"Stop Global Whining"

Stan and I were driving out to see our clean tech client, Global Water, yesterday when we pulled up behind this car with this sign taped in its back window:

“Stop Global Whining”

I had to laugh. The car was right. I think what the Average American gets sick and tired of is all of the whining about the environment and global warming.

And I’m not just whining about the whiners.

Green marketers and sustainability officers need to be sharing stories about their people, products, companies and causes that are actually DOING something about the environment.

Sustainable Companies & Green Marketing Leading by Example

Then, this morning, as I was urging our 16-year-old and his friend Chandler out the door and to school, this spot for SunChips came on the boob tube (My Dad’s term for TV).

Frito Lay is doing a remarkable job with its sustainability, especially with its SunChips product line, featuring the first compostable chip bag. They’ve also done a beautiful job with this spot; no whining, just winning green marketing through compelling, sustainable storytelling.

It not only promotes the environmentally-friendly merits of the chip, but it encourages all of us to get involved to keep our planet habitable.

Do you have an example of other companies leading in sustainability and green marketing by telling their story well? Or, if it’s more fun to point out the whiners, send them our way.

Cheers!

Temperatures in Berlin today were around 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius), as 1,000 human ice sculptures melted away on the steps of the central Gendarmenmarkt square. The World Wildlife Fund commissioned the “Melting Men” installation to draw attention to global warming and the melting ice caps in Greenland and Antartica.

Created by Braziilian artist Nele Azevedo, who originally conjured up the active exhibit as a critical view of official historical monuments, the “Melting Men” attraction has been adopted by environmentalists and staged around the world as climate change art.

You can see a short YouTube video here. Reuters disabled the embed.

Personally, I think it’s great green word of mouth marketing; an experiential exhibit on sustainability that allows everyone to participate.

Photo by Obskura

Ever since we announced our agency was working toward becoming carbon-neutral, we’ve received both cheers and jeers. Some call us “forward thinking.” Others call us “ignorant” for taking part in the carbon credit “racket.” Which, of course, reminds me of a story.

Our son Caedon, (he’s not ignorant), who turned 16 yesterday, has always been headstrong. He learns by doing, like grabbing an electric fence to see what happens.  The conversation went something like this when he was five-ish:

Caed: Dad, what’s that?

Me: It’s an electric fence.

Caed: What’s it do?

Me: It shocks the cattle to keep them from running through grandpa’s fence.

Caed: What would happen if I touch it?

Me: It would shock you.

Caed: (Starting to extending his right hand toward the fence) You mean, if I touch it I will get shocked just like the cows?

Me: Yup.

Caed: (Pointer finger now outstretched heading for the fence as if it’s under the spell of the Death Star’s tracker beam)  So…if I touch it I’m going to get…

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

He pulled away with a jolt, and his eyes appeared up at me in amazement as if they were saying, “Cool, now I know what a cow feels like trying to escape.”

I suppose our boy Caed is an awful lot like me. I need to experience things to really understand them. We’ve been working to make our agency more sustainable for the past 18 months, and by sustainable I mean socially, economically, culturally and environmentally. The list of how we’ve stepped up our environmental effort is below.

How We’re Learning About Carbon Credits and Offsetting

It’s a learning experience. That’s why we decided to work with EcoAid to help us calculate our carbon emissions and purchase carbon credit offsets to do our part. Is it a scam? We’ll find out, but I don’t think so.

In a May 30 article, “Carbon Offsets: A Small Price to Pay for Efficiency,” The New York Times wrote:

“Dozens of companies, nonprofit and for-profit, sell carbon offsets, and some critics question how their work can be verified. But with various certification programs now in place — including the Gold Standard and Green-e Climate, to name two — there is no reason that fraud should be harder to curb in carbon-offset markets than in other domains.”

EcoAid is a member of Voluntary Carbon Standard, which, according to the organization’s site, “…provides a robust, new global standard and program for approval of credible voluntary offsets.” As for the Chicago Climate Exchange, where our carbon credits are purchased, here are the groups that verify their programs.

By being willing to grab the electric fence and actively participate”first hand” in carbon offsetting, we’re doing our due diligence the best way we know how. By DOING. And I promise to keep you posted every step of the way. That way you can determine if this approach is right for you, and perhaps more importantly, is it going to work for commerce and ecology.

So far we haven’t been shocked.

Here are the other efforts we’ve undertaken to reduce our cost of consumption.

Recycling Program

We host a Goodwill donations bin in our parking lot to make it convenient for our neighbors to recycle items and help put people back to work through Goodwill programs.

• Recycling bins in every office
• Two large recycling bins located in courtyard
• Recycling of: aluminum, plastics, paper, cardboard boxes, copy paper, letterhead, computer printout, colored papers (pastels, carbonlese, Golden Rod), envelopes (white/pastel plastic windows, no adhesives), coated papers (fax, brochures, advertising, direct mailings, file Folders (manila or pastel only NO LABELS), cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, aluminum cans
• Goodwill donations bin on our property

Repurposed Furniture

Rather than buying new, we refurbished old flourescent lights with new energy-efficient balasts.

• Feature repurposed old furniture throughout office
• Lighting fixtures
• Filing cabinets

Copy Paper

• Beginning Sept we will be purchasing copy paper that is 33% post consumer waste
• Printing program, printing on both sides of paper, continually reducing our paper waste, only print what you need
• Production/Status reports are all electronic

Toners/Ink Cartridges

• Recycling of all HP laser cartridges
• Epson Ink cartridges
• Purchasing remanufactured B/W laser cartridges
• XEROX new brand, 27% overall savings

Sustainable Cafe

• Energy efficient microwave
• Energy efficient dishwasher

Water Conservation

• Run the national Water – Use It Wisely Campaign
• Water filtration system
• Water cooler system via filtration

Opted Out of Junk Mail

• Direct mail
• Catalogs
• Phone books
• Newspapers

We’re meeting this afternoon with a group to do an energy audit on our building. We’ll also be hosting SolarCity to determine the viability of adding solar to our 10,700 square foot building. We’ll keep you posted.

Thinking back on Caed and the electric fence: I’m glad he didn’t ask what would happen if he peed on it. You don’t want to know.

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.

Believe me, I’m a sucker for good old fashioned stunt marketing. So it’s no wonder that Greenpeace caught my attention on Wednesday. They draped a 2,300 sq. ft. banner down the side of Lincoln’s noggin on Mount Rushmore. According to the proudly arrested Matt Leonard on his blog, they…

“…hung this banner on the opening day of the G8 meetings in Italy, and while the Senate looks to debate the Waxman-Markey bill - the first piece of comprehensive climate legislation in the US (and industry and many Democrats have rendered the bill more harmful than helpful).”

CNN captured the stunt as it happened and interviewed park-goers to get their reaction. Judging by the anger, makes you wonder if Greenpeace’s ambitious bit of environmental marketing actually generated positive sentiment to their cause and global warming?

One thing’s for sure, they could’ve used better creative direction to make the banner  resonate more with the commoner. Perhaps a thought bubble above Lincoln that said, “Is it hot out here, or is it just me?” Now that’s the kind of stuff the National park visitor can appreciate, and it would’ve gotten a few chuckles from the parking lot.

What do you think? Does this make Greenpeace look silly, radical, relevant, important, thought provoking, what…?

The Big Ask

The Big Ask campaign brings together people from 18 countries, all with the same big ask -That their governments commit to reduce carbon emissions, year on year. Every year.

These cuts should be equal to a 40% reduction of emissions within Europe by 2020 and 100% by 2050. Binding targets will encourage fair and effective climate solutions that will help us all – individuals, business and communities – to cut our carbon footprint.

You’ll learn the four ways you can reduce the carbon footprint of your marketing efforts while becoming an ambassador for green:

1. Digital vs. Digits: Reducing ink and paper consumption with a digital strategy.
2. Buying Carbon Offsets: Offset the carbon your advertising efforts are creating with simple carbon offset purchases.
3. Greening Your Website: FREE and easy ways to carbon-optimize the operation of your website while becoming a proponent of online carbon offset organizations.
4. Tap Social Media for Marketing & Distribution: Strategies on how to use YouTube, Twitter, Blogs, Podcasts, Facebook, etc. for free video marketing distribution.

Part II of the presentation covers how to reduce your hype footprint and avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing, even if it’s inadvertent. I’ll show you the three-legged stool test we use for the greening of our clients and their messaging.

We look at several greenwashing case studies, including the Canadian Fur Council, Nestle Waters, and the “Clean Coal” industry. Plus we highlight folks who are doing it right, including Mini Cooper, Kohler Toilets, and MTV.

Again, here’s the link: “How to Reduce Your Carbon and Hype Footrpints” from the iGreen Virtual Conference.

Please let me know if you have any questions from the webinar, and of course, feel free to share it with your world.

You can start by signing up for Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge on Twitter for your daily tip.

For each of the 26 days, take five minutes to do one of the following:

1. Turn off ALL lights on Friday when you leave for Saturday’s Earth Hour.
2. On Sunday, make five minutes to take your lunch to work.
3. On Monday, change out one old fashion light bulb to a compact flourescent lighting (CFL) and encourage your staff to do the same.
4. Take five to learn how to control heating and cooling costs.
5. Calculate your monthly commute cost.
6. Promote carpooling through easy online sources like erideShare.com., and with companies in your area like RideShare.com.
   
7. Give up your car and telecommute one day a week during the EH2ED Challenge and see how it goes.
8. If you have to drive, learn how to increase your gas mileage, whether you own a hybrid or not.
9. Tricks and tips for biking to work. This site is pretty good, too. Or the book.
10. Purchasing always loves to hear from you. So forward this site and encourage them to buy greener office products.
11. Opt out of receiving wasteful yellow and white pages printed phone directories.
12. Take five minutes to learn about zero-waste offices. Actually becoming one usually takes a little longer.
13. Pick-up a desk-side recycling bin.
14. Paper comprises up to 40% of the municipal waste stream, so take a minute to learn how you can start a paper recycling program.
15. Give your dead mouse a proper burial. Reduce, reuse and/or recycle old computers and other electronics.
16. Take a second to learn how to recycle printer cartridges.
17. Every company needs to print something, sometime. So start by making a list of green printing companies in your area and then use one.
18. Take five minutes to learn how carbon offsetting works so that you can apply it in your office.
19. Whew, take a five minute break and play “Tip Tank” water conservation concentration game.
20. Locate a green web hosting company to host your Earth-friendly site.
21. Use your blog or website to offset 350 pounds of carbon by placing the Brighter Planet badge on your site.
22. Make your website carbon neutral with a click of your mouse (and a small monthly fee).
23. Wake up five minutes earlier every morning and put that time to use for a green project or thought.
24. Sign up for CoolPeopleCare.org’s daily email on easy things you can do to help the planet five minutes at a time.
25. Donate/recycle your office furniture and computers to Goodwill.
26. Go green with your gifts to employees, colleagues, clients and vendors?

What are you going to do at the office to make a difference for the Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge? Please let me know by commenting below and/or sending me and your followers an email or tweet.

CoolPeopleCare.org demonstrates easy ways you can save the world in five minutes or less.

BestGreenBlogs.com is the web’s largest directory of green and sustainable themed weblogs.

Ecopreneurist.com is part of Green Options Media, a network of environmentally-focused blogs covering a broad spectrum of information for making sustainable choices.

LazyEnvironmentalist.com offers easy, stylish and super convenient ways to green your lifestyle

RealClimate.org is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.

TreeHugger.com Owned by Discovery, this site is a media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.

Grist.org where news about green issues and sustainable living isn’t predictable, demoralizing, or dull.

GreenLivingIdeas.com provides ideas, tips, and information to help you improve the environmental sustainability of every aspect of your life: home energy, green building and remodeling, cars, food, waste recycling—and everything in between.

DoTheGreenThing.com is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life, with the help of brilliant videos and inspiring stories etc. from creative people and community members around the world.

EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.

Celsias.com offers tools to help people combat climate change, and bring the green community, companies and organisations closer together.

TheNaturalStep.org is a non profit organization founded with the vision of creating a sustainable society.

TinyChoices.com is a colorful blog about all things green.

Conservation.org has a mission to conserve the Earth’s living heritage – our global biodiversity – and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.

ExperienceBiOH.com Brought to you by the BiOH polyols business — a maker of soy-based ingredients for foam, The BiOH experience offers resources for you to learn and participate in helping communities and the environment.

TwilightEarth.com is dedicated to saving the the environment through schared news, deiscuss, advocacy and activism.

MoreEco.com offers a single entry point to some of the finest green online retailers whilst rewarding you for your ethical shopping habits and helping to reduce your carbon footprint.

EcoTrendSpotter.com provides readers and shoppers with the latest eco, organic, green products.

RecycleFund.com A site dedicated to easy and earth-friendly fundraising for your organization by recycling empty printer cartridges and cell phones.

HyperLocavore.ning.com Join hyperlocavore to find or start a yardshare in your town. CSAs and community gardens fill up fast. Food is expensive! Grow together!

Inhabit.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Green.com is a unique online world where people can safely gather, learn, and interact with each other.

Please feel free to share this poll with everyone you know to drive votes for your favorite green website.

You can start by signing up for Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge on Twitter for your daily tip. And be sure to send a tweet or email each day letting your friends, family and followers know how you’re greening your lifestyle.

For each of the 26 days, take five minutes to do one of the following:

1. Follow Water – Use It Wisely on Twitter to receive your daily water-saving tip.
2. Change out three old fashion light bulbs in your home or office to compact flourescent lighting (CFL).
3. Give up your car and don’t drive it (or anyone else’s) for one full day.
4. Pick-up three re-usable shopping bags from your grocer and keep them handy in your car, and of course, use them instead of paper or plastic.
5. Take five minutes to properly set your thermostat with this easy guide from EnergyStar.
6. Learn how to increase your gas mileage, whether you own a hybrid or not.
7. Learn how to start a community garden for your neighborhood. You may end up growing more friendships than produce.
8. Take five minutes to play “Tip Tank” water conservation concentration game. Great for the entire family.
9. Wrap your water heater. Once you pick-up the insulating blanket, it doesn’t even take five minutes to install it. You’ll save energy and money.
10. Make five minutes to take your lunch to work.
11. Make sure your irrigation timer is set appropriately for spring and summer.
12. Wake up five minutes earlier every morning and put that time to use for a green project or thought.
13. Sign up for CoolPeopleCare.org’s daily email on easy things you can do to help the planet five minutes at a time.
14. Take Kohler’s 3-minute toilet quiz, and learn how you can get a FREE high-efficiency commode while raising funds for Habitat for Humanity.
15. Use your blog or website to offset 350 pounds of carbon by placing the Brighter Planet badge on your site.
16. Opt out of receiving wasteful yellow and white pages printed phone directories.
17. Donate/recycle your clothes and household items to Goodwill, and don’t forget to take five minutes to find a treasure in their stores.
18. Download this directory of 100+ websites all about green living for easy access, sharing and use in your daily life.
19. Take five minutes to learn how carbon offsetting works so that you can apply it in your personal life and promote it through your professional one.
20. Learn how NOT to be an energy sucking appliance vampire with this incredibly inventive 54-second video from DoTheGreenThing.com


Plug Out Boy feat. Green Monday from Green Thing on Vimeo.

21. Download the new iPhone app, GreenMeter, which helps you calculate your car’s carbon footprint relative to your commute and driving habits.
22. Learn the easiest, most convenient places to safely recylce hazardous materials in your neighborhood and commit to getting rid of the paint, insecticides and other harmful chemicals in your garage this weekend.
23. Quickly learn how to compost and re-use organic waste instead of filling up your garbage and our landfills.
24. Shorten your showers to five minutes or less and you’ll save thousands of gallons every month. Download 100+ other water-saving tips for easy reference.
25. Learn the 12 things you can do to reduce particulate pollution.
26. Throw an eco-friendly Earth Day party!

What are you going to do to make a difference for the Earth Hour to Earth Day Challenge? Please let me know by commenting below and/or sending me and your followers an email or tweet.