PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
TAKE OUT SOME WORDS
My younger daughter, Charlotte, once told me that a speech I had written was too long. When I asked her how to fix it, she said "take out some words." Great advice but, for me, hard to put into practice. Conventional wisdom, for example, says that enewsletters should be short and snappy since readers online are attention deficit-y. Conventional wisdom is probably correct. Still, I could not resist including two longer pieces this month because their value lay in their entirety. One is a set of tips on building websites for businesses that promote green thinking and a spirit of environmentalism. Among the commonsensical advice: encourage involvement, provide details of positive impact, do not preach or preen. And for anyone who hears the term "fiber" and thinks "cereal," we present a new glossary of green terms that defines, among other things, the increasingly popular carbon triplets — footprint, neutral and offsetting.
— Gordon Kaye, editorial@gdusa.com
LETTER: MOVE PAST BLAME OR DEFENSIVENESS
I am both a certified Green Business owner and a designer who works to educate my colleagues about sustainable design issues. I couldn't agree more with your recent Publisher's Note in the GDUSA Green eNews (January 2008), in which you call for fewer sermons and doomsday narratives, less fatalism and more empowerment. Designers' most fundamental skill is our ability to use visual imagery to influence our audience's behaviors or beliefs. The trick now is to learn how to apply this skill when dealing with issues of sustainability. The problem is that most designers still don't know what that looks like or feels like in practical terms. What questions do we ask? Of whom? What opportunities and resources do we have right now to make better decisions? The debate need not be framed as a "do this, or else" scenario. We are creators, problem solvers, and communicators. It's time to move past any blame and defensiveness that once might have driven the environmental movement and, instead, begin to collaborate on new, creative solutions. Thank you for continuing to bring this increasingly important conversation to our field.
— Jess Sand, Principal, Roughstock Studios, San Francisco CA
THINKING GREEN
Back To The Future
Washington DC: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, the federal body tasked with managing public lands, recently issued some interesting, and to some, counterintuitive findings. The biggest surprise: at 750 million acres, there is now the same total amount of forestland in the United States as their was a century ago. In fact, many states — including Virginia, South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York — now have more forestland than in 1908. The primary reasons: replanting and reforestation efforts, as well as natural forest regrowth on abandoned agricultural lands. This makes America the fourth-most forest-rich nation in the world, following Russia, Brazil and Canada. A final fact: The Forest Service estimates that 25 percent of the country's private forestland is managed according to the standards of a major certification scheme such as FSC and SFI. The report is downloadable at http://safnet.org/aboutforestry/index.cfm
Act Now
San Francisco CA: Multinational advertising agency Publicis Groupe has acquired Act Now Productions, a San Francisco consulting firm that advises marketers about sustainability practices and strategies. Act Now becomes part of the Saatchi & Saatchi "S" network, a division that is focused on marketing communications programs intended to "activate corporate and consumer action on a mass scale to address environmental and economic sustainability." The move is part of a general business diversification strategy for Publicis as well as a way to spread a message of corporate responsibility.
The Empire State
New York NY: Over 400,000 tons of paper go unrecycled in the Big Apple each year, according to municipal officials.
That's enough waste to fill the Empire State Building. The city's mayor (and rumored presidential hopeful)
Michael Bloomberg, the Hearst Corporation and Time Warner Cable have teamed up to right this wrong by
joining with the ReMix national public education campaign to specifically encourage New Yorkers to recycle
magazines and catalogs. The effort — the full name is "ReMix - Recycling Magazines is Excellent!"
— is being supported by bus, subway, billboard, taxi and cable tv advertising all around the city this year.
Pushing The Envelope
Alexandria VA: Design and direct marketing professionals have a useful new online resource for information about the power of paper-based communications, with a particular emphasis on envelopes. Created by the Envelope Manufacturers Association Foundation, the site is packed with important information that direct marketers, graphic designers, art directors and other creative professionals need to take advantage of — the innovative and effective power of envelopes. Green-minded designers are urged to check out the "Eco-Friendly Envelopes" section, which provides information on the envelope industry's commitment to environmental practices, including manufacturers' use of paper recovery, recycling, reuse, corn-based gums and adhesives and thinner window films. The site launched at the end of January. You can see it at http://www.powerofenvelopes.org
PROJECT PLANET
Fashionable Focus
San Francisco CA: Adrienne Aquino, a freelance designer and San Francisco State University student, was
tapped to create an official t-shirt for "Focus the Nation," a countrywide series of college and university
teach-ins about global warming that took place late last month. In keeping with spirit of project, Aquino decided
on a "sustainable" design — that's to say, wouldn't become dated after the teach-ins had come
and gone. Hence, the few words, the lack of dates and the simple, fashionable windmill design — a nod to
Focus' logo. "I wanted the shirt to be more fashionable than promotional," Aquino wrote on
SFSU's website. "I wanted it to say, 'Hey, I'm youth, I'm educated about this issue and I'm doing
something about it.'"
Love Is Green
Forget about red. Love is green. Some companies such as Green Field Paper Co. are offering Valentine's Day
cards printed with soy ink on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. The card shown here is embedded with
seeds that "when kept moist and given tender loving care will sprout wildflowers." The cards can be
bought at specialty card shops, Wild Oats and Whole Foods.
Nature Nuts
Wichita KS: The Greteman Group is nuts for nature. Nuts for Nature is the title of a booklet and interactive
online tool package that offers tips on garden planning. Both booklet and web tool are child-focused. They
grew out of the design shop's community service program for 2007, which saw the designers and other
employees donate money to Roots & Shoots (the youth program of the Jane Goodall Institute) and donate
time to helping the Wichita Boys & Girls Club create a nature habitat. (The firm purchased and planted a
grove of crabapple trees for the habitat project.) Both booklet and web tool are accessible
via the gretemangroup.com. The booklet comes
accompanied by a packet of trail mix to get eager designers-cum-gardeners powered up and ready to go.
Don't Be Yellow
Long Beach CA: While others dreamed of a white Christmas during last year's holiday season, JDA Inc.
extended green greetings to clients, vendors and friends via an eco-friendly promotional piece entitled
"It's Easy Being Green(er)." The mailer, created by firm founder David Jensen and the JDA team,
contained tips for going green and called on recipients not to "be yellow about going green." It
also delivered an attractive reusable tote. The "It's Easy" piece was produced by Anderson Lithograph,
a close collaborator with JDA, using 100 percent-recycled Mohawk Options paper.
MAKING GREEN WEBSITES WORK
By Alan Ruthazer, founder, SiiTE Interactive, is an expert on website development. Clients include
the likes Aetna American Express, Condé Nast, Forbes, Fortune, GE, HP, Macys, Martha Stewart
Omnimedia, Scholastic, Smith Barney and many more. In January, several of his projects were named Adobe
Site(s) of the Day.
As companies rush to go green, they often find it difficult to create web-based communication that effectively capture the spirit of environmental conservation. Here are some items to consider as best practices:
1. Provide ways to get involved. Offer suggestions as to how users of your website can make a difference through simple changes in their everyday lives. Then show how your company or organization helps their efforts.
2. Show the impact. Recycling one soda can doesn't make a much of a difference, but it can have a great impact if it is part of a larger effort that invloves many people. Through the use of theoretical or factual examples, consumers will see that their small changes can have a significant impact.
3. Contribute as a company. If you are asking customers to get involved in being greener, be sure to show the difference that your company is making.
4. Inform. Give meaningful facts about conservation. Users crave nuggets of information. If you can enlighten them with these kinds of quick hits, it will help the message be delivered.
5. Provide a forum. People are deeply passionate about the environment and want an opportunity to be heard. Through forums and blogs, users can express their points of view and may show how it applies specifically to your brand. Forums can be moderated, but it's wise to not over-censor, as this will quickly lead to an unused feature.
6. What do I get out of it? While most people want to help the environment, if they know that helping also improves their lives, you create a win-win situation. Offer such suggestions as additional added value.
7. Don't preach. People don't want to be told what to do; they want alternatives to consider. Keep an even tone of voice when discussing your company's efforts and offering your users suggestions. Don't make demands.
8. Links. Provide links to organizations where users can learn more and get more involved.
9. Don't be too self-congratulatory. When promoting your company's contributions to the environment, do not be overly self-congratulatory, as this can invite critics to question your seriousness and prompt questions about what you are not doing.
10. Raise awareness. Taking the opportunity to raise awareness is a meaningful step in and of itself and can help create the momentum for change.
GREENSPEAK GLOSSARY
Meredith Christiansen is Product Manager, Neenah Paper. The Greenspeak Glossary is part of Neenah Green, a multiheaded initiative to alleviate climate change by using cutting-edge environmental technologies to reduce its carbon footprint and by providing customers with a variety of sustainable choices.
OK, 'fess up. There are times when you're discussing green design that you'd like to keep up with your environmentalist colleagues, but you don't quite recognize all of the terms being used. You're not alone. The design lexicon is now chock full of green words and phrases. To help those of us who may not understand all of them yet, we at Neenah Paper put together the following glossary:
Alternative energy: Energy derived from sources that have little or no impact on the environment and produce no net greenhouse gas emissions in generating electricity. Such sources include wind and solar.
Carbon footprint: An estimate of an individual's or organization's impact on the environment. Usually measured in terms of greenhouse gases produced or emitted. To calculate the environmental impact of using papers containing post consumer content, see the Environmental Defense paper calculator at papercalculator.org.
Carbon neutral: Producing zero net greenhouse gas emissions. This is done either by using renewable energy sources, which produce no net greenhouse gas emissions, by increasing energy efficiency or by carbon offsetting (see below).
Carbon offsetting: The practice of engaging in or sponsoring of projects to nullify or "offset" greenhouse gases emitted. This can include such practices as planting trees and is often done via third party through purchase of carbon offsets. Offsetting is sometimes criticized because it does not require companies to actually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Fossil fuels: Fuels including methane, petroleum, coal and natural gas, which are derived from fossil matter. Burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases, which are a factor in global warming.
FSC Pure (100%): Guaranteed as made only with virgin fiber that comes from a forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Counci (FSC). The certification process verifies that forests are well managed and ensures the replanting and reforesting of trees that are crucial to preventing climate change, combating air pollution and maintaining forest biodiversity.
FSC Mixed Sources: Papers made with FSC-certified mixed sources contain FS-certified virgin fiber along with FSC-controlled fiber and/or post-consumer content.
FSC Recycled: Papers made with post-consumer content that is certified by FSC as being from controlled sources.
Greenhouse Gases: Atmospheric gases that create a "greenhouse effect" that makes the planet inhabitable, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Increases in carbon dioxide, ozone and methane caused in part by the burning of fossil fuels, industry and emissions are considered to be factors in global warming.
Green-e Certified (Renewable Energy): Green-e is the nation's leading independent consumer protection program for the sale of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the retail market. Green-e offers certification and verification of renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation products.
Post-consumer Fiber: Paper that has reached its intended end-user and then discarded. Typically this includes converters, printers and others who are adding value but are not the intended end-user.
Sustainable: Indefinitely viable, capable of maintaining productivity or usefulness in the long term. Sustainable design, graphic or otherwise, seeks to reduce impacts on the environment by relying on the use of renewable resources, among other measures.
These are some of the most commonly used environmental terms, and the green vocabulary is continually expanding. Refer to this article occasionally to brush up on your greenspeak, and soon enough, you'll be able to offset your carbon footprint with the best of 'em.