Yahoo! Lists Top-Five Things to Avoid for Earth Day 2010; Search Trends Say “DIY is the New Green”

--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Yahoo! is a resource for all-things Green:

Yahoo! is honoring the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day by educating people on important topics through the various Search tools across the network. This year for Earth Day, the Yahoo! Earth Day site has global warming myths and facts, tips to turn electronics into cash, brainteasers to test Earth Day knowledge, and more. Yahoo! also is sharing tips for living a better life that is good for the planet on Yahoo! Green, the number-one green destination on the Web (comScore).

Five things NOT to do for Earth Day:

There are plenty of simple changes you can make that will have a positive impact on the planet (and in most cases are better for your health and your pocketbook). Focus your time and money on things that will really make a difference instead of sweating the small stuff or feeling like there's no point in making any change unless you take a huge leap. Here are five things not to do this Earth Day:

Don’t always buy organic (Instead: Eat seasonal and local food. Buy organic for dirty dozen, but not for clean 15. Try to waste less food.)
Don’t be a vegetarian (Instead: Cut back. Eat smaller portions. Meatless Mondays. Replace red meat with chicken twice a week.)
Don’t buy a hybrid (Instead: Don't idle. Take good care of the car you have. Buy a small fuel-efficient car. Carpool. Telecommute once a week.)
Don’t invest in solar panels (Instead: Buy green power from your utility. Save energy at home by buying a programmable thermostat, set your computer to hibernate mode, turn off lights.)
Don’t buy green products (Instead: Cut back on consumption. Freecycle. Borrow.)

Do-it-Yourself is the new Green:

Yahoo! examined what people have been searching for around the “green movement” as Earth Day approached. Yahoo! found that online searches for “recycling” and “Earth Day” are down overall; but searches for green lifestyle activities have risen, and people are using the Web to discover DIY green practices they can implement all year long. Recent questions that have been searched on Yahoo! include:

How to compost
How to become a vegetarian
Homemade greenhouse
How to get children interested in gardening
How to make organic crayons
How to build a solar panel (searches for “home solar panels” are up 11% on Yahoo! this month and “solar oven” is up 14% this month)
How to build a green PC

Whether it’s recycled blue jean insulation, reusable cotton balls, organic nails, or organic strawberry plants, the DIY movement has revised some age-old practices of reuse, as seen on Yahoo! Search. Here are online signs that DIY is the new “green” this Earth Day:

Recycled Rubber Mulch & Reusable Toothpicks?

People are going beyond separating trash from recyclables and researching where to recycle aluminum, e-waste, cardboard, glass, electronics, and more.

People are searching for “recycled crafts,” “recycled art,” “recycled decorating,” “recycled jewelry ideas,” and “recycled metal art” on Yahoo! this month
Searches for practical items are also up on Yahoo!: “recycled rubber mulch” is up 585%, “recycled asphalt driveway” is up 2,400%, and “recycled blue jean insulation” is up 3,100%
Searches for “reusable water bottles” on Yahoo! are up 120%, “reusable swim diaper” is up 333%, “reusable snack bags” is up 117%, and “reusable metal toothpick” is up 1,200%
Even “reusable cotton balls” and “reusable paper towels” searches on Yahoo! are up 600% and 500%, respectively

A New Meaning to Eating Organic

Organic-related searches on Yahoo! have been steadily rising: searches for “organic clothing” on Yahoo! are up 20%, “organic makeup” is up 9%, “organic shampoo” is up 16%, “organic meat” is up 40%, “organic sunscreen” is up 4,900%, and even “organic nails” is up 4,100% on Yahoo!.

But now, people are taking organic into their own hands. In addition to recent searches for “chicken coops” and “chicken coop plans” on Yahoo!, people are searching for “organic gardening” (up 58% on Yahoo!). Recently, searches for “chicken coops” on Yahoo! were up 711% and searches for “chicken coop plans” are up 176%. 56% of the “chicken coop” searches are coming from women.

Searches for “organic fertilizer” on Yahoo! are up 53%
Searches for “organic lawn fertilizer” are up 800% on Yahoo!
Searches for “organic weed killer” are up 481% on Yahoo!
Searches for “organic seeds” are up 22% on Yahoo!
Searches for “organic heirloom seeds” are up 42% and “organic strawberry plants” is up 4,800% on Yahoo!
And searches for “organic pesticides” are up 77% on Yahoo!

What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

Follow us on Twitter: @yahoosearchdata

Frequently Asked Questions:

What exactly is a search and why are they useful?: A keyword(s) or term(s) that people enter in the Search box.

How do you determine meaning form a search? Searches at its face are neutral. Motivation and intent cannot be defined, but analyzing a billion (or so) searches can give a sketch portrait of a culture in motion. Search insight can operate like an instant poll into what people’s interests are at a given moment—and unlike a poll which offers constrained or directed parameters, searches spring spontaneously from what people want to know.

What does spiking and off the charts mean? A “spiking” search refers to terms with the greatest percentage increase in searches from one period of time to the next (usually day, week or month). Significant increases don’t necessarily mean a huge overall interest in a subject, but reveals an accelerated interest in popularity. Something that’s “off the chart” refers to a term that had no meaningful number of searches in the previous time period.

How are rankings determined? Rankings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the total number of searches.