Rustle The Leaf - Rustle Becomes Semi-Famous

Rustle Becomes Semi-Famous

Within 12 months of the re-launch of "Rustle the Leaf," organizations of every shape, size and political stripe were publishing the strip online, and were contacting Ponce and Wright about getting permission to use the strip in nonprofit newsletters, in educational presentations, in sales meetings and more. In October 2005, the online environmental publication "Grist" requested to use a "Rustle" strip, and then requested and published additional submissions from Ponce and Wright over the course of several months. In December 2005, a "Rustle the Leaf" holiday-themed strip was featured in a feature article at treehugger.com, one of the world's most-visited environmental consumer web sites. Visits to the "Rustle" site skyrocketed, and sites from around the globe began linking to "Rustle" content. In January, Ponce and Wright began producing the "Leave It Green Podcast," which featured fairly high production and editorial values, humorous banter between Ponce and Wright, and an interview with some leader or contributor to environmental causes or efforts. By March 2006, the "Leave It Green Podcast" was named "One of the World's 10 Best Environmental Podcasts" by treehugger.com. Monthly "Rustle the Leaf" web site hits grew into the hundreds of thousands; the highest month—March 2006—topped 750,000 hits. In the Spring of 2006, the Zeitlers funded production of 150,000 copies of "Rustle the Leaf's Earth Day Book," a 16-page educational book with comics, puzzles and games, aimed at elementary and middle school students. From their Connecticut offices, the Zeitlers distributed the books free of charge to educational and environmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Because news of the publication spread via the World Wide Web, requests for the copies of the book came in from organizations and nations around the world—including requests from the National Army of Pakistan, the Canadian government, a leading luxury hotel chain based in Indonesia, NASA's Langley Research Center, and an EPA regional office, which asked to be supplied with books anonymously for fear of reprisals from the Bush Administration. Sites linking to "Rustle the Leaf" weekly comics and monthly lesson plans continued to grow, but none of the distribution, notoriety or accolades for the strip was translating into capital to keep the venture going. The hope was that, with 150,000 Earth Day Books in the hands (and homes) of children, parents educators and government officials, "Rustle the Leaf" would see a significant boost in web site traffic and public notoriety following Earth Day 2006. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and the "Leave it Green Podcast" was discontinued in April 2006.