NEW YORK: The NewsMarket has launched The Green channel, providing video that illustrates green issues. Content on the green Web site, www.thenewsmarket.com/green, will be available at no charge to all registered journalists of The Newsmarket.

Given the noise about companies and their green activities, it’s not surprising to see more advertisements touting one’s green cred. The one (not currently on YouTube), about Subaru’s clean plant initiative is a particular effective one.

Julie Batliner is senior principal and chair of the Living Well group at Carmichael Lynch Spong.

Q: Describe your agency’s green and/or clean tech practice. Do you have one? If so, what is it called and what department is it housed under (if not stand alone). Basically, we want to show how different agencies are approaching the housing of their green initiatives.

A: The Carmichael Lynch Spong green practice falls under our Living Well practice group; however, it definitely crosses into our Home and Garden, Outdoor and Leisure, and Corporate practice groups. We have been counseling clients in the green arena before green was the new black. Carmichael Lynch Spong has long-standing relationships with clients in appliances, indoor air quality, plumbing products and outdoor recreation products, and green practices have always been an integral part of our campaigns.

Q: What is the easiest thing a client can go today to kickstart a green image?

A: Rather than “kickstarting” a green image, it should really be something that is already an inherent part of the culture by the time clients begin talking about it. Savvy consumers see right through companies that are touting themselves as green, but really are not. To be a green leader, it needs to be a true mission and value of the company, rather than something they decide one day they want to stand for. It’s a commitment process rather than a shotgun wedding.

Once clients have some key green initiatives in place, we recommend conducting an internal review. What is the client doing now? What are the client’s future plans in the green arena? What do they want to stand for? What are the key messages?

Q: What is the most important thing a client could do tomorrow to maintain serious green cred?

A: Put everything you’re doing through a filter and be accountable. That filter may include a representative sample of a client’s employees, customers, and special-interest groups.

Q: What NGOs are good partners for a solid green initiative?

A: It depends on the objectives of the company. There are hundreds of potential NGO partners. It’s important to choose a partner that mirrors the client’s values and business goals. Some examples could include The Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited, The Clean Water Fund and others.

Q: What is your agency doing to become greener?

A: Carmichael Lynch Spong is bleeding green on two levels. 1) By continuing to design green programs that exemplify our client’s values and products and 2) By designing and working in our own green space.

For many years we have worked with products and services that are already green. For example, TRANE and Maytag have leading energy-efficient products; Sherwin-Williams provides environmentally friendly paint with no VOCs; Lutron is a leader in the lighting control and energy savings category; and we helped Silk soymilk communicate about converting to wind energy for production. We expect to continue the commitment. The product and services market for green building is expected to exceed $12 billion this year, according the U.S. Green Building Council.

While green has always been Carmichael Lynch Spong’s signature color, we have taken our passion for green to a new level. We moved into a building on January 2, 2007 that has just been renovated. The architectural firm we worked with incorporated several suggestions for a greener workspace. For example, the space takes advantage of sunlight with large windows and open floor plans. Most of the lighting comes from overhead fluorescent lighting, with T-8 lights and ballasts, which are more efficient. Lighting in areas such as bathrooms and storage is controlled by occupancy sensors. This will cut down on wasted energy when these spaces are not in use. For task lighting, we switched from standard incandescent bulbs to CFLs, which use roughly a quarter the energy and last eight to 10 times as long. In terms of recycling, we have well-marked recycling receptacles on each floor.

Other eco-friendly areas include, installation of efficient dishwashers and dishwasher-safe dishware provided in lieu of paper and plastic. We salvaged many of the existing freight and fire doors from the textile mill that once existed in the space and reused them in various areas throughout Carmichael Lynch Spong. Our personal task chairs are ergonomic and 90 percent recyclable. We have hand dryers in all of the bathrooms as an option instead of paper towels and the waste associated with them.

Though some of the floors are bare concrete, the areas that are carpeted use Interface carpeting. It’s essentially a leasing program for carpet. When we’re finished with the carpet or it wears out, they pick it up and remanufacture or recycle it.

Q: What company (non-client) do you think is doing an exemplary job of promoting its green status?

A: Timberland is a natural when it comes to being green. They’ve committed to becoming “carbon neutral” by 2010, which means that products and services they are using or providing will not affect the environment. Being green is an inherent part of their culture from employees to customers. They reward employees that buy hybrid cars. They plant trees on Earth Day for each consumer that spends $150. They provide “green tags” that educate buyers about issues such as gas emissions and organic materials. Their packaging is environmentally friendly. And they invest in structural green elements such as solar panels.

Seventh Generation also is a leader when it comes to educating consumers about environmental issues and providing solutions.

While it might be viewed as a “me too” move after Wal-Mart’s effort to provide organic and green products, The Home Depot has recently made the effort to educate its consumers about how the products they purchase can make a difference in the environment.

Q: How should companies avoid the label of “greenwashing”?

A: It’s simple. Don’t try to be more environmentally friendly than you really are. Pay attention to how deep your green efforts really go. Maybe you have one aspect of your business that is green; however, what are the areas that are not green that could be called out? If you’re touting a green aspect, be ready to be honest about what is not green and be prepared to talk about it. A word of advice for public relations firms regarding their clients’ green claims: trust but verify.

Target Green media partner FT and Citi Private Bank have launched a joint “Environmental Awards”

Details here. Accepting submissions for the following categories.
*
The Greatest Improvement in Carbon Efficiency Achieved by a Large Enterprise*
Three regional awards: Europe, Middle East and Africa - Asia and Pacific - The Americas
.
* The Greatest Improvement in Carbon Efficiency Achieved by a Small/Medium Enterprise**
Three regional awards: Europe, Middle East and Africa - Asia and Pacific - The Americas

Two clean tech bubbles? C-Net blog

Ten ways to reduce one’s food miles EcoStreet blog 

Green food a big draw at National Restaurant Association conference (QSR)

We’re still getting all of those presentations up here. They all should be up by the end of the day.

But I wanted to call your attention to proprietary research from Cohn & Wolfe, a sponsor of the conference.

If you would like to get this research, e-mail

This is the last backwards-thinking post for Target Green. Onto the new!

Here’s an excerpt and a free link to the PRWeek column on Target Green.

The number one fear that any event organizer has, outside of the venue closing down the day before a conference, is a lack of audience participation.

Thus, it was very heartening to see that, at our Target Green conference on May 10, time seemed to run out before the questions did. And, so, panelists and presenters were consumed by small crowds of attendees, who offered business cards and expressed a desire to continue the conversation another day.

There was no doubt that attendees were engaged in the issues of green, clean tech, and corporate sustainability. But rather than take the presentations and presentations as gospel, they offered tough questions, especially of Suzanne McCarron, manager of communications for ExxonMobil Corp., and afternoon keynote Paul Zeven, CEO of Philips North America. When Zeven brought up compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs), which are the darling of many people’s green movement - bulbs that currently cost more, but last longer and use less energy - more than one person wondered if the mercury present in CFLs outweighed the good caused from their energy efficiency.For the rest of the column, click here.

credit Saul Bromberger

Please forgive me for cutting and pasting from my Web article.

SAN FRANCISCO: Paul Zeven, CEO of , and Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, served as the keynotes at PRWeek’s Target Green conference on May 9.

Zeven’s afternoon keynote spoke of Philips’ initial failure to respond to a challenge from Greenpeace India, which named it as the worst offender for avoidable carbon dioxide emissions in India.

“Our PR group did not [initially] get the word out” about the good Philips was doing, Zeven said.

Addressing the philosophy that promotion of green initiatives should be muted, he said, “In today’s media world, this wisdom is quickly eroding.” Zeven gave advice to attendees looking to get off on the right foot in highlighting green initiatives.

“You must make sure your own house is in order, base [claims] on proof, admit mistakes, and correct them,” he said. “You must believe sustainability is right for your company, as well as your personal life.”

I’ve begun putting presentations from the conference up.

You can access them here.

The food panel included Ted Smyth, chief administrative officer and SVP, corporate and government affairs, Heinz; and Steve Bryant, president, Seattle, Publicis Consultants and founder, Nutrition Marketing Research Institute.

One of the interesting things Smyth said was that analysts typically ranked Heinz high with regards to corporate social responsibility, but customer knowledge of their efforts were low.

A soundbyte from Bryant:

When you present consumers with healthy products, they’re suspicious about taste.