If you’re like me, you upgraded your operating system to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) when it was released a couple weeks ago, and were disappointed to find that the included beta version of the Firefox 3.0 web browser is still annoyingly unstable. Okay, so you’re not that much like me, which is probably a good thing.  But if you were, after you got too frustrated to put up with the frequent browser crashes, you decided to take a new browser out for a spin. 

For me, that browser was Flock Eco-Edition.  Does your browser reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Does Flock? Find out.

Flock is designed to be a social web browser.  As such it integrates many ways to connect to Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter as well as web mail and other services.  It also offers a convenient way to post to a blog through its built-in blog editor, which I am using now.  Flock shares code with Mozilla Firefox, but it’s based on an earlier more stable version than the bleeding edge version of Firefox that had been giving me problems. 

Here’s how the fine folks behind Flock describe it.

If that didn’t seem especially green, it’s because that video just presents the non-eco edition of the browser. (Flock SUV?) The Eco-Edition, however, comes loaded with environmental news feeds and media and convenient ways to keep up with them.

But does it cut greenhouse gas emissions? Well, it turns out that part is up to us.  As its makers explain, “Flock makes money when people search through the browser.”  They’ve decided that 10 percent of the revenues they receive from Flock Eco-Edition should go to an environmental organization, which the community of Flock users will select. In their words, “we’ll let the broader wisdom of Eco-Edition users determine whether it’s better to plant trees, or to buy a carbon offset units.” 

Being a community entrepreneur involves strengthening local connections, but, for some of us, becoming an active participant in online social networks and media can complement our efforts in local venues.  If Flock Eco-Edition doesn’t do it for you, but you’re interested in reducing web-related carbon emissions, there’s always Blackle, the dimly lit search engine.

Evan

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