Green News for the week of 11.03.08

Last week’s Democratic takeover in the election left many environmentalists optimistic about the future of green movements.  The Environmental News Service compiled statements from leading green organizations about their eco-hopes with an Obama administration. But the New York Times on the environmental challenges the new administration would face come January.  Also Bloomberg speculates on the president-elect’s EPA appointments.

Also:

Time asks whether green progress will be stalled by the bad economy, while the Inspired Economist blog predicts a green upside to a recession.

The Greenwash Brigade takes on eco-pesticides

Farmers worry California’s cage ban will spread to other states

News for the week 08.21.08

Greenpeace and animator Mark Fiore have banded together to take on Kleenex’s new Wall*E themed Kleenex boxes.  The eco-group produced an animation parody that “highlights the biting irony of the world’s largest maker of disposable tissues, Kimberly-Clark, using a children’s movie with a strong environmental message to sell a product made of ‘virgin’ fiber clearcut from ancient forests and containing no recycled content,” according to its release.

Also:

The Economist wonders if water is the oil of the 21st century.

Fijians don’t have access to Fiji water, claims Food and Water Watch.

Ikea invests 50 million Euros in cleantech startups with the goal of eventually selling solar panels and other smart technology in its stores.

To help marketers establish industry-wide green practice standards, the Hacker Group recently launched a Green Marketing Coalition. Spyro Kourtis, president/CEO of Hacker Group, answered some questions about the coalition via e-mail:

Target Green: How were the standards of the standards for the Green Marketing Coalition determined?

Spyro Kourtis: We spoke with marketers from around the country to find out what they knew about green marketing and what they needed to get started. We found that there were no industry-wide standards, so we approached the coalition by starting with helping them establish benchmarks. Once we assessed the benchmarks we were able to develop recommended guidelines that will help marketers establish their own green marketing practices.

TG: What are the organization’s main goals?

Kourtis: The GMC’s main goals are to help marketers establish their own green marketing practices. By demystifying how companies can incorporate green marketing into their own businesses we can all decrease our carbon footprint. It doesn’t have to be all-consuming. Green marketing can be phased in. What’s more, we don’t expect to be perfect ourselves. This is a work in progress. As new ideas come along, we’ll incorporate them into our practices – as long as it makes business sense. The only way to be perfectly green is to do nothing at all, and that’s not possible. Marketers will continue to market products, but they can do it much more responsibly.

TG: What companies are involved in the Green Marketing Coalition?

Kourtis: The GMC comprises representatives from Microsoft, Washington Mutual, Kawasaki, MSP, Nahan Printing, Inc, Data-Mail, American Recycling, KP Corporation, OptimaHealth, BECU, and FastSigns.

TG: How will the coalition combat greenwashing? And how will it help consumers navigate through the green noise in the marketplace now?

Kourtis: The issue of greenwashing really is one of the main reasons we wanted to establish the coalition. Companies that offer green solutions to consumers, but don’t follow through in all aspects of their business are easily (and, perhaps, accurately) accused of greenwashing. In our case, for example, the coalition helps extend Hacker Group’s green reach to its clients.

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It’s not just greenwashing that is exasperating green consumers. Yesterday’s New York Times the issue of green noise, which it defines as “static caused by urgent, sometimes vexing or even contradictory information played at too high a volume for too long.” The confusing and conflicting messages around buying green have left consumers grappling with dizzying questions like, “Are organic salads shipped from across the country better than lettuce salads from a local industrial farm?,” the Times reports.

Sure, the green industry has some contradictions embedded into its operations and it’s not easy to quantify which eco-choices are better than others. But is there a PR opportunity amid all this confusion? Would like to hear your thoughts.

The Food & Water Watch blog has launched a new section called Washed Out to “expose corporate greenwashing in order to help consumers make informed decisions about which products and practices are environmentally sustainable and which are merely tricks to boost profits.” PR pros beware — this is yet another blog - among many - monitoring greenwashing missteps.

The most recent company targeted is Fiji Natural Artesian Water. The blog accuses Fiji’s “spin-doctors” of “already profit[ing] on taking a natural resource from an island that often suffers from drought and shipping it around the globe, is now capitalizing on the current public fervor for environmentally friendly products by labeling its water as “green.”

For PRWeek’s coverage on Fiji’s Green campaign click here.

Here’s a slice of humble pie for all those working in green PR. The 2008 Brandjunkie survey asked respondents, “What brand do you think is truly (going) ‘green’?” The answer is jarring, yet obvious: None. I think this comment from the survey sums up the general skepticism surrounding green, “All brands are out to please their stockholders—that’s the only ‘green’ direction they are truly focused in.”

But the survey points out, all hope is not lost. While “nobody” topped the list, Toyota, BP, the Body Shop, and Honda rounded out the top five. It should be noted, all four of these brands started green initiatives before that space got as cluttered as it is now.

So, What brand do you think is truly (going) green?

Burt’s Bees, a longtime darling of the green movement, is defending itself against critics now that it is owned by Clorox, according an article in the . But the company has resorted to some weird PR tactics to prove that its product is still natural and eco-friendly — even with the Clorox affiliation:

To prove his own bona fides, [CEO of Burt's Bees] Mr. Replogle grabs a bottle of Burt’s Bees avocado butter hair treatment, squeezes some onto his finger and dramatically licks it off. He then passes the tube to two Clorox executives so they can have a taste.

Yet Clorox execs are promising that they are going to follow the sustainable business practices of Burt’s Bees and take the bleach company green. That might be a hard sell considering the trouble the cleaning giant already has with environmentalists.

But even more fascinating is the fallout between Burt Bees’ founders (and former lovers), Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby, who met while Quimby was hitchhiking.

What is clear is that Mr. Shavitz lost out on a huge payday. In 1999, Ms. Quimby bought out his one-third share in Burt’s Bees by buying him a house in Maine. Much grander than a turkey coop, the home cost $130,000, Ms. Quimby says. She now calls that figure “embarrassing” considering how much she made from the company.

By David Swain
Text 100

In 2007, mainstream communications professionals and reporters got acquainted with green technologies and sustainable business trends. Much of the year was spent covering hype and one-off announcements from VCs, green tech companies, and organizations making themselves more “green.”

In 2008, we’ll see organizations get more aligned and start to make more substantial (and possibly less sexy) changes to their products and how they run their businesses. We’ll also start to see the beginnings of green tech exits and market consolidation in areas like solar; similar to ethanol in 2007, these market changes will create another news cycle where skeptics and advocates come out swinging. What’s exciting is that better educated PR people and journalists should lead to a healthy amount of skepticism that will allow the real stories to rise to the top. Greenwashers will be called out quickly as the year progresses. Lastly, PR people will be increasingly challenged by the global aspects of green business and technology; green-tech competitors will come out of the woodwork in unexpected places and the media will catch on.

Swain is co-clean tech lead and account director at Text 100.

Oil Spills

NPR , the , and the covered the catastrophic oil spill in the Black Sea, citing a fierce storm as the cause.

But the Bay Area oil spill continues to be the focus for environmental reporters, with most writing about the of the disaster, possible criminal charges against the ship’s crew, and the Coast Guard’s response.

The SF Chronicle’s editorial board met with Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, who admitted the disaster was preventable, but said the Coast Guard’s response was appropriate. Yet state officials and environmental groups have criticized the Coast Guard for mistakes it made early in its response, and are demanding an investigation.

The LA Times the Coast Guard’s recent emphasis on homeland security may have hurt its ability to respond to environmental disasters:

Now the Coast Guard is looking at tactics and strategies, “trying to find the right mix, balance and structure,” said [Dan Dewel, a Coast Guard spokesman]. “The Coast Guard has to rewire its connections among its different parts so that we can be as flexible and responsive as possible.”

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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.