California Wildfires

The LA Times its focus from how the fires started to more reflective analysis. In its critics notebook, reporter Christopher Hawthorne writes:

This country’s culture as a whole is in the midst of a profound shift from the unshakable confidence that marked the so-called American Century to a new recognition of risk, conservation, even fragility. Green architecture, with its rather old-fashioned emphasis on paying attention to site and climate, is part of that shift. But those who build and approve new hillside developments — “the lords of subdivision,” as nature writer Richard Lillard called them, the “replanners of the Earth’s surface” — have barely acknowledged it.

Even though the fires are being contained, the region will have to deal with the lingering effects of the smoke for much longer, NPR reports.

Climate Change

NPR considers the complicated effect climate change will have on the global food supply. A separate story warns that climate change could affect the production of maple syrup.

Conservation

National Geographic points out the ironic quandary facing hunters – the sport’s dwindling numbers is actually threatening the species that are usually killed by hunters. Traditionally, hunters have donated time and money into wildlife preservation, but the younger outdoor-enthusiasts prefer more passive activities like bird-watching. But is this new generation forming the same emotional bond to the outdoors as hunters? It’s too soon to say if they are willing to invest the same time and money into wildlife preservation, the article says.

In his new blog, Dot Earth, NY Times’ Andrew C. Revkin asks whether the planet can sustain its resources for the planet’s projected population growth of nine billion in a few decades.

Policy

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week allowed for the building of a seven mile fence along the American-Mexican border in Arizona. The project has been suspended since Oct. 10 to determined the environmental impact of the construction, but Chertoff has waived the suspension, reports E Magazine.

Americans want businesses to take a stand against climate change, but the vast majority can’t name a company that is doing so, according to the Climate Brand Index released yesterday. And when consumers do give kudos to companies for fighting climate change, they give their praise mostly to…the automobile and oil industry. GE, Toyota, BP, Ford, and Honda topped the list. But considering that hybrid cars and alternative energy are probably the first things that come to mind when people think about combating global warming, it makes sense.

The survey also divides the American public into six green market segments. The largest group is “the confused” (25 %), followed closely (21%) by “the optimists,” who are committed and upbeat. Then it’s a tie (18 % each) for “the campaigners” (think optimist without the optimism), and “the rejecters” (the nonbelievers). Trailing behind, are “the followers” (8 %) who are ready to join but haven’t yet, and “the unwilling” (10%) who accept the issue but don’t want to act.

For more on the survey click here.

In addition to the news story we did on the event, here is some more commentary.

AP’s Ken Thomas: “They market every night the Prius and the Toyota Camry — we’re the green car, huh? Then watch the football games, and they’re marketing the Toyota Tundra — like the biggest vehicle ever made,” Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a Camry hybrid owner, said Wednesday in a speech at an environmental conference.

Larry Holdren, Pure Brand Communications: “Everyone does seem to be paying attention to issues surrounding climate change, thanks in large part to a former vice president with a Power Point presentation. Being green is hot. It’s trendy. It can help companies sell products and make money.”

Speakers at the Target Green conference in DC today repeatedly emphasized the need for green products to, perhaps not surprisingly, actually be useful, by generating a decent profit for the manufacturer and providing a product as good as any non-green product available, along with being beneficial to the environment, of course.

Matt Pliszka, founder of cleaning products startup Simply Safe, noted that people just won’t buy a product merely because it’s eco-friendly; it’s got to be just as good as anything else on the market.

“If people associate green cleaners with poor performance, they will not be bought again,” Pliszka said. “They must perform as effectively as the hazardous cleaner.”

A good reminder that effective communications about green products and services always hinge on communicating the practical aspects of “green” — that being eco-friendly is not just virtuous, but a matter of self-interest for all.

“Do tell your story. Tell it and tell it, and when you’re sick of it, tell it again. Don’t just assume that people know your story. I sometimes describe this as a ‘PR death march’ that the company has me on.”

–Beth Lowery, General Motor’s VP of energy, environment, and safety policy, speaking about her company’s promotion of its various “green” initiatives, including development of ethanol-powered vehicles.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, had some harsh words in his keynote address to the Target Green conference this morning about “Detroit” and the “energy industry.”

Though people under 30 by and large are greatly concerned about global warming and are pushing for a revolution in the way businesses, consumers, and people in everyday life use energy, the auto and energy industries are for the most part actively against implementation of new legislation that could effect change, such as rules to set average mileage per car at 35 MPH and mandates requiring utilities produce 15% of electricity through renewable sources by 2020, Markey said.

“But while Detroit is fighting it, there’s no denying that change is possible,” Markey said. “There is a lot of institutional inertia. A lot of companies are using their PR firms to fight change.”

Yet energy efficiency is in fact a marketing opportunity, said Markey, given that all the leaders on college campuses today are being very active in pushing for change. At the University of Florida, for instance, Markey said students pushed against the initial wishes of university officials to enact a small student fee to go toward creating a wind turbine, ultimately raising about $25,000.

“Increasingly [environmental activists are] going to be a larger and larger audience in our country,” Markey said. “I think the polling is so overwhelming that politicians are going to vote against that change at their peril.”

Plus, he noted, many energy efficient products, from cars to lightbulbs, have the false reputation of being virtuous but requiring financial sacrifice.

“Light bulbs that have five times the efficiency but cost twice as much — this is not a sacrifice,” and companies are starting to appreciate the marketing opportunities such products present, Markey concluded.

Speakers at a session of Target Green this morning on “Clean Tech and Public Policy” noted that partnerships among businesses, government agencies, advocacy groups and others are key to bringing about meaningful change in the consumption of energy, emission of CO2, and related public education efforts, if environmental experts are correct in estimating that the world has about 10 years before the pace of global warming becomes too fast too reverse.

Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, laid out the reasons “why”: in the US, for instance, gas and oil prices are at record levels and petroleum imports are at 60% and rising. Then she discussed “how”: In employing “clean technologies,” the first step is R&D, then incentives must be offered to get people to buy the products, accompanied by a public education campaign, and then finally standards can be set by regulators or governments to make sure superior products are favored in the marketplace.

“You need the public element to make those products take ahold,” Callahan said.

In some cases, the impact of the government might not always be welcomed by the private sector, making for something of an involuntary partnership. But as Mike Stanton, chairman of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers noted in the case of gas-mileage standards for cars, change is coming whether people like it or not.