Comments on: Sustainable, Green… What Does It Mean?

By: tedlow

tedlow — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:47:02 +0000

There’s a great video on San Francisco I Am where hundreds of teens in the Bay Area ditched their video games at home and headed for the biggest green festival in the nation. The Festival was held in San Francisco and the kids learned AND taught one another about climate change and green jobs. Even Chuck D from Public Enemy was there.
You can check out the video here:
http://www.sanfranciscoiam.com/videos/c898d779b574

By: Pedro

Pedro — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:15:44 +0000

As an “authentic marketing” consultant (and first-time blogger here), I hear lots of feedback from skeptics and those who think “green” is just a trend. Many companies have also contributed to this mistrust with subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – “greenwashing claims”.
True “green marketing” is about making sure you have something to talk about first, not just slapping bogus claims on what you’re already doing. (My favorite is “No CFC’s” – which have been phased out by EVERYONE.)
My advice: follow the news feeds to determine best practices, attend some conferences, get inspired by the pros and then learn how to implement sustainability strategies into your company, campaigns or curriculum. One of my favorites is Sustainable Brands, which I attended this year in Monterey, CA. I’ll also be at Sustainable Brands International http://www.sustainablebrandsinternational.com to learn from the likes of Nike & Interface’s Ray Anderson. Also, consumers are a little more “conscious” in the EU so the discussions with successful international green marketers from across the pond should make for a rewarding event.

By: Sarah Ewing

Sarah Ewing — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:09:03 +0000

Hi Matt,
We at ShoreBank have actually found that this economic downturn has strengthened our triple bottom line initiatives. The trick to generating sustainability is to inspire your customers to initiate their own sustainable endeavors. For example, ShoreBank measures loans granted to those persons with environmentally sustainable desires, like the Urban GreenHouse. (http://www.shorebankdirect.sbk.com/stories/urban_greenhouse.asp). They then pay it forward to their friends, etc. In my opinion, that is how a company can exponentially inspire sustainability. It will be interesting to how/if other companies follow suit.
Sarah Ewing
Online Channel Manager
ShoreBank

By: Matt Rebeiro

Matt Rebeiro — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:41:36 +0000

Agreed Mario, companies are likely to keep green and sustainable initiatives that result process efficiencies shouldn’t companies be making more of an effort to promote such initiatves to consumers.
Furthermore such initiatives are even better if they make the company more efficient AND green/sustainable – surely this should be what all companies aspire to?!

By: Mario Vellandi

Mario Vellandi — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:52:52 +0000

@Scott
The risk of being labeled as greenwashing is strengthened when one touts single attributes in a complex product.
@Matt
Green/sustainable attributes and initiatives can oftentimes be linked to process efficiencies that consumers wouldn’t notice anyway. So if it saves the company money and improves corporate face, it likely won’t be axed. I’m familiar with the eco-patent commons and hope that collaborative relationships like these continue to thrive.

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:11:30 +0000

Scott, I am happy to hear that Ford is getting on board with this.
I would be incredibly proud of Detroit if it took the lead in the coming years by making high quality, reliable, safe, cars that use the latest technologies to move us away from oil.
Whether the next step is plugin hybrids, etc., I expect to see Detroit out in front not lagging behind the Japanese.
What I always thought Detroit lacked was the ability to see ahead a few moves on the chess board. That is why more than once, you have been outflanked by the Japanese car makers. Don’t let it happen again for your sake and for America’s sake.
Ford started this whole thing. It is time for Detroit to take the lead again.

By: Matt Rebeiro

Matt Rebeiro — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:32:05 +0000

Interesting post which left me with two thoughts:
1. Whilst I agree that promoting green and sustainable CSR is increasingly important to brands and companies I wonder whether such concern will receed as consumers are hit (and hit hard) in the global financial crisis. It’s not unlikely that as consumers tighten their belts companies will (be forced) to abandon sustainability and green business practices to win customers on price, not ethics.
2. If, in spite of the global financial crisis companies still consider it in their long term interests to be green and sustainable (and goodness how I hope they do!), then I think what we’ll end up seeing is a lot more collaborative projects where companies come together to share IP around green and sustainable technology and business practices. Here i’m thinking about the IBM led initiative run by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development called the ‘Eco-patents Commons’ where around 200 business all share green and sustainable IP. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/Eco-Patent-Commons
Such an approach to socially reponsible business is great as, in sharing knowledge, companies can innovate at a faster rate AND its more cost effective as the companies involved don’t all have the burden of runaway R&D costs at the edge of Moore’s Law.

By: Scott Monty

Scott Monty — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:07:29 +0000

Thank you, Mario. You said it perfectly. It should be every company’s duty to share what it’s doing to support a sustainable business model. The problem larger companies will have in being less humble about their efforts is that they’ll naturally be viewed as greenwashers by the skeptics.
It’s my hope that at Ford, we’ll be able to demonstrate a long-standing commitment to sustainability in everything we do, which should give us some credibility. We’re working on other ways to share our stories as well.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:49:47 +0000

Agreed, Mario, agreed.
Just look at China. What a train wreck.
It is partly because they have the attitude of grow, grow, grow, the costs be damned.
They do not regulate the environment, food safety, etc., with any degree of competence. Maybe this latest milk fiasco will be the impetus for a working Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, etc., in China.
And for those who oppose regulation here, maybe they could see that for capitalism to work smoothly there must be regulation. Just like a football game would be a fiasco with weak rules and without competent refs to enforce the rules.

By: Mario Vellandi

Mario Vellandi — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:39:06 +0000

@Ted
Thanks for the welcome. This intro post really takes a macro perspective of things. Green by itself is a trickier subject as in the case of energy efficiency it implies less power consumption whether or not it comes from renewable resources.
Standards are very helpful, so long as they’re consensus-based and the bar is set high. That fosters competition and excellence.
@Neil
Sustainable to me also largely means long-term, from a triple bottom line perspective. Everything is interconnected, therefore there’s a responsibility to not only ‘do no harm’, but also to promote well-being.
Sustainability is enabled through purchasing (voting with dollars) and personal/org habits on one end, but I believe there’s a large role for regulation to force industries to comply with acceptable minimum standards.