.org projects:

FixMyStreet is a portal allowing UK residents to report graffiti, potholes, litter, etc through a mapping/messaging platform.  After submitting, FixMyStreet redirects the report to the proper officials.

PledgeBank is a collective action platform similar to (but less Robust) than ThePoint.   The site allows users to promote altruistic campaigns reliant on group participation.

NotApathetic encourages citizens to voice reasons for not voting on a public forum.  The project launched for the 2005 UK General Elections but a reincarnation might be beneficial for the upcoming 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.

Anyone interested in championing either FixMyStreet or NotApathetic with me in the U.S.?  If so, please express your interest in the comment section.

Link to [MySociety.org]

WorldCat.org is the world’s largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.

It lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. WorldCat grows every day thanks to the efforts of librarians and other information professionals.

The site allows you to:

• Search many libraries at once for an item and then locate it in a library nearby
• Find books, music, and videos that you can pick up at your library
• Find research articles and digital books and audiobooks that can be directly viewed or downloaded
• Quickly link to “Ask a Librarian” and other online services at your library
• Create a personal profile that tells others about your interests
• Build lists of library materials you can share with others
• Post your review of an item, or contribute factual information about it such as historical context

Link to [ WorldCat.org ]

Non-profits dedicated to preventing harmful activity via the Internet can now benefit from CDNetworks Net Plus program. Many non-profit educational groups utilize bandwidth intensive interactive media, resulting in bounced visitors due to long loading times. CDNetworks hopes to improve the performance of educational sites by offering free access to one-terabyte per month on the company’s content delivery network. The CDN enhances the transfer speed and quality of rich media as demonstrated in the diagram below.

The Net Plus program is an extension of the Global Public Service program already operating throughout Asia. Free infrastructure is apparently only available to non-governmental organizations.

Link to [CDNetworks]

Do you know a better way to save cute and cuddly animals than showing people pictures of cute and cuddly animals? Apparently the folks at Animals and Earth didn’t either and that’s ok.

Animals and Earth seeks “to populate the internet world with the best animal and earth images promoting awareness and conservation.”

While a cool concept and promoting a great goal, Animals and Earth isn’t a lightweight on the tech. front either, offering some pretty great looking embedable galleries.

Link to [ Animals and Earth ]