What Is The Best Subreddit For Environmental Bloggers

My recent experience with Reddit, "the front page of the internet" has convinced me that there are a dozens of great subreddits for discussing environmental issues. Problem is, each one of them has a specific set of requirements and specializations. The scattered nature of environmental subreddits are typical of the green movement as a whole. Environmental activists tend to be interested, broadly, in a range of issues: climate, conservation, ecology and energy to name a few, but most tend to focus their energy on one specific area. Much like the college professor who studies the Dutch Butter Industry of the 18th century and teaches European history from the Renaissance to the 21st Century, environmentalists benefit the movement with their broad understanding of environmental trends and their more expert-level understanding of specific, niche issues. With that said, perhaps it may be a good idea to visit some of the most popular environmental subreddits to see what each has to offer the field as a whole.1. /r/environment: This is the most popular, and closes we get to an inclusive subreddit on environmental issues. With over 100k unique readers and several hundred present at most times during the day, the "environment" subreddit is tops for breadth and reach. A cursory view of the top posts include a number on the environment in popular culture and politics, as well as representation by the most popular environmental issues of our day, climate change and the debate over fracking.2. /r/green: What the principal difference between the green subreddit and the environmental subreddit is, I still don't know. Even after a release from the moderator:"I've decided to be a bit broad in my allowance of certain submissions. It is true that many posts here can crossover with /r/environment. There's obviously a Venn diagram which includes many things between this subreddit and /r/environment. What are those things that are not common?As a guide, I've been using the definition of Green Politics to determine which posts I approve and which ones I don't.(Disclsoure: I am not a member of any Greens political party. In fact I am a member of the Australian Pirate Party)So as a result, not only do I approve (in practice, ignore) posts about the environment, but basically anything to do with "ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy, nonviolence and social justice".So there's probably a Venn diagram for /r/Green which includes /r/politics, /r/socialism and obviously others."If someone has a good model of this Venn Diagram, I'd love to see it. Anyhow, significantly smaller, the green subreddit boasts 16k readers with less than a dozen present at any given time.3. /r/RenewableEnergy: Now here we get to some variation. The Renewable Energy subreddit focuses, as its title suggests, on a discussion of alternative energy sources and is explicit in their mission to "debunk" propaganda from the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. 15k readers, about one dozen present at any given time. Most posts extoll the virtues of renewable sources like solar and wind, and express a great deal of schadenfreude at old energy's demise.4. /r/Sustainability: Significantly fewer readers than its related subreddits (Environment, Green, Homesteading, Gardening), about 4k total and fewer than 10 at any given time. Sustainability shares much in common with those other subreddits, but seem to focus less on news and more on personal stories or our collective effort to "go green"5. /r/climate: Almost exclusively a forum for linking to news articles and editorials from well-known sites. Scan the list, and you'll find HuffPo, Grist, The Washington Post and more. With 5k readers and less than 10 active at a given time, it's not so much for discussion as it exists for voting on the day's most popular climate news.6. /r/conservation: The more you get into the environmental movement, the more you find these latent conflicts between the climate change and conservation people. They're both approaching environmental problems with the best of intentions (I hope) but often come into conflict. My favorite recent spat concerned a proposed solar farm in the Mojave that was delayed due to the presence of an endangered tortoise species. With that aside, this subreddit, about as popular as the climate subreddit, focuses on flora, fauna and ecosystem conservation specifically. Actually, seems like most posts focus on animal conservation, so there you go. We've all got more in common than we don't.7. /r/GreenParty: Green Party Politics. About 4k total readers, focuses both nationally and internationally.8. /r/ecology: 3k total readers, focuses on the science of ecology.9. /r/Environmental Policy: only about 400 readers, I think this subreddit has potential for no other reason than the way environmental issues are bandied about in the public forum. I think it's a great idea to highlight the steps humans are taking to mitigate the worst of our environmental impact.For the purpose of limiting to subreddits that specifically address environmental issues (rather than issues that often include, but are not limited to environmental issues) I've skipped over a few popular subreddits. /r/science, /r/homesteading and /r/oceans, come to mind. I'm sure there are others, and I'd love for you to let me know which ones you think are most important!Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.You Might Also Like: Numerology Birth Dates Compatibility Relationship Compatibility Numerologist