Search results matching tag 'green'

Blog Action Day 2009 Takes On Climate Change

2292853 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:47:00 GMT

Today 8,000+ bloggers from 144 countries, reaching 11 million viewers, are joining together to chime in with posts about one single important global issue of climate change. Did you post yet? Visit the Blog Action Day website to find out more about this event.

I take climate change personally.

I live here on earth, along with you and millions of others, and the damage our planet is facing because of manmade, careless actions infuriates me and makes me sad. Nature has given me some of the most memorable moments in my life. Today in London we have a beautiful day and I am enjoying seeing the sunlight light up the green leaves on the plants I have on my balcony. I'm enjoying looking at the green trees I can see scattered across parks in my neighborhood, and I'm looking forward to pulling away from the computer soon and going outside to enjoy this day before it slips away.

Will these simple pleasures I have from nature be no more in the face of climate change?

What personal moments spent with nature will only be left to memory, if every one of us does not do something right now to prevent climate change from happening?

Will the world leaders gathering at Copenhagen in December for the United Nations Climate Change Conference think enough about their own special personal memories of enjoying the natural environment, to make a true difference in how we tackle climate change issues?

Climate change is personal for me, and for you.

I've shared three very personal memories about experiences I've had in the natural environment on my blog for Blog Action Day 2009 and hope to read other blogs that tell stories about why they care about climate change.

Please post on your blog about your thoughts about climate change, and let's see if collective blogging can make a difference on this issue.

Taking climate change personally,

-Lisa

French EDF hijacks British flag and uses Ecotricity’s idea for Green Britain Day

322703 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:21:00 GMT

It’s one thing for a French energy company to hijack the Union Jack for greenwash purposes but to take the ad campaign (or something very much like it) of a genuine green electricity company, Ecotricity, has really inflamed green minded consumers.

EDF’s sponsored Green Britain Day is taking place on Friday, July 10th and has been positioned as “a community aimed at harnessing the power of collective action”. Seems they have created another community aimed at harnessing the power of collective action - true greens are organisisng a boycott and calling it the EDF ‘Greenwash Britain Day’ and are urging politicians, musicians, sportsmen and the public not to be taken in and to 'unplug EDF'.

Those in the green space have already started a campaign against EDF (Electricite de France), check out GREEN BRITAIN DAY group on Facebook, and are urging people to complain to the ASA about EDF’s claims.

When I saw the posters, a green Union Jack, I was a bit shocked. The original green Union Jack ad was created by Robin Smith of Host Universal (a specialist ethical agency) for Dale Vince’s Ecotricity back in 2007 and is well known in green circles, though obvious not by creatives at EDF’s agency. Had Ecotricity given it to EDF or had EDF just nicked it? Seems the latter, though they’ll blame the agency I am sure. If so I’d ask for the fee back and maybe EDF would be ethical enough to pay it to Smith instead.

Of course it’s not the first time EDF have recycled someone else’s idea. Their TV ad made from recycled ads was actually a copy of St Luke’s Ecover ad, which was ironically created by Smith’s wife Kiki Kendrick. Wow, that’s a double hit. So watch out everyone who has ever done any award winning eco-ethical ads, EDF may well be eyeing it up for the next campaign. Think I’ll copyright my environmental Asthma glue poster as fast as I can.

The Green Britain Day involves many partners including the Eden Project and the legendary musician Paul Weller, who will be playing a gig there. In principle the idea is great, engaging people to make a difference, no one can argue with that. It’s the corporation’s motives behind it and it’s marketing that is causing concern.

EDF claim to be the first sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Vincent de Rivaz, Chief Executive of EDF, said: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us. As an energy company, EDF Energy has a responsibility to be at the heart of the solution to climate change….” Nice speech.

EDF Energy also claim to be the largest producer of low-carbon electricity in the UK. Well of course they are because they are 85% Nuclear energy, hence their claims that by 2020 they plan to be totally carbon neutral (nuclear is carbon neutral). Nuclear has certainly split the green lobby, some back it others reject it. However, as it’s carbon neutral it’s been a gift for greenwash.

EDF states the obvious, “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us and EDF Energy believes that we can only tackle the issues we face by ensuring that all of us act together now.” True but in the world of eco-ethical marketing do they you define acting together as taking other people’s ideas?

EDF’s marketing to the British public is designed to make them think they are a company that has real green values, this has annoyed the green community.
To support their sponsorship of the 1012 Olympic Games and Green Britain Day EDF have even set up a .org website (makes it look more caring) and are using the term ‘Team Great Britain’ – err, but EDF are French? Is this some kind of invasion? They even have added ‘the big idea’ to the URL, who ever said the French can be arrogant?

To put you in the picture, there are only really three genuine green energy companies in the UK, Good Energy, Ecotricity and GreenEnergy UK (who have the greenest tariff of all of them). The next best is Scottish & Southern who operate a lot of hydro electric power stations. So if you want to be even slightly green there’s your choice. After that the rest are large corporations with one mission, make profit. And let us not forget British Gas, who despite making many green claims conveniently forgets that gas is as unsustainable as you can get.

All the big energy companies are required by the government to supply a degree of green source energy and it is this small percentage that they are using to spin to try and make themselves look green. One energy company I have spoken with (one of the big boys) admitted to me that they found it really hard to sell a green tariff as consumers don’t trust them and if they had the choice they’d drop it. Big surprise.

Now I’m all for embracing big corporates into changing the world, after all McDonalds, Starbucks and a few are making a significant difference, especially in the are of Fairtrade and ethically sourced coffee. Even Wal-Mart have turned over a new leaf. As for oil companies and energy companies… well they have a long way to go to convince the green minded consumer they have changed their ways.

The big issue comes down to the triple bottom line – people, planet, profit. If Profit is at the heart of your ethos, and it is for energy companies, people and planet will always take a second place.

The new guide for green marketers, Ethical Marketing & the New Consumer is published at the end of July by Wiley’s (pre orderable on Amazon) and I’d recommend that EDF and many others read it. It’ll enlighten them as to why they are wasting their money on their current greenwash campaigns and how they could become more ethical and actually spend their money more wisely.

In the short term I’d advise them to consult the people they appropriate ideas off as they run one of the UK’s specialist ethical agencies (Host), as hiring an ethical specialists (instead of big agencies) would start to make people believe they are genuine.

World Environment Day 5th June

2358199 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:19:00 GMT

Friday marks the start of World Environment Day, the United Nations Environment Programme, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The annual event is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

I was browsing through the site today, and one of the key points raised on the WED site really struck a chord with me, it was that WED ‘ is designed to promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues’.

In business, we are constantly looking for ways to engage with our customers and build deep and meaningful relationships and communities of ‘followers’, which will result in improved brand reputation, increased customer loyalty and greater brand advocacy. Being seen to be socially responsible and encouraging customers to think the same way is one way to help build that trusting, open and honest relationship that many customers so desperately desire from brands, but often don’t get.

Consider using World Environment Day as an opportunity to get your customers engaged by jointly coming up with ‘green’ ideas which can be applied to the workplace. The WED website is packed with tips and information to help you and your clients along the way. Perhaps even consider setting up a Corporate ‘Grove’ at sites like www.treesforlife.org and encouraging your clients to donate a tree. You can set up schemes like this instantly online, which not only encourage your customers to get involved but do wonders for your brand reputation too.

Will the credit crunch kill off organics? How will other ethical brands fair in a recession?

322703 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:53:00 GMT

Recession or no recession, greening up your marketing is still hot on the agenda of most businesses. Marketing magazine (front cover last week) may be predicting organics will be suffering as a consequence of overpricing in a price sensitive market but everything else ethical could actually thrive in a recession.

This may sound like an idea that swims against the tide but when things get tighter community values increase, caring for others becomes more important. Hard times brings us together, Government based research has shown that community is high on our agenda of wants. Charity giving is far more common within poorer communities than rich ones. And many ethical brands are people based – fair trade being the prime one.

I don’t disagree that organics, having taken the position of being overpriced, could be a victim of the recession but even when times are tight people still care. I believe that environmental brands will continue to thrive, though slower, because recession or no recession there’s too much media force forcing social change. A majority thought politicians and corporations should be responsible for sorting out environmental issues.

Leaving people to help people. The Ethical Price Index, a national survey into how much extra people will pay for ethical goods, is soon to be released. It makes for fascinating reading, and even given the credit crunch, shows that people are prepared to pay more for most ethical value based products and brands. Prior to a recent debate I was chairing, ‘People vs Planet, a survey of almost 400 people was conducted to see if people had a preference.

When confronted with a choice, the vast majority – 2/3rds - picked people first. Also revealing, 2/3rds don’t trust green ads but only 1/3 distrust green claims on packaging. However, overall there’s a strong drift towards ethical consumerism and people like to embrace new eco ideas. The latest to catch my attention (even before Treehugger got it) are Green Rewards. A great yet simple loyalty programme and a brilliant idea - reward your customers for buying the right things and then with the points they can trade them in for eco products, services and experiences. Or even donate them to a charity.

Why hasn’t anyone thought of it before? It’s already been signed up by a number of retailers, including Abel & Cole, and seems a simple way for them to show just how committed they are to ethical issues. Further more, by using a simple incentive scheme people are encouraged to change buying behaviour, as psychologists will tell you, you need to change cognitive behaviour before you get mind change. www.greenrewards.co.uk As a regular speaker at marketing events on creativity and more recently ethical marketing I have to say “told you so” to Richmond Events (who run the Oriana marketing seminars).

Most of us have probably been on the Oriana – though now it’s the Aurora (bigger, better boat) and every year they survey clients to establish top issues. No surprise this year that one is green & ethical marketing. What marketers want is to navigate this complicated area and avoid the greenwash. Their research panel revealed that over half support buying local and the majority thought climate change was one of the most important environmental issues of today. Mark Price of Waitrose is the keynote speaker at this year’s Marketing Forum and talking on educating children about the values of quality food.

Waitrose have been busy behind the scenes working with schools and have sent education packs to almost half of all secondary schools in the UK in the battle against poor diet. It’s shocking that that many children think eggs come from cows and 90% have no idea what animal ham comes from. Last year I had a great time mixing with agencies and clients, then I was doing a series of creative workshops.

This year I’m going back in September to talk on ethical marketing and the new consumer and with an impressive list of top brands present, let’s hope we see less greenwash and more honesty ethical marketing as a result.

The DMA will also have a presence on board, no doubt the number one question will be about the government’s targets on reducing landfill - 55% of direct mail has to be recycled by the end of 2009. Seems a bit unbalanced to me that while the newspaper industry’s target is based on recycled paper content, the marketing industry is just about percentage of paper that ends up in landfill. While DM is an easy target, it really only accounts for less than 2% of household rubbish, packaging and even clothes are a more serious problem.

By contrast the newspaper industry accounts for 11% of landfill. But then I guess politicians don’t want to upset Fleet Street too much. And finally, discovered on the Green Rewards site, is a great animation from Free Range Studios running on Green TV called the Meatrix. It’s fun anti-factory farming piece of propaganda, best not watched while you’re eating a burger. Also check out Story of Stuff, a fascinating and alarming look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns with a flavour of The Corporation (but a lot shorter).

Re: Are you feeling the bite?

672405 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:37:37 GMT

Nope. But then again, as I am promoting a site - Junkk.com - that offers consumers a way to save pennies, pounds and also the planet along with, and marketers a way to reach such a more thrifty and eco-conscious audience for their wares (inc... or... especially their packaging), things look like they might just be starting to pick up:) Now if I can just find some partners to stop me giving it all away to help the old business model along, we'll be golden as well as green.

Ben & Jerry's peace wash-out with Lennon

255762 — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:08:11 GMT

I got invited to a lecture recently. I sighed, raised My eyebrows, before deleting the invite to 'Can brands save the world?'. To be honest it seemed the only response, but I was thinking about this morning as I read about Ben & Jerry's supporting a modern-day 'Peace Bed-In'.

The peace bed-in is to raise global awareness of the UN day of global ceasefire and non-violence on September 21 and they are getting together with The Lennon Estate and non-profit group Peace One Day.

It is 39 years since John Lennon and Yoko Ono peaced out in bed in New York as the Vietnam War raged on.

Now the people who brought you Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream and Cherry Garcia Low Fat Frozen Yogurt have got some celebrities together (well Maggie Gyllenhaal) to host a modern-day Peace Bed-In.

Is it me or is a photo opportunity waste of time designed to make Ben & Jerry's feel better about themselves and look good?

I could be wrong, but I read this long press release with statements from Walt Freese, Chief Euphoria Officer of Ben & Jerry (who is thrilled) and it comes across as the equivalent of greenwash. It's peace wash.

I mean when it comes to matters of substance, other than an photo opportunity for Gyllenhall and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield, the Unilever-owned brand held a nationwide search to identify modern-day peace activists who "embody the values set forth by Lennon through their work to create positive change in the world". Let's hope they are not talking about all the terrible music and many drugs from the later years... oh wait they are, but really what a load of garbage.

Ben & Jerry's has chosen two people to represent the next generation of "peace pioneers" who get $10k a piece. I'm being funny here, but really? Do you see the peace wash? How far does that money go and what kind of a commitment to peace is that? It's loose change that isn't going to stretch to more than a few placards for the recipients the lamely named Student Peace Alliance and the Peace Camp Initiative, which is a worthy group at least providing summer camp experiences for children from Israel and Palestine.

To top it all Ben & Jerry's have come up with The John Lennon tribute flavour Imagine Whirled Peace - a caramel and sweet cream based ice cream with toffee cookies and chocolate peace signs developed to further support Ben & Jerry's social mission campaign.

Those interested in "sharing their personal messages and images of peace and/or learning more about the peace partnerships and (not to forget) Imagine Whirled Peace ice cream can visit benjerry.com/imagine.

That's more like it. Peace wash out.

PS: Can brand save the world? Oh come on, not in this life time or the next, but should be interested in going along then feel free.

Banishing plastic bags - supermarkets must act

255762 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:00:07 GMT

It's a huge environmental issues and major supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury have to take a lead, but show no signs of doing so. The Daily Mail today features a major nine-page report on the blight of plastic carrier bags and what must be done to stop them.

The Daily Mail makes an effort to catalogue the environmental impact juxtaposing pictures of a typical British family, heading home from the supermarket laden with plastic bags packed full of the weekly supermarket shop, and a haunting image of a sea turtle, thousands of miles away, struggling through the deep ocean waters as discarded plastic bags wrap themselves around its flippers and body.

The paper reports that these animals are dying in alarming numbers because they mistake the flimsy translucent bags for jellyfish. They swallow them and die.

Supermarkets should be charging for new bags as they do in Ireland. I really can not understand why the government here has not followed the Irish model.

In 2002, the Irish government introduced a bag tax, currently 16p, which led to a 90% reduction in the use of bags.

In France, there is activity also. A year ago, after shopper pressure the biggest supermarkets in France imposed a ban on free carriers. They now charge between 2p and 42p for reusable bags. Two pence is far too cheap, but the action has removed millions of free bags from high streets with a French government ban planned for 2010.

The Daily Mail report says that 13bn free single-use plastic bags are dished out by Britain's high street stores every year. It's shocking. People simply would not take them if they had to pay 10p a bag. It is the cheapness that makes them so disposable and why you see people taking half a dozen at a time twice a week.

The life span of a typically Tesco carrier bag is 20 minutes. They are then thrown out and game over. But while their use is 20 minutes their life span is as long as 1,000 years. Generation after generation will have to deal with the impact of these bags, which rot very slowly away.

The Daily Mail has launched its Banish the Bags campaign in an effort to rid the country of these single-use plastic bags and encourage people to use alternative such as those made from cloth and the traditional shopping basket.

There is some change, but it is small beer. Marks & Spencer has run trials in Northern Ireland and the South-West, where shoppers are charged 5p for each carrier bag. Still not enough. Ikea and discount outlets Aldi and Lidl also charges, but it means nothing if Tesco or Sainsbury's don't get off their highly profitable backsides and act.

Tesco could use the saved bags to bury the loot that it has apparently been tucking away.

It has apparently, according to a report in The Guardian today, created an elaborate corporate structure involving offshore tax havens centring on the Cayman Islands, which enables it to avoid paying what could be up to £1bn of tax on profits from the sale of its UK properties.