Welcome to My Green ATL, a news site geared toward informing and empowering Atlantans who care about our environment.

Who’s behind  My Green ATL?

Well, I’m Ken Edelstein, My Green ATL’s creator, publisher and editor. I suppose you’d call me the dean of Georgia environmental journalists — if there were enough environmental reporters left in Georgia to own that title. I’m a Dalton, Ga., native, who’s covered politics, business, the environment and a slew of other beats across Georgia for more than 25 years. For nearly a decade, I was the editor of Creative Loafing, Atlanta’s alternative weekly, which I turned into a perennial journalism award winner. By the time I left CL, it was the second most well-read news organization in the state, according to independent surveys by Media Audit Inc. In all, I’ve written or edited work that’s won more than 50 local, regional and national awards.

Jeanne Bonner covers smart growth, transportation and neighborhood issues for My Green ATL. Jeanne’s a freelance writer now and a regular contributor to My Green ATL. But she’s also an accomplished, award-winning reporter, having spent five years at The Morning Call, the daily newspaper in Allentown, Penn.

Susan Asher covers cultural events for My Green ATL. Susan holds a communications degree from Georgia State University and works as a publicist. She’s also a very fine writer. And in case there’s any question in your mind, she’s not writing about her clients. We at My Green ATL hold to ethical journalistic standards (more about that in a moment).

Silvia Medrano is a green mom and chef extraordinaire. Silvia is covering green lifestyle issues for My Green ATL, including food, babies and green homes.

Jennette Gayer is the policy director of Environment Georgia, a leading non-profit advocacy organization. Jennette brings her intimate understanding of the state’s environmental issues to opinion and analysis stories, which we distinguish by dubbing “Calls from the Wild.”

And finally, there’s you. While My Green ATL is a journalistic site that holds itself to professional standards, we also are an animal of the Internet. We know that your engagement with us, depends on our engagement with you. And we know that there’s no way for a tiny core to cover the community on our own as well as we could cover it with your help. So I urge to sign to become a My Green ATL contributor.

But if you’re going to do that … now’s certainly a good time to let you know about those exacting journalistic standards.

• Above all, writers for Midtown Mercury should be fair, accurate and transparent.

• This means that you should avoid writing about anything of personal or financial interest. In rare cases, a personal interest may be unavoidable or may be beneficial for a story, but that personal interest must be disclosed by the writer. In certain cases, it may be appropriate to classify an article that involves a personal interest as a “Call from the Wild,” or opinion, column.

• This also means that a reasonable effort should be made to ensure that the facts are accurate.

• Even when we share our opinions, it’s preferable to base those opinions to be rooted in facts. At no time, should writers disregard or misrepresent facts simple to make their opinions look better.

• We reserve the right not to publish submissions, based on our editorial discretion. Our goal is to inform you, and publishing articles that we deem inaccurate, repetitive or simply not of sufficient interest would only confuse our audience.

Even if you don’t wish to become a contributor, we’d love for you to participate in My Green ATL in a variety of other ways. The first step is simply to come back to the site to read articles, and perhaps to comment on them.

The second step is to register as My Green ATL member. That way you can get our daily newsletter. You’ll also be able to contribute articles to our “Calls from the Wild” section.

There are three other ways you can hook into My Green ATL through social media: You can follow us on Twitter, you can join ourFacebook fan page, and you can sign up for our RSS feeds (check out the buttons at the top of the sidebar to the right). We hope to add more membership benefits and social networking features over the next couple of months.

Finally, we want your feedback — and need your participation — to get My Green ATL to live up to its aspirations.

If you like what we’re doing, you can also help to sustain the site financially. One way to do that is simply to send us a donation; Any amount will do. You’ll find our “Donate” button at the bottom of the sidebar.

Another way to support us is to reach My Green ATL’s audience with an advertisement. We are targeting the well-educated, civically engaged audience of some metro Atlantans who increasingly consider the environmental impact of their buying decisions. Check out our rate card page for more information about advertising with us.

We truly hope that our articles — and your participation — along with events listings  and social tools help to connect Atlantans with one another as they strive to make the metro area and the state a better place.

This project is in its early stages so we’re still figuring out how everything will play out. That’s why need your feedback and your participation to help us make it what it can be.