#Enviro: Does a Green Xmas List Really Help The Environment?
We enjoy looking for, and perhaps even presenting ourselves, challenging ideas for our readers. And one idea we came across challenges our desires to find just the right holiday gift for a loved one while maintaining our green/environmentalist cred. Piers Fawkes, founder and CEO of the New-York based firm PSFK, argues in a recent blog post that ‘buying green’ this holiday season really misses the boat when it comes to helping the environment or changing the habits of businesses.
Are we indeed doing more harm than good when we buy from those ‘Green Gift Guides’ that show up in many of our (e)mail inboxes?
Popularity: 2% | Category Advertising, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Civics, Climate Change, Community, Environment, Greening, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#SocialNetworks: How Can Social Media Help You When Disaster Strikes?
Natural disasters have been a part of human history since Noah. What has changed is how we get information about – and request help in the midst of – natural disasters. Thanks to digital media, we can get instantaneous reports about earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. from all over the world. But what about disaster that either touch closer to home or might directly affect our families and friends?
Social-Media services like Twitter, texting, and Facebook have proven to be great ways to raise money and supplies to deal with the aftermaths of these events, as we have often discussed. But a recent survey from The Red Cross demonstrates how people in the midst of these disasters are turning to these services to get updates on the event and to give updates about their own situations.
Popularity: 3% | Category Case Study, Climate Change, Communications, Environment, Facebook, Geo-Location, Health, Media Review, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Social Media, Technology, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Sustainability: The Ultimate Guide To Green Conferences
Image via Wikipedia
Kerry Given, a writer with Green Marketing TV, has published a very useful list of conferences focusing on sustainability and green issues that will take place in 2011.
Kerry writes that, “with [the] many different green conferences to choose from, how can you decide which are most important for your business to attend? Choosing wisely will not only save your business time and money, it will also reflect your commitment to green principles.”
Check out the comprehensive listing here.
Popularity: 3% | Category Climate Change, Community, Conference/Congress, Environment, Events, Greening, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Research, Resource, Revitalization, Sustainability | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#Advocacy: Nonprofits Expand Influence Via Growth In Documentaries
Americans spend weeks vetting and prognosticating before Oscar Night. We then spend days celebrating, lamenting, or lampooning the winners. After the really big show last night, we wanted to call attention to the growing influence and funding for independent documentary films, many of which include influential grass-roots movements to call attention to the issues raised in these films.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advocacy, Climate Change, Community, Environment, Fundraising, Greening, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Nonprofit | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
We Must Calculate E-Waste In Our Upgrades
Yesterday we reviewed what Nielson polling showed us about the drive for information about our smart phones and how to make them smarter still. With that drive eventually comes the drive to upgrade hardware that can run ever more sophisticated devices. Getting rid of the old devices is a rising problem. Little of the materials of such devices sits intertly when dropped in a landfill, but recycling all that stuff is not easy, or cheap. Moreover, the rise of consumer cultures in China and India (et al.) improves standards of living, but increase the risks of e-waste for everyone. What to do about the ‘old’ smartphone/tablet/desktop (refrigerator, space heater, dehumidifier… all of which have microchips and high-tech silicates nowadays)?
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Community, Greening, News and Current Affairs, Technology, Technology for Education | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#PublicRelations: BP/Haliburton/Transocean Blowout Recapped – What About The PR Blowout?
The explosion on 20 April killed eleven workers
BP‘s third effort to cap the destroyed Deepwater Horizon well seems to have been successful, as pressure tests have not done further damage to the emergency mechanisms. As of posting (the afternoon of 16 July), the BP Global website stresses the cleanup of the Gulf without immediate mention of the successful capping done yesterday. Discussion of the cap is found via the link “Gulf of Mexico Response Homepage.” Such an improvement in the situation might deserve mention on each and every page of BP Global’s site, but this post is not going to question BP’s website design. Nevertheless, the successful capping of the well (touch wood), serves as a telling moment to skim some of the thoughts that have been shared about BP’s myriad PR blowouts since the disaster happened. Perhaps the best known of those is @BPGlobalPR as led by @BPTerry and Leroy Stick. We have often encouraged our readers to follow them through this disaster, at least to enjoy some black humor (and offer donations) through the crisis. But many in the communications and media arena have responded to the ways BP has tried to marshal the PR gaffes and crises it keeps finding itself in – the most recent of which are allegations that BP influenced the British Government to allow the only Lockerbie Bomber held in Britain to return to Libya in an effort to secure an off-shore drilling contract with Quadafi. What ‘lessons’ can be learned from these fiascoes?
Popularity: 2% | Category Climate Change, Cross-Post, Facebook, Marketing, Marketing Skills, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Public Relations, Social Media, Tweets, Twitter, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Charitable Giving In US Shrinks But Does Not Collapse In Face Of Recession & Oil Spill
Americans give over 1.5% of GDP to charitable organizations, according to International Comparisons of Charitable Giving by the ‘Charities Aid Foundation’ in England. Such generosity is almost double the next nation’s rate of giving: England with .73%. Such willingness to give to those less fortunate is a wonderful quality about America, and surely stems in part from the fact that ours is a nation that was built by peoples moving into new territories with unproven technologies and with religious motives to help neighbors in the grand experiment. Moreover, the incredible wealth generated by the US (the present economic crises notwithstanding) has given opportunity for many to give back – the incredible sums given by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in recent months being only the most talked about. England’s coalition government, on the other hand, is trying to spur charitable donations from among the country’s richest to help offset the drastic cuts required in the government’s budget over the next few years.
Though Americans’ willingness to give, even during hard times, is one of the ways we have been able to keep working toward a ‘more perfect union,’ experts are warning that charitable donations will get knocked down severely as the Great Recession continues, and as the full economic and environmental costs of the BP/Haliburton/TransOcean disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are realized.
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Community, News and Current Affairs | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Possible New Role For Pollution Credits: Lowering Runoff Into The Chesapeake Bay
The idea for a carbon tax to create a carbon credit market seems politically a dead letter in the current economic crisis, but the idea that credits could be traded for those who are able to achieve stated limits on pollution still might have some influence. A micro-economy has been suggested for the Chesapeake Bay region, with pollutant run-off being the currency that might be traded. The Foundation Center gives us access to a report on how such an exchange might be developed, how it might improve conditions in the bay, and perhaps how it could be used successfully to deal with other pollutants.
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Greening, Local/Maryland, Politics, Revitalization | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Greening Your Business Requires A Recipe For Success
Earth Days and Ecofests help keep us motivated and connected in our efforts to go green. When it comes to baking in long-term and structural improvements, though, we need tried-and-true ingredients and good guidance. Julie Gabrielli, founder of GoForChange has provided just such a recipe to move us all toward a greener work environment and a greener economy all around. The company’s general mission (and one that was founded in the early days of interest in any greening movement) is to work with small- and mission-based companies to improve their eco-standards and their bottom lines:
Julie Gabrielli, from her site GoForChange.com
GOforChange has a big vision for a community that is life-affirming in all senses. We work with small business owners who want to find simple, practical ways to increase their profitability, satisfaction and success by going green. We’ve been at this for 20 years, so green isn’t a fad or trend to us. We know how to go right to the heart of the matter, cut through the clutter and get to the gold. Using timeless, grounded frameworks, we work with you to customize a plan that fits your unique values and interests
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Greening, Marketing, Sustainability | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
A Conversation with Dave Michaels of Ecoprint
Image via Wikipedia
This month marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and once again green is back in fashion. For some companies, like Ecoprint, green has always been in season. Based just north of Washington D.C., this printing company was founded by an environmental activist who participated in the first Earth Day and proudly proclaims its “environmental leadership since 1977.” Today Ecoprint is forging ahead on a number of fronts, demonstrating many ways for graphic arts businesses to become more sustainable environmental stewards.
MKCREATIVE has worked with many printers over the years and has always required they use soy-based inks and paper from sustainable sources on clients’ print jobs. We’ve also required that they take other longer-term measures to demonstrate their commitment to the environment. Ecoprint ‘s commitment is on another order of magnitude. We see them as kindred spirits: both Ecoprint and MKCREATIVE are run as businesses that are trying to create positive social change through sustainable practices. Both organizations are providing services to clients who make a difference in their own communities, while also offering education and guidance.
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Community, Interview, Nonprofit, printing, Sustainability | | Comments Off
Written by: Marco Kathuria
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