Animal rights groups are asserting that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving a car, touting evidence from various scientific studies including a November report issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Groups are parading the message in PR and ad campaigns, and going it alone due to a failed to recruit environmentalist big boys such as Al Gore, according to The New York Times.

[PETA] plans to send billboard-toting trucks to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver when Mr. Gore lectures there on Oct. 2. The billboards will feature a cartoon image of Mr. Gore eating a drumstick next to the tagline: “Too Chicken to Go Vegetarian? Meat Is the No. 1 Cause of Global Warming.”

The group will also dispatch a Hummer, to a White House-sponsored climate forum, displaying a driver in a chicken suit and a vinyl banner proclaiming meat as the top cause of global warming.

Budget-starved (no pun intended) groups such as Vegan Outreach are spending for the cause. The group will run ads and links to its Web page on 10 blogs.

Environmentalists deem the effort unrealistic.

“We’ll encourage companies to make more efficient S.U.V.’s, and we’ll encourage consumers to buy them,” [Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club] said, “but we do not find lecturing people about personal consumption choices to be effective.”

Animal rights groups may realize that using environmentalists’ refusal to get involved provides effective publicity. However, we’ll have to wait and see what the groups display on billboards if/when they cut their losses on the environmental recruitment effort.

Prior to serving as CEO of the AIAM, Stanton was VP, government and international affairs and director of federal government affairs at the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. Here is information on AIAM’s green efforts.

Here are the expected panels for our Target Green conference.

Panel: Green Entertainment
As the public becomes more attuned to eco-sustainable issues, entertainment and media companies are providing more content to meet that interest. There are common themes, but organizations tailor their content and messaging differently, based on the demo-and psychographics of their audiences. Panelists will discuss their programming and how they’re connecting with existing and new consumers.

Featuring: Annie Howell, SVP of communications and public affairs and talent management for Planet Green, Discovery Channel and Lynn Brindell, SVP marketing, The Weather Channel

Panel: Brokering a public partnership
Programs like the EPA’s Energy Star, the Dept. of Energy’s EERE, and the Department of Commerce’s green suppliers network affords companies and organizations an opportunity to partner with government agencies in a win-win relationship that benefits the environment. Representatives from each government agency will discuss how companies can opt into the government’s voluntary efficiency programs, as well as communicate their involvement.
Featuring: Rick Otis, deputy associate administrator, Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation US Environmental Protection Agency; Mark Bailey, acting program manager, Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy; and Alex Folk, center operations manager, National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturers Extension Partnership Green Suppliers Network.

More after the jump Read more »

There’s nothing like a couple weeks of orange jumpsuits to make a girl go green. Now that she’s a reformed naughty heiress, Paris Hilton has set her sights on Hollywood’s eco-friendly A-list. And whether she’s embracing an unrealized passion or just jumping on a trend, Paris’ concern for the environment is rubbing off on audiences previously more interested in cosmos than carbon footprints.

It began earlier this month, when Paris traded her Range Rover for a gifted Ford hybrid car. (She originally wanted a hybrid Hummer, reported USA Today, and is trying to get one designed.) She’s also taken to feeding her purse-size pooch all-organic dog food. And her purse, by the way — at least one of them — is made of recycled candy wrappers.

Now, Paris has put her $4.25 million Hollywood Hills home on the market and is apparently shopping for something a bit more green, according to E! Online. With Entourage star/eco-guru Adrian Grenier on hand for constant consultation, Paris is learning about the things “people can do to help the environment and to just live their lives in a more ‘green-friendly’ way,” says E!’s enviro-gossip source.

Since 1991, Thomas J. Bisacquino, NAIOP’s president, has served as the association’s chief executive officer and is responsible for overseeing the national headquarters based in Herndon, Virginia. Under Mr. Bisacquino’s guidance and leadership, the headquarters staff is responsible for serving over 15,000 members who are involved with the development and ownership of industrial, office and mixed use properties throughout North America. Here are NAIOP’s green resources.

Val Fishman is the Green Marketing Specialist at Clear Channel Radio Bay Area. She combined her career experience in advertising sales and management, with her passion to protect the environment by creating a program to green Clear Channel Radio’s Bay Area offices and business practices. A few intentions for the program include: bringing the San Francisco building up to LEED EB standards; implementation and management of waste reducing programs across each department; employee education and participation; and public messaging. The program is serving as a pilot for Clear Channel corporate, and the Bay Area group intends to create a successful program that will inspire nationwide compliance.

We’re pleased to announce the registration has opened for our Target Green conference, to be held on October 3 at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC. Click here to register.

Things are getting ugly in London, where climate change activists are getting into scuffles with police at Heathrow Airport. Per the BBC:

The BAA protest forms part of 24 hours of “direct action” by the Camp for Climate Action.

Police in riot gear are at the scene surrounding protesters in the car park at the company’s offices.

Protesters and members of the local community also symbolically walked the 3km (1.8 mile) route of Heathrow airport’s proposed third runway.

They are campaigning against Heathrow’s planned expansion because, they say, it will contribute to climate change.

Lynn Brindell is SVP, marketing, of The Weather Channel. She assumed this position in the fall of 2006. Brindell oversees and has leadership responsibility for all marketing functions for the all-weather network. Brindell previously served as SVP, marketing and creative services for Food Network, and SVP, marketing, for Lifetime Television.

Here is some of the Weather Channel’s work on green issues.

Here is Ann DeLaVergne’s story.

Ann DeLaVergne, inventor and owner of ecoenvelopes reusable envelopes, envisioned ecoenvelopes in 2002 as a means of making envelopes easy to reuse and to help reduce paper waste–saving trees and reducing air and water pollution. In the three short years Ann has been developing ecoenvelopes, she has received a Waste Reduction Grant from the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, a grant from the Eileen Fisher Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs 2005 and has licensing agreements with Instant Web Direct, New Leaf Paper, and Western States Envelope and Label. Her US and Foreign Patent Pending designs include a Courtesy Reply, Business Reply, reusable bangtail envelope, unique reusable 9 x 12 envelope with Reveal Patch™ in book and catalog styles and new Business Reply with 2 WAY POSTAGE.