Green Marketing

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

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.

Evidence, understatement, claim: Three ways to communicate environmental benefits

Three different approaches to environmentally focused marketing. Three different companies encountered at Globe2008 in Vancouver last week. Of course, there were hundreds more and we may get to them by and by. But I found these three remarkably distinctive and in many ways representative of approaches one sees in green marketing. Plus the people were fun to talk with. Thus, in no particular order:

The Small Energy Group describes itself as a start-up, but has active implementations and is most likely poised for a breakthrough in the next few minutes. And they're hiring. Small Energy Group grows along two practices, demand management and energy efficiency. Management includes industry veteran Bruce Cullen, who has advanced energy efficiency for many years. At the tradeshow, I saw a demo of the company's software product, which gathers energy usage data from an entire facility, connecting to already existing systems, and identifies opportunities for using the resources more efficiently. It's the classical combination of business value with high environmental benefits. Small Energy Group shares how they practice their values at work, which very few companies disclose. Those are some excellent ideas especially for smaller organizations. I'm not sure about the ants (just wait), but I'm sure some people love them. The company's presentation is elegant and enjoyable.

It might be easy to underestimate Retrotec, or even wonder what brought them to Globe2008: no green anything, no environmental messaging. But they're as environmentally sound as the most fashionably designed green marketers. Retrotec's products help facilities managers identify and counteract energy leakage. For the most part, a person needs to perform the inspection in form of a walk. Retrotec software is for more specialized applications. The company's main audience is building owners and managers, real estate developers, and building engineers. For them, the rational, fluff-free presentation Retrotec offers is perfect.

In the extremely busy interface of Press Display, it may be hard to tell the news from the distractions, but of course one person's vital update can be another's distressing nuisance. Press Display takes it appropriately easy on the green statements, but does many times remind you of the resources needed to produce and print the more than 600 newspapers from which the site collects content. You subscribe to different levels of services to use either the site or a special reader software to review content on your PC or mobile device. If you prefer not to pay, limited content is yours once you register with the site. In my testing, the site turned out to be surprisingly fast. Most newspapers and other news channels offer content online, most often for free, and the value of Press Display may be mostly in gathering news from different sources and offering it in a centralized location. That might certainly be helpful, especially if you want to scan news from different parts of the world and don't want to negotiate many different sites or purchase printed issues.

I doubt the ostensible environmental benefits of Press Display. It's always hard to prove a negative: How many trees and other resources weren't used because of what Press Display offers? Newspapers already are cutting print volumes, using lots of recycled material, and doing more business online, following their own path and market pressures. How significant is the environmental benefit once you account for electricity, cooling, labor, server and network resources, and whatever else it takes to get the online world to turn? If Press Display can, at competitive cost and with an easy-to-use interface, centralize and deliver the newspaper content readers want, the service will be valuable. But don't be tempted to overestimate what it does for the environment.

United by a green border: Postcard from Vancouver, BC

Businesses, municipalities, trade delegations, and schools from all over Canada and the United States, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy, and elsewhere shared a giant exhibition hall at Vancouver's Canada Place during Globe2008 this week. Sort of a Noah's Ark of environmentally sound (or aspiring) companies, products, and services. I didn't meet a single other provider of marketing services, green or otherwise. And many of the larger companies let their fancy booths, videos, and brochures speak for themselves. That's why I spent most of my time talking with enthusiastic people from smaller organizations who just had to tell me about what made them special.

I was intrigued to find Washington State and British Columbia so strongly represented, with lots of companies aiming to generate more business growth from both. The Washington Clean Technology Alliance and its members made a strong showing in an elegant, large pavilion at the center of the hall, matched by Ontario's, but not much else. Download globe2008_participants_from_washington_state.pdf

• Chris Pollatos and Constance Scott from NewEarth showed off their "ECO Clean Coal" in an elegant presentation suitable for after-dinner parties. Place a few green pills in a shiny nambe tray, pick one up with a pincer, light it, let people feel the heat. Hear them say "ouch." No smoke, no smell, no ash. By the way, gentle reader, how do you feel about that tagline, "A Gift to the World"? Just thought I'd ask.
• Herb Pearse showed off the seemingly miraculous cleaning capabilities of his Adsorb-it Products at a stand he shared with Jerry Brownstein, CEO of Xextex Corporation. We blogged about Xextex a while ago and found them just as credible in person. No fuss, just a good clean demo and convincing metrics. Brownstein had brought his Energy Globe Award, which was larger and more weapon-like than expected. You got to be able to defend yourself with all that greenwashing around. Brownstein credited Pearse with helping him win the award.
• Danny Miller, CEO and General Manager at Performance Mechanical Group, showed me what his environmentally friendly HVAC water-cleaning products can do. He had "before" and "after" pipes at his booth. He also volunteered that the products are harmless. "I even put that in my mouth," he said. "And here I am."
• Carol Schreitmueller, Director of R&D at Pacific Market International, helped me enjoy what could have been an extremely tedious wait to get into the building on the Wednesday of the event. Hundreds of us were waiting to get in to print our name badges. Schreitmueller had samples of her cups and containers in her bag and was happy to discuss them in far more detail than I was capable of absorbing at the time.
• I should mention that friendly, generous group of people from Washington State's Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, represented at Globe2008 by Business Development Manager Feliz Ventura. CTED, as it's commonly known, is an excellent resource and one of the best-kept secrets in these parts. Let's keep it that way; you didn't hear this from me.

Greenwashing goes to the movies

Because the film "Michael Clayton" ran for months in a neighborhood I usually refuse to visit, I didn't see it until last weekend. I was glad I did. George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and other actors do excellent work. The story is exceptionally well told. And it has a lovely greenwashing angle.

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly Unorth, a fictional company, actually does. The first description we hear of it in the movie is numbingly vague. It makes mention of resources... outsourcing... business values... Eventually, you find out that one of Unorth's products played a role in killing people. And you see the pretty commercial, played from a giant screen at Times Square, then repeated many times while Wilkinson's character records and replays it in his loft.

For a connoisseur of greenwashing, that commercial is a masterpiece. It features a diverse crowd of humans, a gentle-but-strong voiceover, and soft-but-thrilling music. Imagery offers lively green, earthy brown, and children playing with soil. A blossoming flower sprouts up between the "U" and the "north" of "Unorth" into vibrant life. The commercial's structure emphasizes three core values, which I unfortunately forgot, but I'm sure they're crowding the back of my head.

When I looked at the latest agenda of Globe2008 in Vancouver, B.C., I was frequently reminded of that brilliant commercial and the film in which it resides. The event program amounts to a lexicon of environmentally themed advertising with the words and images deemed most relevant by business marketers, including the popular tripartite assignment of important notions: Invest, collaborate, educate... Efficiency, innovation, partnership... Frankness, clarity, insight... Engage, listen, act... Main other keywords include the usual suspects: sustainability, green, responsible, right, environment, growing, efficient, planet, clean, save, difference, and a few others. Download GL08_confProgram.pdf 

Globe2008 starts tonight with a reception. People and companies are often more interesting than what they share in their advertising, and I look forward to meeting them and hearing their stories at the event. I'll be sure to share any examples of environmentally themed marketing that seem praiseworthy, and I hope I can suppress the righteously evil inclination to point out the more obnoxious greenwashing.

Past verdant righteousness

Alert reader and colleague Tyson Supasatit draws attention to a Fast Company article, Another Inconvenient Truth by David Roberts. I'm not sure why this article appears now; the report and findings Roberts mentions have been known since November of last year, and greenwashing has been around for many years. Fine with me, though, if Fast Company can bring more attention to these issues and rustle some feathers.

You can't swing a dead hippie in a big-box store these days without hitting some sort of green boast on a label. Partially recycled. Energy efficient. Eco-friendly. Natural!

Off the top of your head, how many of these claims do you suppose are bogus or misleading in some way? A quarter? One-half? Try 99.9%.

That's the startling conclusion of research from TerraChoice Environmental Marketing. Of the 1,018 green-advertised products it reviewed last fall, all but one committed one of the "six sins of greenwashing." Yikes.

That sounds like a call for tighter standards and more legal enforcement—perhaps some hefty fines, even a boycott or two. Force companies to be honest, right?

Sure. But there are deeper, less comfortable issues in the background of the greenwashing debate. While there's certainly a role for better oversight of green marketing, there are built-in limits to green honesty in a wealthy materialist culture.

Roberts goes on to discuss the tradeoffs many companies and consumers tolerate when they sell and buy products with ostensible green benefits, drawing analogies with Michael Pollan's analyses of how we eat and obtain our food. He concludes:

Greenwashing isn't merely a result of poor labeling standards and consumer protection. It's part and parcel of an economy built on trade-in material and energy waste. Until we are collectively ready to really go green, greenwashing will be with us. Naturally.

It's generally easy, and often enjoyable, to call out greenwashing misdeeds, because many companies seem to assume deep-rooted naiveté on the part of their customers and clients. And, for better or worse, righteousness can be a strong motivator. A not-bad place to start, it's a miserable frame of mind to dwell in, however. For balance and a possibly more practical approach, take a look at the original report from TerraChoice, also available in French. Review their blog. Working in a small company, I find the entry from February 27 worthwhile. If you like, you can even report a greenwashing sin. Somewhat hyperbolically, TerraChoice describes itself as "North America's premiere [sic] environmental marketing agency," but definitely helps to meet urgent needs of companies and their customers wondering about the veracity of their environmentally themed marketing.

 

Take a chance on solid ground and remember to wipe your duck

If there were an award for understated environmental marketing, the Xextex Corporation might be a serious contender. Want to shake a stick at low-hanging, green-washing fruit? Move on. There's nothing to see here. Xextex won't be able to help you. (You could always apply your reasoning skills to finding holes in Dawn's Make a Difference Campaign, or maybe even end up being convinced. Just a thought.)

Back to Xextex, a member of the Washington Clean Technology Alliance. At first glance, the company site appeals most and maybe exclusively to potential distributors and engineers. But think about it. We're on the Pacific coast, home to many spill disasters or near-disasters before you take a single step away from the shore. Many of our business and personal interests compromise the environment even without any dramatic events. Xextex's main products, named X-TEX-B12, X-TEX-B12-AM, and X-TEX-VMS, serve to mitigate or forestall environmental contamination that could have a ruinous effect on water and resources.

Patented X-TEX^®, produced by the Xextex Corporation USA, is a new and unique non-polar lipophilic, hydrophobic media that FILTERS AND REMOVES OIL AND SEDIMENT FROM WATER. X-TEX is an EPA classified sorbent material with a multitude of environmental applications. In manufacturing X-TEX, recycled polymer fibers are converted into a lightweight fiber mass with enormous surface area and microscopic interstitial spaces.

X-TEX-B12 is available in blanket form and out-performs polypropylene and other competitive products. X-TEX is recognized and approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, Air Force and the US Navy. It is also used at major airports and industrial sites around the world.  Our claims are backed up with scientific testing and actual field data.

Xextex offers test data to substantiate its claims for the performance and value of its products. Applications for the products are plentiful and include many ordinary, day-to-day pursuits. Endorsements appear solid and credible. The company recently won an Energy Globe Award.

Should Xextex have a more polished online presence? Probably. Definitely fix the typos. But I expect that potential customers and distributors like the unassuming sobriety they find here. It's possible that the presentation we see today is perfect for the indended audience. As a marketer, I'm tempted to call President and CEO Jerry Brownstein and offer my ideas. As a person concerned about the environment, having seen too many vapid environmental marketing claims, I'm impressed, but still hope the company makes a splash.

Too dry for you? Sorry about that. Go back to your Dawn ducks. Real or not?

What good is sustainability? From news fluff to serious inquiry in two or three easy steps

Marketplace, a channel for business and political news offered by American Public Media, delivers a daily Marketplace Morning Report. On the radio, the content is light: introduction, music, a news tidbit, some static from your local radio station if you live in a hilly area, a sponsor spot, another news tidbit, and on you go to more static, traffic, and weather. This morning, I happened to catch mention of Marketplace's Greenwash Brigade and checked it out online.

Several "hand-picked environmental professionals" consider companies' environmental claims on behalf of their products and services. Brigade members belong to the Public Insight Network, a grassroots generator of news tips for American Public Media (you, too, can join). Greenwash Brigade articles include a more-detailed-than-usual overview of the environmental ideas brought forward by the current crop of presidential hopefuls.

Clinton's and Obama's platforms are like falling pleasantly into Oz in comparison to the Republican platforms, but they too raise a few concerns. Obama is seriously invested in nuclear energy--living in the state with the most polluted nuclear site in the country, I'm not convinced we have the capability to store nuclear waste safely. Sorry Obama and sorry France.

These candidates have very detailed long-term energy policies and I was particularly tickled by programs designed to train and support the next generation of green collar jobs, driven by renewable technology smarts. I like Clinton's ideas on SEC disclosure regarding climate change impacts and Obama's emphasis on clean food supplies by incentivizing organic farming and pushing for country of origin and genetically engineered food labeling.

The candidate's ideas deserve consideration and criticism, especially if you're sick of hearing vapid talk of "change" and "opportunity." Get to Grist for a good overview of their proposed environmental policies.

The Greenwash Brigade offers blogs, resources, and Consumed, a site dedicated to consumer issues and sustainability. Within the blogs, Sites That Sustain Us shares fresh takes on environmental issues, but by far the meatier one is Double Takes, which returns in depth to previously covered eco-stories and examines what ensued. If you want to do more than nibble at the green surface of events, this is a decent channel to do so, as long as the occasional touches of preciousness don't bother you. That's just the flavor of much one hears on public radio. An article headlined "Building for Life" includes comments from Bill McDonough, an architect and educator, who is questioning the notion of sustainability itself (which, ironically, figures prominently in the headline section of American Public Media's environmental sites). Well worth considering as you digest companies' statements focusing on the very same.

"I'm not really that interested in sustainability," he said. "What's your relationship to your wife? If you say 'sustainable,' I'll say 'I'm sorry.' Just being sustainable doesn't necessarily mean we're being productive and prosperous, that the world becomes a better place. It simply maintains existing systems."

Local green news: steps forwards, sideways

Seattle's two daily newspapers, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have the traditional sections we are used to seeing in a paper, including business, sports, entertainment, national news, and so forth. They don't have a "green" or "environment" section. Why not? I'm not aware of any other newspaper that offers extended coverage of environmental issues. But here in the generally eco-aware Pacific Northwest, many readers would probably appreciate more thorough environment-related information, especially if it were to help them take action.

It's nice to see that a monthly glossy magazine, Seattle Metropolitan, has begun dedicating more space to environmental issues. The January issue includes an article by Manny Frishberg, titled "Carbon Cure (or) Feel-Good Fraud?" Frishberg provides a fine summary of the carbon offset discussion, including the many valid arguments against current carbon-offset practice. I am particularly impressed with the fact that Frishberg does not attempt to make up readers' minds for them, but allows them to think about the issues.

A nonprofit organization called NativeEnergy receives a respectable grade:

"NativeEnergy may be one of the more accountable offset projects going; it's one of just four to get an unreserved thumbs-up from twoleading authorities, the Stockholm Environmental Institute and Tufts University's Climate Initiative. Otherwise the carbon offset market leaves ample room for doubt: It is completely unregulated; brokers may choose to follow the Kyoto Principles but aren't required to. Not all brokers verify their emission cuts with third parties. Many claimed cuts are just estimates for projects that are still on the drawing board."

We discussed TerraPass and its carbon offset offerings elsewhere in this blog (see entry from November 14, 2007) and found reason to doubt the value and effectiveness of that organization's programs.

The same January issue of Seattle Metropolitan includes a long, beautifully written article about the late John Beal and his work in restoring Hamm Creek, a small stream in South Seattle that once was ruined, but today has at least a chance of environmental redemption. Without Beal and his tireless efforts, none of that would have happened. We definitely need more like him. The article also details the somewhat questionable contributions of city government to Hamm Creek's revival.

Most unfortunately, Seattle Metropolitan does not make its current content available online. If you don't want to cough up $4.99 for these two articles and many fluffier offerings, you may have to get lucky in your doctor's waiting room.

In other news, the Seattle Times tells us that biofuel company Imperium Renewables cancels its planned IPO and may seek private financing. I hope Seattle-based Imperium Renewables succeeds. If not, there's always Brazil to show the rest of the world how to create a thriving alternative fuel industry.

Sun's in

Let's take a break from fighting over how green the holidays should be and find a leading, globally known company with a strong environmental strategy that it is firmly committed to and that it communicates with great conviction.

What names come to mind?

No, not that one... that was a joke, right?

Fine, let me suggest one. Sun Microsystems. Sun offers lots of fascinating, well-substantiated content on a multitude of beautifully designed pages. A very quick tour:

The About Sun section of the company's Web site quickly takes you to the Corporate Responsibility pages and the Eco Responsibility page. The content offers the sort of business and environmental value convergence in a language that C-level persons love, including a quote from President and CEO, Jonathan Schwartz.

"It's more obvious each day that extreme efficiency is good for the environment and great for business. Customers want this same eco responsibility in their datacenters."

To find out more, you can go to Greening Our Business, where you can learn about the company's energy usage, carbon footprint, and more. Or to Products and Services, which tells you about product-related environmental goals and accomplishments, and points you directly to Sun hardware that plays well and green. They also have success stories from the company's customer reference program, building credibility for the validity of Sun's environmental and technical claims. And, once the Product Life Cycle approaches its natural end, Sun helps organizations recycle and dispose of hardware in a responsible manner.

But there's much more. Watch news from the launch of Sun's Eco Innovation Initiative and see what you think of the presentation by company executives, including VP of Eco Responsibility, Dave Douglas. You can also watch Douglas in a podcast conversation with Joel Makower.  Douglas' excellent blog provides further insight into green marketing, green IT, greenwashing, and related issues. Of course, it's a company blog and represents the corporation's view, but it offers lots of food for thought and sheds much sobering light on companies' ostensible green merits.

Think of other companies whose green story offers a similar mix of credibility, interest, and passion.

You can't? Why is that?