Green Marketing

Fine green marketing from Microsoft. Expect to see it imitated.

If you've been distracted from environmental concerns by watching successive bailouts sputter, take heart. There are actually companies doing good work in green marketing. In recent months, Microsoft has much increased its visible, public participation and leadership in the green story. As recently as last spring (particularly late this year), I went to a technology event where a Microsoft manager talked about the company's green data centers to a rather reserved, slightly surprised audience. He might have an easier time today. Starting with the Microsoft environment homepage, you can find a wealth of ideas and resources that can help companies understand and realize good environmental practice.

It's refreshing that Microsoft offers very little of the we-are-firmly-committed fluff that so many companies have published to garner ridicule. Instead, the focus is firmly on "find out how." The people in charge of this content must know that green technologists and business people want tools they can use, no preaching or vagueness. The environment homepage connects a visitor directly to practical, interesting material, maybe even more so than the company's homepage.

We'll take a closer look at some of the sections here later, but for now, let's consider the business solutions tab. Once again, the content appears to be pleasantly multidirectional, with a strong emphasis on metrics, savings, and managing costs along with environmental impact. After a glance you realize that most of the links occur a couple of times on the page, once as text-only and once more with imagery next to them. I assume people read in different styles; I looked at the links with graphics first and let the simple listing sit off to the side.

Our case study and white paper writers have already run into the Environmental Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics AX many times over. If you're not familiar with the Microsoft Dynamics family of solutions, Microsoft Dynamics AX is a full-powered ERP system originally created in Europe, acquired by Microsoft, and  more and more popular with companies in North America.

The dashboard helps companies monitor and control greenhouse gases from energy consumption and business practices as well as from direct and indirect energy consumption, using internationally recognized standards. Companies can use the information to make environmentally sound decisions, if they so choose. The dashboard page recommends doing so, because "environmentally conscious businesses have a competitive edge." And it gives well-substantiated reasons why that is so.

Do take a moment to consider the language and tone used on the dashboard page. My guess is this content is the result of many team discussions, pared down to what needed to be said for it to be meaningful and compelling. It may seem wordy to some readers, but I know from experience with Microsoft Dynamics customers and partners that these people don't want to be tempted by high-level indications. They'd rather absorb documentation and make up their own minds. The writing here treads a difficult-to-accomplish middle ground between providing enough to show that the dashboard is real, without giving away the store or scaring away visitors who just want the giraffe perspective. It's not easy to do, and I'm glad to see it done credibly here.

Keep those microbes motivated: Our first green-marketing contest

As reported in Technology Review, "Researchers at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany have discovered a bacterial enzyme that creates a key raw material for making acrylic glass and acryclic paints. This enzyme could provide a new pathway to producing acrylics without using fossil fuels or generating much toxic waste."

According to the researchers, those new materials could reach the market in about ten years, assuming they find a way to move the microbes essential to the process to work hard and produce sufficient quantities of acrylic glass and paints to make sense for a manufacturer and the marketers who need to tell the world about them.

Evonik, a German chemical manufacturer, bought the rights to develop the academic research into patentable, sellable intellectual property and products. Because it mentioned sustainability, I clicked on the biotechnology copy on the homepage, which took me to the research and development page. Where did sustainability disappear to? Instead, I saw the following statement, which probably was not offered ironically: "Our R&D activities are determined by the needs of the market. Where possible, we take customers’ requirements into account as soon as new products and applications are designed, especially in our Chemicals Business Area."

I remember working for a company that considered customer needs "where possible." I was one of thousands of people getting laid off when the company realized what customers really wanted. Anyway, I did a site search for "sustainability" and found 1,841 results, most of them a few layers removed from the top levels of the company's website.

If you're a career marketer, you might still be around working when Evonik reaches the market with those biologically created, fossil fuel-free acrylic glass and paints. Now would be the best time to get in touch with Evonik and help them bring their environmental marketing to a higher level of visibility. By the time the acrylics products become available, Evonik could be a deservedly familiar household name.

If you're too busy, don't think these developments are interesting, or find hardworking microbes creepy, you can still join our contest. Here's what you do:

1. Think about what Evonik (or a company much like Evonic, if that makes it easier) could and should do to give its environmental marketing more visibility and credibility.

2. Come up with a few strategic, out-of-the-box, even wild ideas and share them here.

I'll send a box of organic chocolates to the three people who make the most interesting suggestions, and will make sure that you and your ideas get exposure in my green marketing group on LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you! Share your ideas by commenting here or mail to me at chris@washburncom.com.

Resurrecting garbage

A while ago, BusinessWeek published an article with an irresistible headline, Reverse Logistics: From Trash to Cash, pointed out by colleague and fellow blogger Bart Preecs. As we see so often when we consider environmental marketing issues, reverse logistics has the potential of combining ecological benefits with costs savings and business efficiencies. Says Business Weekly:

"But with oil and other commodity prices surging, some companies are reconsidering trash. They recognize that used-up products are the sum of their raw materials, energy, and labor: With another wring of the sponge, more value can be extracted. So they're essentially running their supply chains backward, a process called 'reverse logistics.' ... ... ... A recent KPMG study suggests companies can recover up to 0.3% of annual sales this way. (That's $100 million in the case of Best Buy.) Genco has even spun out a reject-pile brokerage business, called Genco Marketplace, that connects sellers and buyers with $5 million a day in junked goods."

The article introduces the reverse-logistics practice at outdoor gear-maker Patagonia, making new products from recaptured materials from products entering the waste cycle.

The reverse-logistics service provider highlighted by BusinessWeek is Genco. The snappy Web site hints of speed, acceleration, and efficiency, without any hint of environmental messaging. The company's brief mission statement does not address ecological concerns even at a high level. The reverse logistics page offers a detailed description of the service. Genco summarizes the value proposition for its reverse logistics as follows:

"GENCO Supply Chain Solutions understands the reverse-product life cycle and can deliver improved cash flow, customer satisfaction, management and operational control. Through continuous process improvements, we have designed best practices that reverse the cycle of losses and uncover hidden value for our customers. In the process, our customers have experienced:

• A comprehensive return stream for improved cash flow
• Technology that is scalable and reduces costs
• A fully integrated system that reduces cycle times
• A consistent process for improved business controls
• Diverse remarketing that increase liquidation values
• An adaptive transportation process that improves transportation effectiveness."

As you see, these statements are opaque as regards any direct environmental positioning. But you wouldn't be reading this if your imagination couldn't see the huge potential in reverse logistics to help manufacturing businesses, their supply chains, and their customers practice environmental responsibility at a much higher level of accomplishment. And, for them to generate the cost and efficiency advantages that reverse logistics can help bring about.

Reverse logistics has been around for many years, but is not all that well known unless you are in touch with manufacturing and supply-chain management, or deal with ERP systems. One useful introduction, written before green marketing and the backlash against it became ubiquitous, appeared in Material Handling Management in 2001. The newsletter of the Reverse Logistics Association, if you care to sign up and expose your contact information, provides updates on the cautious, but firm, greening of reverse logistics.

Looking for balance, but not too fast

Fast Company is offering more and more content about green business and themes of corporate responsibility. A current article by Melanie Warner, "P&G's Sustainability Intiatives -- Not So Sustainable," highlights the challenges Procter & Gamble faces in introducing environmentally responsible practices into its manufacturing and telling a credible marketing story. The writer interviews and spends time with Len Sauer, the company's Vice President of Global Sustainability.

"Much of his job is corporate-policy policing: making sure that P&G's many global divisions and myriad product units all approach sustainability the same way. At the time of my visit, in March, he had just finalized the definition of a 'sustainable innovation product'. The four-page document had taken Sauers the better part of three months to write and get approved. The pileup of boring generalities never actually says what a sustainable innovation might look like; when I ask Sauers for specifics, he demurs, citing competitive reasons."

Warner points out that P&G uses possibly carcinogenic or environmentally harmful substances banned elsewhere:

"'P&G is doing a good job of reducing its greenhouse gases', says Devra Lee Davis, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh, 'but at the same time, it's using cosmetic ingredients like phthalates, where the evidence is growing that these chemicals could have a negative impact on our children and grandchildren.'

"Products such as Herbal Essences shampoo and Olay Complete Body Wash contain comparatively high levels of 1,4-dioxane, a chemical that has been characterized as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA and banned from personal-care products in the European Union. Sauers, who spent most of his time at P&G working on product safety before being appointed to his current job last January, says there's no need for P&G to change any of the ingredients in its shampoos, detergents, or air fresheners because the company has already done thorough safety assessments on all the chemicals it uses. 'I know for a fact that everything in our products is safe', he insists."

Note the synergy of environmental and health-related considerations. Warner, Davis, and possibly P&G itself are broadening the scope of green practice to more encompassing corporate responsibility, a movement that makes sense and could be highly confusing and challenging for green marketers. Without defending a company's potentially harmful activities, one might get the idea that expectations for what companies should be able and willing to do are running a little high. If you run a global manufacturing business on the scale of P&G, a company that might have a larger ecological "footprint" than some small countries, is it really possible to avoid environmental and social problems? Should we praise companies for even attempting to strike a balance between their own interests and those of the environment and society at large, or is the very idea of this balance preposterous, because it lets companies off the accountability hook?

The article does not get into questions of scale, leaving us alone to pursue those in a separate conversation. Commenting on smaller, fast-growing competitors having introduced "natural" ingredients in their cleaning products, Sauers makes a well-rehearsed point, which, taken to an extreme, would state that nature and the environment themselves are bad for us.

"Just because something says it's natural doesn't necessarily mean it's safe," Sauers argues. "Everything has the potential to be toxic at high enough levels."

Where, then, is the balance that keeps perspectives and activities in a healthy proportion and helps green marketers and their companies do good work without falling into a trap of universal relativism?

The P&G page on environmental responsibility exposes a visitor to the sort of vague statements that can't really even be properly classified as greenwashing, because they dissolve into thin air upon closer consideration.

"As one of the first companies in the world to actively study the environmental impact of high-volume ingredients in consumer products, we remain committed to improving the environmental quality of P&G products, packaging and operations around the world."

The company mentions that all product ingredients have to pass an environmental risk assessment before they receive clearance "for the market," but does not disclose testing guidelines or results. Stepping across to the environmental science department and the risk assessment content nested therein offers more general, high-level, noncommittal language that is meant to showcase best intentions without providing actual disclosure.

"As new product technologies are developed, a tiered process of risk assessment delivers increasingly accurate safety information. In this way, the Company directs more of its resources toward the product improvements that deliver the greatest benefits to consumers.

"In the early tiers of the process, tests are simple, conservative and relatively inexpensive. Many substances used in consumer products may be judged safe at the first tier of the process. If no definitive answer results, however, and the ingredient warrants further development, successive tiers of testing follow.

"In higher-tier testing, fate and effect testing methods are more sophisticated and realistic, and the level of uncertainty is reduced."

We'll have to keep looking. That balance has to be there somewhere—don't you think?

Green storage marketing is so very mature

This week, when you go to the Web site of Seagate Technology, the leading maker of storage products (and a client of Washburn Communication), and watch the banner at the top of the page, you'll soon see mention of "New breakthroughs in power reduction technology," followed by "Get power savings without sacrificing performance." The sequence ends with "Energy-efficient storage solutions from Seagate" and offers links to three product pages. You also find a "Think Green" logo that includes visual allusions to a spinning hard disk drive (really a component of the Seagate company logo) and the coiled appearance of the most commonly used energy-efficient light bulbs.

The three hard drive families listed are the Barracuda® ES, the Cheetah®, and the Savvio®. When you navigate to the three product pages, you find that these drives feature Seagate PowerTrim™ technology, said to help reduce power costs, increase "power-to-storage efficiency," and improve "IOPS/Watt performance." That last item would relate to the relationship of data transactions performed by the hard drive and the electrical power it requires for that task. The Think Green logo appears next to the product descriptions. When you click on it, you get to a recently added Products and the Environment page, nested within the Global Citizenship section under About Seagate.

"Seagate® is committed to being your environmentally friendly storage technology company. Seagate hard drives are produced with the environment in mind, including but not limited to low power consumption. Seagate has in place production efficiencies that minimize energy use, including equipment design optimization, facility retrofitting, and energy-wise process improvements. These efforts reduced electricity (kWh) used per drive in manufacturing by 17% in FY2007, and continue to drive reductions today. Additionally, at all Seagate facilities, varied programs are underway to reduce energy use and enhance our environment through measures like recycling, tree planting, commuting solutions, etc.

"By providing hard drives that require lower power, Seagate hard drives enable storage solutions that allow companies to run greener systems which generate a better return on technology investment, and maintain or accelerate storage performance. In doing so, Seagate facilitates a unique convergence of environmental and business benefits."

Seagate, in my experience, markets responsibly almost to a fault and never seems to overstate its accomplishments. I hope that somebody at the company finds the time to tell us more about the many environmental activities Seagate employees participate in, as well as Seagate's good green practices in manufacturing and distribution. It would also be great to have more detail on how that PowerTrim technology works, although the second-tier brands of the storage market are eagerly hoping for that information as well, I'm sure.

If you're interested in data storage and environmental issues or need to educate yourself so that you can understand what storage green marketing needs to consider, take a look at the Green Storage pages under the somewhat confusingly named Greendatastorage.com, a site that discusses data center issues, including storage, more broadly. StorageIO group offers these informative pages with lots of useful tools. I don't mean to single this resource out (and there are many just like it), but it's not untypical for the industry: much good information if you dig a little, but offered in a presentation that is strictly utilitarian and could use some editorial and designer touches.

Environmentally smart data storage can indeed save vast resources and reduce the impact of data centers and hardware manufacturers on the planet. And, considering the critical, savvy audience of IT business pros who need to review products and claims, there's almost no room for green-washing in this area.

Three cheers for green community reporting

Recently, the Bellevue Reporter published an article based on an interview with Dale Washburn, President of Washburn Communication, and me, Chris Lemoine. We very surprised that the Reporter was willing to talk to us and listen to our ideas about environmental marketing, and we were delighted that reporter Lindsay Larin gave an excellent representation of the conversation.

The Bellevue Reporter is a community paper. It doesn't cost anything. Stacks of it are in the lobby of our office building when issues are published every Wednesday and Saturday. Reporting is a mix of business, sports, and community news, with some humor, obits, opinions, and lots of classified ads. Judging from the responses we heard, the Reporter is popular. A previous issue had several green-themed articles, which means readers may now be looking for environmental stories or the paper's managers may feel that they need to provide that kind of content because it's timely and of interest.

Community papers still play a lively role in helping people participate in and learn about the issues, events, persons, and places that matter to them. When I travel, I always seek out these papers, because they can give a sense of what a neighborhood or a town feels like in a way that Web sites or larger publications often don't. For the Bellevue Reporter to get into green issues with gusto and some breadth may be yet another indicator that people (old and young, working, studying or retired, online and offline) are deeply interested in what happens to the environment. And they are often ahead of many businesses and governments in their willingness to become informed and to take practical action in a meaningful way. When it comes to the environment, people from all walks of life seem to be able to come together in a way without regarding issues of race, gender, security, transportation, or others. Since the environment by definition touches on all things, green marketing and the eco-conversations may yet provide a way to have intelligent, difficult conversations instead of shouting across the fence. We'll explore those opportunities by and by as we look for where green marketing is headed.

Enjoy the Bellevue Reporter if you find it somewhere! Here's a PDF of the article in case you can't find it online any more. Download BellevueReporter_WCIgreenarticle.pdf

Old masters' voices in shades of blue

There they are again, together: the younger, smiling, thin, tall, light-skinned African-American man. The somewhat older, professional, slightly smiling, Caucasian woman. Standing next to each other, just like some people wish they would, radiating confidence and competence. He appears more relaxed, she might be more poised for responding to a challenge. Then again, it could be the other way round.

No, they are not the senators from Illinois and New York. The people in today's two-page ExxonMobil advertisement in the New York Times and elsewhere are said to be Jimmie James, Engineer, and Sherri Stuewer, Vice President of Safety, Health, and Environment. They appear in the second installment of a five-day series that began yesterday with the theme of "one of the world's great challenges." Today's guiding idea is "energy & environment: a dual challenge." Friday's will conclude with "seeking tomorrow's energy solutions," but I'm sure you expected that.

As recently as 5 or 10 years ago, the hint of diversity in the ad would have grabbed attention. By now, at least in North America, we've been so inundated with images of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds that the diversity aspect barely registers. Diversity here is at the service of green marketing, sparing us nature-derived images and emerald graphics. The dominant color is blue. Our gaze starts at the two faces, travels clockwise across a constellation of semitransparent spheres with chemical formulae, notices the name and logos of the company—which are quite small—and barely registers two statistical graphs in the brand's colors, with blocks of small print underneath.

The verbal content is likely to tempt some readers to look between the lines. The copy block in the top left corner of the ad ends with the statement, "Every practical option must be explored, and thoughtful solutions and technologies have to be found," and refers to exxonmobil.com, where you can review all of this week's planned content and download a PDF of the ad series.* The language throughout the five installments is basic enough to spur little discussion, let alone disagreement, a small step away from the trivial. Friday's ad features statements about the company's use of scientists and engineers "working on all kinds of solutions" to improve the efficiency of energy generation and utilization. It also mentions partnering with "science-based" institutions in ecological and environmental research.

What's it all about, one wonders. Why does ExxonMobil run a five-day media campaign this week? "Thoughtful solutions and technologies have to be found" appears to be one focus of the effort. Don't let "bringing on new energy supplies" in Friday's ad slip past. Combine that with "traditional energy sources will remain critical" in Thursday's. Add to that the strongest statement of all, about to appear tomorrow, Wednesday: "We'll need to tap every practical source of energy: from natural gas and coal to nuclear and renewables."

There you have it. ExxonMobil tells its investors and the public that its serious about doing business, using all available sources of energy as efficiently as possible. Wednesday's quote ascribed to geoscientist Kim Bates mentions "reserves below the icy waters off Russia," which means we're approaching the ANWR neighborhood, perpetually under threat. The Roads Must Roll, we understand. We're not about to leave our vehicles behind, and the people in developing countries are even less inclined to do so. ExxonMobil masterfully connects the ideas of resource efficiency, profitable business, and minimizing the environmental impact of the company's pursuits. If you want to understand them better, take a look at their global citizenship report or the press release about it. They make Syncrude (mentioned here earlier) look like beginners. Just don't forget the priorities: For ExxonMobil, it's about extracting the most from our environment, in the most efficient manner, and marketing it profitably.

No discussion of the best use of the limited resources. Shouldn't there be? (Or, asking differently: We know what they're thinking. Where is their imagination?)

* In case the PDF does not remain online and you would like to see it, you can download it here. Download ExxonMobil_global_energy_challenge_us.pdf 

Ecological best practices in a leading catalog business

In business since 1935, Miles Kimball is one of the largest and oldest catalog businesses in the United States. Using its eponymously named brand and other, more targeted brands directed at more specialized market segments, such as Serenity Falls or Walter Drake, the company still conducts a large part of its business through catalogs, mailing approximately 75 million of them every year. As one might expect, telephone and e-commerce also play a big role in generating revenue.

Take a brief look at what the company offers, and, unless you're newly arrived in the United States, you immediately realize that Miles Kimball's products are ubiquitous. Maybe you own a few yourself. The company's presentation is wholesome, traditional, inspirational, and friendly. The products are not represented as environmentally valuable, and maybe some customers wouldn't even like it if Miles Kimball were to offer strongly phrased green marketing messages to them.

Don't let that fool you. Miles Kimball shares a wide-ranging environmental policy and vision statement that is extremely remarkable for its inclusionary approach. The introduction talks about the company's environmental commitment and strong values. One finds many corporate Web sites that drop the subject right at that point. Miles Kimball goes on to detail its plans in eight main areas, including many practical measures it takes to accomplish ecologically sound business practices and induce vendors and partners to do the same. As listed by the company, the main focus areas of the environmental effort are:

• List hygiene and data management
• Design
• Paper procurement and usage
• Printing and packaging
• Recycling and pollution reduction in our workplace and community
• Internal and supplier code of conduct
• Green building
• Social and community outreach

The amount of detail provided is amazing. For example, within the third main subject, "paper procurement and usage," Miles Kimball includes four different realms of action. The fourth one reads as follows:

"We Encourage Responsible Use of Forest Resources

• "We evaluate paper used for marketing pieces and internal consumption to identify opportunities for increased post-consumer recycled content, lower basis weights and other environmental attributes.
• "Whenever the economics are sound and the environmental benefits clear, we purchase paper with recycled content, including papers with post-consumer content
• "We negotiate with our paper suppliers about purchasing papers with post-consumer recycled content at a comparable price, environmental impact and performance to virgin papers
• "We print order forms, blow-ins and order envelopes on paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled content whenever feasible.
• "We reduce the amount of raw materials used to make our products by encouraging the development of lighter-weight grades of paper that meet our organization’s functional and quality needs.
• "From 2005 to 2007 our use of lighter weight paper has reduced our total wood use by 1,472 tons, or 10,191 trees. The energy saved was 21,806 million BTU’s, enough to power 240 homes each year. Greenhouse gases were reduced the equivalent of 4,364,582 lbs CO2, or the emissions from 396 cars per year. Wastewater was reduced 10,219,474 gallons. Click here for more details. [sic — no live link there]
• "We work with our printers to reduce paper waste (reduced overage counts, make-readies, etc.)."

I also find it praiseworthy that Miles Kimball includes social and civic goals within its environmental positioning, drawing clear connections in a holistic approach to identifying what "environment" means to the company and its employees and customers. Take a look at the code of conduct for suppliers or the statements about social and community outreach. These people are profoundly serious about the ecological and social values they advance. Needless to say, the catalog business is not the greenest endeavor one could imagine, but Miles Kimball appears poised to transform it for environmental sustainability without risking what made the company successful.

My company, Washburn Communication, is currently working on a case study about Miles Kimball's implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX to help run the business. Miles Kimball chose Microsoft Dynamics AX because it fit with the company's growth ambitions and long-range plans, and because it generates many thousands of dollars worth of savings in all areas of the operation. Environmental considerations were not a primary concern in picking a business management software solution. But Microsoft Dynamics has a green story to tell and keeps adding to it, so the Microsoft Dynamics software tools are certainly a good fit for Miles Kimball in that regard as well. We'll discuss the green aspects of Microsoft Dynamics another time, soon.

Ducks get it again as greenwashed oil flows south from Canada

In a classic case of green-themed marketing vs. the real world, hundreds of ducks die, an energy technology formerly touted as environmentally sound has become even more questionable, and an oil company's fortunes are at risk. And it seems Canada is reevaluating its practice of exporting most of its oil to the United States. I hope to have good news for ducks some other time, because they seem to have turned into an environmental bellweather species. A quacking canary, so to speak, needing much attention and support, which in turn give rise to more strident marketing claims, mentioned in this blog a while ago.

I'm sure you've followed the story. In Alberta, Canada, Syncrude extracts oil from vast sand deposits by a combination of mining and building wells. Unfortunately, oil extraction from sand results in the creation of toxic lakes of sludge. Eventually, after lengthy and expensive cleanup, the water can be recycled, but in the meantime it's pure poison. Following regulation by the province of Alberta, the company operates noise-making equipment to deter migrating birds from landing on the poisonous ponds, but that equipment only runs from spring until fall. And, since weather conditions in Alberta this year have been extremely cold and winter-like until now, the equipment wasn't running and didn't do anything to scare off a flock of approximately 500 mallards that landed on a so-called "tailings pond." All the birds got poisoned, became unable to fly, and died.

Damage control ensued. Company officials make excuses and offer apologies. Greenpeace is demanding a public inquiry. And, seemingly overnight, the poor ducks have become a "new symbol of oil sands activism." Syncrude finds itself the target of a governmental probe.

The province of Alberta has become wealthy through the oil business, so people are wondering how extensive any scrutiny or penalties for Syncrude and other oil companies will be. In the meantime, Syncrude still offers as a "quick fact" on its Web site that it "is one of Alberta's largest and most respected employers." They offer an apology, as well. The language is soothing, remarkably balanced, not overly bureaucratic, and noncommittal. It's almost as if the company is daring a reader to push for practical follow-up in a tangible manner: What are they going to actually do about this problem?

"We understand you expect the best from Syncrude in environmental management and the protection of wildlife. It’s a value that we share, and we are committed  to making the necessary changes to our long-established practices to help ensure a sad event like this never happens again. This is a promise we make to you and all those who depend on our crude oil product to fuel their daily lives.

"As we go forward, we will learn from what happened, we will improve our practices, and we will meet your expectations for responsible development."

In the history of greenwashing, this apology deserves careful study and consideration. Please read it a couple of times and watch the content vanish into thin air.

In the meantime, if you want more background and substantial information about Alberta and its oil industry, including factual responses to the industry's and governments' environmental claims, one great resource is Tar Sands Watch by the Polaris Institute. Tar Sands Watch calls for a moratorium on increased tar sand exploitation until "a set of basic environmental and social conditions has been achieved." Bear in mind that the organization is not at all hostile to business or petro-based energy. They even advocate that Canada amass strategic petroleum reserves. As far as I can tell, the information and calls to action on the Tar Sands Watch site are well balanced and reasonable, in addition to being articulated in an engaging, friendly manner. Consider participating or at least following as they present the story.

Software tools help meet business objectives and environmental goals

As noted in business news and many of the green blogs, business intelligence software maker SAS (traditionally pronounced "sass") is stepping out with SAS for Sustainability Management, a "first decision-support software platform for proactively identifying innovative strategies that effectively address complex environmental, social, and economic situations while achieving stakeholder objectives," as we read in a press release. The SAS software targets the increasingly prominent "triple bottom line" of environmental, economic, and social metrics presented by many recent writers, including Andrew Winston, author of Green to Gold: Eco Strategies to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. A webcast by Winston is conveniently linked to from the SAS pages. As SAS materials describe, Cisco Systems already uses the SAS solution to support its sustainability efforts. View a video with Cisco Senior VP Laura Ipsen to get her take on the story.

If interested, you can download a brochure on SAS for Sustainability Management and a SAS white paper based on research by ComputerWorld called Expanding Eco-Practices Benefits the Bottom Line and the Brand. Once you've waded through all available evidence, you'll see that the potential audience for environmentally sound technology expanded quite a bit: If business value by itself can make a compelling case for green practices, you can win the attention and participation of the people and companies that can't simply translate conscience into strategy.

SAS for Sustainability Management is based on other SAS technologies and also incorporates the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. If you're interested in growing a software solution of your own to support your company's or clients' environmental initiatives, the tools and ideas available at the GRI Web site might be a good place to start. But don't take too long. We can expect more announcements shortly, when other software companies launch products and services that help businesses implement green business practices, and then measure, document, and publish their results. If you don't get to market within about a year or so, you'll likely be serving more and more specialized, circumscribed needs.