Park&Co in Phoenix, Az, is one of the first carbon-neutral ad agencies in North America.

As a sustainable green marketing firm, it’s only natural that we’d be a carbon-neutral operation too (pun intended). And it’s much easier than you might think.

I look at it like a voluntary tax, in some respects. I figure we can’t help but spew out carbon through our daily activities. So why not start an offset program ourselves?  This way we can do our small part to help curb our impact on global warming.

Then I read about EcoAid, a carbon offset consultant and broker, joining Valley Forward here in Phoenix, and I dropped them a line to ask for help.

It’s a learning process, and we’re approaching our carbon neutrality through a number of steps starting at 50,000 feet.

1. EcoAid has calculated our initial carbon footprint that is created by our 10,700-square-foot building in Phoenix. This number is based on an EPA average for buildings of our size in our desert climate.  We have purchased $1,052 in carbon credits for a Michigan reforestation project. Ideally, we’re looking for something a little closer to home; like renewable solar energy in the desert, wind farms closer to the coast, or even reforestation in the Pacific Northwest (the forests of my youth). But Michigan will do for now.
2. Next, EcoAid is performing a Carbon Management Plan for our entire agency. This plan reviews numerous sustainability practices, including our travel and telecommuting, paper and printer use, number of computers, lighting, AC settings, etc., creating an even more exact carbon footprint for our green marketing firm.
3. Step three examines the carbon created through our film and video production services. Since we hire large shoot crews outside of our office, and often find ourselves on location, we need to account for the carbon created through these productions in addition to our day-to-day agency operations. We will pay for these carbon offsets out of our own pocket, and we always invite vendors and clients to participate if they like, but it certainly is not mandatory.
4. The fourth step is a complete energy audit of our facility to determine how we can make the agency more energy efficient.
5. Step five is working with Solar City and other solar providers in Arizona to bring solar to our building and agency.

Each of these projects are underway. It’s important to note that making your office more sustainable doesn’t happen over night. It’s a process. An inspiration to get our process rolling is Deborah Fleischer of Green Impact.  I wrote a post about her approach to activating a sustainability project in your office a while back: “How to Get Your Sustainability Project Rolling.” The post offers a few of her insights and a handful of books she recommends.

I will continue to share with you what we learn about becoming and maintaining a carbon-neutral ad agency. Please let me know if you have any questions along the way, and I will do my best, with EcoAid’s help, to answer them.

Tomorrow, Brendan Cook from EcoAid writes a guest post about clearing the air on carbon offsetting and carbon credits (Can’t help myself). Do you have a question for Brendan or me? Please ask in the comment section below.

The Summit Building courtyard at Park&Co. Click photo for Google map of location.

BTW, we have 1,500 square feet now available in our beautiful little building at 44th street and Indian School road, in case you know of anyone looking for a fun, creative campus atmosphere.

“We feel that the majority of people in the UK still do not understand climate change and how it is happening or that it is a global issue and affects everybody. However the tide is slowly turning. As our commitment to you shopping through MoreEco.com we will offset your CO2 for you – free of charge.”

Click on the shirt to order your own.

For this tremendous achievement of being the top vote-getter, Mark will receive the all-organic, and brand new Water – Use It Wisely t-shirt.  Your victory has, indeed, made you “Shirt Worthy.” (Mark, just tell me where to send it.)

Now, if you want your own “Keep Calm, and Conserve Water” t-shirt that launched today for Water -Use It Wisely, you can WIN ONE through the campaign’s Twitter contest. Tweet WUIW in 140 characters or less why you’re “Shirt Worthy.” The most creative tweets as determined by some crack creative team will win a FREE shirt. But you only have one week.  The contest ends sometime on Friday, May 8.

SkiGreen.org also encourages skiers to purchase mini-carbon offsets with their lift ticket purchase.  Each mini-carbon offset represents 150 pounds of Co2 not emitted into the atmosphere through supporting 100 kWh of energy created from clean, renewable sources. So I asked to purchase my mini-carbon offset credit. The ticket office didn’t know anything about the program. Not one skier had requested it all year. They made a call to the head office. The head office said they don’t offer the credits anymore.

What the… So I went to Telluride’s website to see if they were doing anything with SkiGreen.org other than a few posters on lift four? The ski resort’s environmental efforts, which appear to be numerous, are buried on the site. Is my favorite ski resort inadvertently greenwashing? What a missed opportunity to educate its evangelists about sustainability and deploy them to help combat global warming through their actions.  After all, what consumer is more viscerally affected by global warming than skiers?

Here’s what I’d do:

1. SkiGreen Homepage Widget: Invite skiers to “green” their lift ticket by clicking on the button to automatically activate their mini-carbon offset. Ask related websites for tourism, ski rentals, accommodations, etc. to also feature the widget, which connects you with the ticket office.
2. SkiGreen Ticket Teller Badge: Pique skiers’ curiosity with a button or badge worn by all Telluride employees that says, “Cold is Cool. Take a run at global warming.”
3. SkiGreen Season Pass: Offer a special “Cold is Cool” season pass that tells the world that the purchaser is doing their part for sustainability.  The pass offers additional savings on local attractions, gear, rentals, guest passes, etc., that reward SkiGreen enthusiasts.
4. Ski Lift Posters: These should be fun, educational ads on what skiers can do to reduce their carbon footprint, support renewable energy, and combat global warming. Now they just tout Telluride’s carbon-offset program, which, after doing a little digging, is suspect at best.
5. Telluride Online Video Contest: SkiGreen.org has a new community blog that allows anyone to post. Telluride could have a SkiGreen video contest that invites their skiers to enter a one-minute video about their trip to Telluride. It would obviously promote the resort while continuing the conversation about what we all can do to combat global warming. They could also host the contest on YouTube and other video sites.
6. Twitter Telluride: In addition to daily snow reports, Telluride can use Twitter to offer their followers simple tips on how to become more sustainable and reduce their carbon-footprint, all in the name of curbing global warming and maintaining the ski season.
7. Do the Willy Wonka Thing with Clifbar: Clifbar is also a big sponsor of SkiGreen. They have a terrific website about their work with the environment. I’d recommend a “Golden Ticket,” or in this case, “Green Ticket,” contest where Telluride gives away a season ticket every month in addition to other prizes inside ClifBars. Each Clifbar comes with a green ticket, and winner or not, the ticket offers a green lifestyle tip.
8. SkiGreen Festival: Host a weekend festival in March that celebrates everything we can do as skiers to make a difference with global warming.
9. Camelbak Partnership: Keep plastic bottled water off the slopes while promoting sustainability with partners like Camelbak hydropacks.
10. Telluride Green Travel: Promote green ways to travel to the resort, like offering those that arrive in hybrids a 10 percent discount on tickets.

If you’re a winter enthusiast, what is your favorite ski resort doing to help curb global warming?  Their efforts may be operational, as in purchasing carbon-offsets, or educational, as in conversing with their customers.

FYI: SkiGreen.org is a partnership between the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and winter sports companies to build support for non-polluting renewable sources of energy (such as wind and solar energy).

1. Green
2. Carbon footprint or carbon offsetting
3. Maverick
4. First Dude
5. Bailout
6. Wall Street/Main Street
7. Monkey
8. <3 (Emoticon for “heart” used in text messaging and email)
9. Icon or iconic
10. Game changer
11. Staycation
12. Desperate search
13. Not so much
14. Winner of five nominations
15. It’s that time of year again

The university’s 34th version of the Banished Words List was just released. Selected from 5,000 entries, these are the 15 most useless, overused, or misused words and phrases of ’08 and should/will be banned from the Queen’s English, according to LSSU sources.

Here’s a clip from their press release about the environmental terms that are driving them crazy:

Environmental buzzwords are getting the axe this year. “Green” and “going green” received the most nominations.

GREEN – The ubiquitous ‘Green’ and all of its variables, such as ‘going green,’ ‘building green,’ ‘greening,’ ‘green technology,’ ‘green solutions’ and more, drew the most attention from those who sent in nominations this year.

“This phrase makes me go green every time I hear it.” Danielle Brunin, Lawrence, Kansas.

“I’m all for being environmentally responsible, but this ‘green’ needs to be nipped in the bud.” Valerie Gilson, Gales Ferry, Conn.

“Companies are less ‘green’ than ever, advertising the fact they are ‘green.’ Is anyone buying this nonsense?” Mark Etchason, Denver, Colo.

“If something is good for the environment, just say so. As Kermit would say, ‘It isn’t easy being green.’” Kevin Sherlock, Hiawatha, Iowa.

“If I see one more corporation declare itself ‘green,’ I’m going to start burning tires in my backyard.” Ed Hardiman, Bristow, Va.

“This spawned ‘green solutions,’ ‘green technology,’ and the horrible use of the word as a verb, as in, ‘We really need to think about greening our office.’” Mike McDermott, Philadelphia, Penn.

CARBON FOOTPRINT or CARBON OFFSETTING – “It is now considered fashionable for everyone, tree hugger or lumberjack alike, to pay money to questionable companies to ‘offset’ their own ‘carbon footprint.’ What a scam! Get rid of it immediately!” Ginger Hunt, London, England.

Mike of Chicago says that when he hears the phrase ‘carbon footprint,’ “I envision microscopic impressions on the surface of the earth where an atom of carbon forgot to wear its shoes.”

Christy Loop of Woodbridge, Va., says that ‘leaving a carbon footprint’ has become the new ‘politically incorrect.’ “How can we not, in one way or another, affect our natural environment?”

BTW, you gotta love an institution for higher education that has a duck hunter on its home page. Perhaps it’s their mascot.