Tragic imagery and beautiful song give us hope that we can leave a better world for future generations. Click 'continue' below to watch the video.

The Green Groove user-base exploded on this recent Earth Day (Wednesday), and reaffirms the notion that people all across the planet are more ready than ever to make eco-conscious decisions in their lives.

It appears that many of the new users found Green Groove via the recent article, "Cool Tools for Your Digital Delight: Earth Day Edition" on the trend-forecasting website, trendcentral.com. The article compares Earth Project (similar to a green YouTube/Facebook) and Google PowerMeter (monitors energy usage) alongside, Green Groove.

Green Groove is proud to make the cut, and will make every effort to keep adding enhancements/upgrades to the site in the future. To all of the recent users, and to those who have been with us since the beginning, thank you and keep up the great work!

This coming Saturday, March 28th, you can participate in a global movement to help conserve energy. All you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. You can read more about the worldwide event known as Earth Hour right here.

There are a few occasions that come up when Green Groove encourages the substitution of a regularly planned goal with a special event. This is absolutely one of those times. While it is definitely encouraged to carry through with your regular goal for the week, and participate in the special occasion, we just want you to know that we feel Earth Hour is important enough to make a straight out substitution. It will also help you feel involved in the global movement to conserve energy. Get ready to TURN OUT THOSE LIGHTS!!!

Click continue below to watch an inspiring Earth Hour video clip.

Exciting news! Green Groove has recently added two great new features. Thanks to a growing international user-base, and some helpful user feedback, we've been working tirelessly to get the features incorporated. Thankfully, we can now say these additions have been tested and implemented for use in current and future Green Groove plans.

First, take advantage of our new international time zone support. That means you can now keep your plan localized to your own time zone, making goal transition times much less complicated to calculate. How does it work? Basically, all you have to do is set up a plan, and your time zone will be recognized automatically, making all necessary adjustments for you. If you already have a plan, all you need to do is simply log in, and you timezone will be automatically adjusted for you. If for any reason you'd like to make further adjustment, simply go to our new 'time zone' interface in your portal, and adjust as needed. Thanks to Green Groove user Chris Ziady (Pretoria, South Africa) who sent the email that finally got us to get our butts in gear on this. To manage your timezone, simply log in and click on the [Time Zone Icon] in the portal navigation.

= [Time Zone Icon]

Secondly, we have added a user RSS Feed for each plan that is created. That's right, each plan now has its own unique RSS Feed - endless possibilities. To get your feed URL, and manage your feed, simply log in and click on the [RSS Feed Icon] in the portal navigation. Thanks to Green Groove user (Berlin, Germany) for making some excellent suggestions regarding the expansion of our feeds for use with Twitter.

= [RSS Feed Icon]

What should you  do with your RSS Feed? There are lots of things you can do with your Green Groove RSS feed. However, please remember to be kind to Green Groove servers when using your public feed. Goals are only updated once per week, so there really isn't a reason to have your RSS application ping for updates on anything more than a daily basis, assuming you have access to set the frequency preference. Also, note that you may opt to deactivate your public feed if goal privacy is preferred. Below we list a few common usages for your public Green Groove feed.

1. Twitter ->

   You can use your feed to tweet your latest goal straight to your page for you and all your followers to see. First, you need to go to Twitterfeed and sign in using your OpenID. OpenID is basically just your Google, Yahoo, AOL, Blogger, etc. username and password. Once you are logged in, you can then manage all of the feeds that you would like posted to Twitter. Click 'Create New Feed' to make a new Twitter feed using your Green Groove feed. You'll need to give it access to your Twitter user/pass info, then just enter your Green Groove public feed, set your 'update frequency' to once per day, include description only, post items based on 'pubDate', and then prefix each tweet with 'Latest Green Groove Goal -' or something similar. Sometimes it takes a few to post your first goal, but you should be up and running in no time. Oh, and don't forget to follow the , and we'll hit you back.

2. Widgets ->

   Use one of our goal tracking widgets (PC | Mac), which uses your public feed by default, to keep track of your plan via your PC or Mac desktop. All you need to do is run a Mac Dashboard or Yahoo! Widget application on your machine. Just download, installation should begin immediately, then all you need to do is enter your username to begin monitoring your latest goal.

3. RSS Aggregators ->

   Most modern web browsers come with built in RSS Aggregators. Typically, all you need to do in order to subscribe to a particular feed is to enter the URL (the public feed URL for your active plan) in your browser's address bar, pull up the feed, and click a button to subscribe. See your browser's help menu for instructions if you're not familar with the process.

Green Groove has attracted a bevy of new users this week, and it is all thanks to Springwise.  Springwise is a website looking for "the next big thing."  We're excited that Green Groove is now among the featured ventures, ideas and concepts that are spotlighted on Springwise pages.  Green Groove's feature was put up on February 10th, in their Eco and Sustainability section.  A direct link can be found here.

We'd like to send a big thank you out to Phillip Farris, who spotted us.  Thank you!

Also, Green Groove has it's own Twitter feed!  So many users have been linking to Green Groove through their Twitters, and now you can follow our own.  Here is the link to .

Hello Green Groovers! If you've recently received an update e-mail, checked your progress, or you've just started a new plan, you may have noticed a little green "talk bubble" icon. Those icons just arrived this week, and what they signify is a link to the Green Groove Unite blog, where we have a section devoted to Goals. There is a blog post for every goal on Green Groove, regardless of the plan you sign up for.

For example, if you started a plan and you selected the goal "Signup A Friend To Not Receive Junk Mail (www.dmachoice.org)" but you're not sure what that goal really entails or why it would make things more green. Well, click that little green link on your plan and you'll be taken to that goal's corresponding blog post! You'll see a short description of that goal, and the reason why this is a green goal. Once you've completed the goal, you can comment to the post and say how it went! If you've got other questions about the goal, you can also post those to the blog post. Click here to see the blog post for that goal, and see how people have already started commenting about their success.

Another handy thing about this new feature is if you're starting a new Green Groove plan, and are unsure about how the goals get harder with each new Difficulty Level. Now you can search through the Goal posts and see how the goals get more difficult, and see which ones will fit you best for the plan you wish to start. Doing a bit of research is always a great idea when you're starting something new, especially something as important as making a green pact with yourself. The more feedback you leave, the better it will be for the next person.

With the New Year quickly approaching, you may be wondering what you can do to make 2009 as green as possible. Here are a few tips that should help you make your New Year more environmentally friendly.

Parties

1. If you’re having a New Year’s Eve party, send out e-invites instead of paper ones. You’ll not only receive your RSVPs faster, but you’ll save paper, ink and money. Also, encourage guests to carpool to save gas.

2. Purchase re-usable cups, plates and utensils, or ones that can be composted. This will save on garbage that goes into landfills.

3. Instead of giving out gifts, give each person who attends a list of green resolutions they can make for 2009 and by telling them about Green Groove.

4. Re-use old holiday decorations or wrapping to decorate for your party. This saves money, waste, and gives you a chance to think of creative ideas that will make your party unique.

Resolutions

1. Everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, and generally they’re too vague or grandiose and don’t ever get fulfilled. This year, make smaller resolutions that you know you can accomplish. Creating a phased withdrawal with Green Groove is a great way to start.

2. Help your friends, co-workers and family come up with green resolutions. There are even things you can do together, like adopting a mile on the highway and picking up trash, or cutting down on paper towel use. Having someone there to keep you on track, and to chart progress with, is a great motivator for continuing your resolution all year long.

If everyone takes the time and makes the effort to come up with green resolutions that will last all year, and follow through with them, a big difference could be made. Even if it’s something as small as creating a compost pile in your backyard and reducing your household waste, it makes a difference. The New Year is the best excuse to start making green changes in your life, so get to it!