We caught up with Espen André Øverdahl, the community manager for Opera Software ASA. Their online community My Opera, with its 3 million members, is an official supporter of Blog Action Day 2009 – Climate Change. Here’s what Espen had to say.

How did you find out about Blog Action Day 2009? What made you decide to participate?

I heard about Blog Action Day over two years ago! One of our community members tipped me off and I decided to follow up and try it out. Our bloggers seemed to like the challenge, and it has sort of become an annual thing for our community.

What are you planning to write about or do for Blog Action Day on October 15?

Blog Action Day is all about mass participation, so our biggest challenge is to get all our members to participate. The viral aspect of this year’s campaign is great and that helps when trying to communicate the message.

What impact do you see this issue having on your country and/or your industry in the next 10 or 20 years?

How could climate change not relate to any and every community or society? Climate change is happening now, and hopefully with new treaties in place we should be able to turn the tide, if it’s not too late already – which is something many scientists have already concluded. It’s hard to predict an outcome of climate change, but we have to stay positive and help those in need.

How do you think bloggers can make a difference in social issues like climate change in the offline world?

They can bring attention to one issue. If thousands of bloggers write about the same topic, someone is bound to pick it up. Hopefully.

Any other thoughts or ideas you’d like to share?

I’d like to thank everyone involved in making sure Blog Action Day happens every year. I know it’s a lot of work, and I’m sure I speak of many people when I say thank you for putting the spotlight on important social issues.