sustainablog's Top Posts from 2012

In addition to family festivities and some time off, I really enjoy taking a look at sustainablog’s year past during the Winter holidays: it’s always educational – and sometimes even surprising – to see what posts people liked more than others. Usually, I’ve shared the typical “top 10” list of posts that received the most traffic during the year. I’m going to change things up a bit this time, and share the most popular topics from 2012, along with the top posts in those categories – I’ll explain why below…

Upcycling: this was the biggie for the year (as it’s been for several years). Crafty reuse of “waste” materials has clearly caught on – for us, this was the topic that dominated our top 10 for the year (which is why I’m doing a different kind of list). Among the posts people really liked were Tom Chu’s list of craft ideas that appeal to the non-crafty, Ann Smarty’s suggestions for ways to make use of “leftover” LEGO bricks, and Josh McNair’s decorating ideas that featured “waste” wood. My own post on creative use of wooden crates (which was inspired by Josh’s post) also did quite well.

DIY projects: OK, this topic certainly overlaps with the first one, but these projects weren’t as “crafty” as the first group, and don’t always involve reused materials. My post on do-it-yourself aquaponics systems was #3 for the year; others on soda can solar heaters, green cleaning products, and zeer pot “refrigerators.”

Food: Not surprisingly, people continued to show interest in the food they eat. We had quite a variety on this front: from a round-up of stinging nettle recipes and suggestions for reducing food waste at home to more academic considerations of the US drop in meat consumption and an overview of the fruit and vegetables we do eat.

Renewable energy: Another regular favorite, stories and ideas involving clean energy sources were popular again in 2o12. Some of the posts you really liked addressed the worst US states for renewable energy development, solar power and Hurricane Sandy, and the community-owned solar garden concept.

Appropriate technology: One of my favorite topics, I’m always glad to see stories about simple technology that allows for raising living standards in the developing world. This year, posts on the Wonderbag “slow cooker” and Up-Stream washing machine did particularly well.

Of course, there were some outliers that didn’t fit readily into any of the above topics, and a few other topics that also had 1-2 posts that did really well. Overall, it was a good year for sustainablog: I always enjoy the work I do here, and am glad to see that you’re finding valuable content here.

So, what was your favorite post of the year? What kinds of topics would you like to see us cover more? Let us know in the comments… and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Image credit: Gerrit Wenz via photopin cc