The APLS Carnival

On Friday, I wrote about the importance of reaching out and reading blogs in other fields. Now many of you may be wondering, Okay, but what's in it for me? What's the practical application in reading music blogs or science blogs or food blogs?!! I'm really busy, Arduous!!!

And, I get that. But let me give you a good example of why reading various blogs can have a positive effect. As I've mentioned, I read a lot of women in science blogs. And one of the things I've always enjoyed has been their very elegant and well put-together Scientiae Carnival. I would read all their carnival posts, and I'd wish that we eco-folk had as good a carnival as they have.

I know, Treehugger has a Carnival of The Green. And, don't get me wrong. I completely appreciate the work that goes into that carnival, and I'm glad it's there. But what makes Scientiae a truly great carnival is:

• It's only once a month so it feels like a real "event"
• There's a specified topic
• The carnival isn't just a list of links. The hosts make a huge effort to provide a little commentary about the various blog posts. See this truly excellent example at Thus Spake Zuska.

So, for months, I've been sitting here thinking, "I wish there was a carnival like that for eco-nuts!"

But I didn't do anything about it.

Until one day, I went to read my daily bean, and that Green Bean, she's a doer. (Seriously, does the girl EVER sleep?) Anyway, she was knee deep in her latest project: this one, connecting APLS to APLS.

And I got inspired. So I emailed Green Bean about an APLS carnival, and she was on board, and we got Melissa involved, and thus, The APLS Blog was born.

The APLS carnival is a carnival devoted to living sustainably in an affluent society. And anyone can play. We welcome money bloggers, knitters, music bloggers, scientists, vegans, you name it! Even you hold outs without blogs; we have a way for you to play along as well. Melissa will be hosting the first go around, but after that we will definitely be be looking for hosts. We hope that the carnival will be a good opportunity to learn about other APLS, and hear varied points of view.

Eventually, we also hope that the APLS blog will have a region-specific component that will serve as a warehouse of information for APLS. For example, the California section of the blog would include the names of all APLS living in California, as well as sustainable living resources: CSAs, information on famers' markets, good restaurants, etc. If you would like to help us build this "eco-database" PLEASE get in touch. We can't do it by ourselves!

So take a look at the new blog, and tell us what you think. And then get writing! We hope to have our first carnival up by August 15th!

*A big shout out to all the women behind the Scientiae Carnival, especially Skookumchick. And a huge thank you to my partners in crime, Green Bean and Melissa.