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IN THIS ISSUE
Publisher's Note
Thinking Green
Call For Entries
More Thinking Green
Quote Of The Month
Special Offer
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
PERVERSE. COUNTERINTUITIVE. FASCINATING.
(ANOTHER SNACKWELL MOMENT)
Sustainability is a worthy — some would say transcendent — goal. That
does not mean, however, we must mindlessly accept conventional wisdoms that
gloss over the complexity of achieving the goal. In last month's GDUSA Green
Enewsletter, I wrote about the “Snackwell Effect.” Each Snackwell
cookie has fewer calories but one's overall calorie intake increases because we
eat more of them; likewise, energy efficient products tend to be used more and
left on longer, which can result in more overall energy usage. Perverse, counterintuitive,
fascinating. There is a similar Snackwell moment hidden in the recently released
Pira International study for PRIMIR. Entitled “Sustainable Print in a Dynamic
Global Market: What Going Green Means,” the 300+ page study delves into
the impact of print on the environment. One intriguing conclusion: Corporate
communications executives simply assume that using electronic media —
emails, podcasts, websites or even television — is naturally greener than print.
Print is an easy target, observes the report, but in reality, emedia alternatives can
have a far greater environmental impact. The consumption of electricity by data centers
and servers alone consume more kilowatt hours of electricity than the print
industry. And the disposal of electronic products is the fastest growing cause of
toxic waste. Easy targets aren't always the optimal targets.
http://www.primir.org.
— Gordon Kaye
THINKING GREEN
Off The Deepend
Deepend has designed and built a customized 3D virtual world and avatar application
for a new initiative, Climate Culture. The game, which mirrors a user's actual world
based on their carbon footprint, delivers an engaging experience intended to educate
consumers about the climate. Users can interact in a multi-player game competing to
reduce their carbon footprints, and to build a virtual community that reflects the
nation's growing movement towards sustainability.
http://www.ClimateCulture.com
OgilvyEarth Is The One
Ogilvy & Mather has expanded its global sustainability practice into a single
entity, OgilvyEarth. The organization is intended to help businesses embrace various
environmental initiatives from promoting green products to advising on environmental
public policy. Ogilvy has previously created sustainability programs for Unilever, Ford
and DuPont. It was also responsible for the Beyond Petroleum campaign for
BP. OgilvyEarth is currently involved in the awareness campaign for United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Copenhagan, where 192 nations will attempt to
negotiate a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocols.
Watershed Moment
In an effort to get the public to rethink bottled waters, the MSLK design firm has
developed Watershed, an Eco-Art Installation on display during the Figment Art
Festival on Governor's Island in New York City from June 12-14. Watershed is
meant to serve as a visual representation of the human consumption of plastic water
bottles in the U.S. Here is an artist rendering. MSLK principals are Marc S Levitt
and Sheri L Koetting.
http://figmentnyc.org
Women In The Environment
Noted paper and print industry expert Derek Smith has planned a program
— 'Women in the Environment' — at the Museum for Women in the
Arts in Washington DC on Tuesday June 30. Smith notes that “women have
been a major force in so many areas in driving sustainability programs forward and
I have brought together some outstanding speakers from various aspects of
sustainability to talk about the reasons that sustainability programs are still
going forward in spite of, or some might say because of, the recession.”
http://www.paperleadership.com
The Chartreuse Movement
Weber Thompson, a diversified architecture and interior design company, celebrates
the opening of its highly sustainable headquarters by introducing a new logo and
website. The building, logo and website caps a string of milestones for the firm,
now in its third decade of business. Though green for the logo seemed an obvious
color, Belyea chose a dynamic red for the primary feature — a rectangle
with intersecting strokes — with chartreuse as a secondary color to signal
the sustainabile focus across all the company's disciplines.
More Important Than Ever
Coca-Cola, Toyota, Stora Enso, International Paper and Weyerhaeuser are
among the companies ranked the highest for the sustainability reporting by the
Roberts Environmental Center of Claremont McKenna College. Companies are
judged on the amount of information about their environment practices disclosed
on their websites. The findings suggest that larger consumer-facing companies
— and sectors with a history of environmental challenges such as motor
vehicles, utilites and petroleum refining — often excel at communicating
their corporate social responsibility efforts. “In the current business
climate, a demonstration of corporate social responsibility is more important
than ever,” says the Center's Director J. Emil Morhardt.
http://www.roberts.cmc.edu/
GDUSA AWARDS
Tomorrow is the deadline for entries to be postmarked. A downloadable entry from
for GDUSA's American Graphic Design Awards can be found at...
http://www.gdusa.com/contests/agda.php
MORE THINKING GREEN
Lane Heads PennFuture
David Lane, president of Philadelphia-based ad agency LevLane, is the new
Chair of the environmental organization PennFuture. Lane, a board member
since 2004, says: “I am so proud to be involved with PennFuture. I have
always been passionately green, passionate about the outdoors, about fishing
and camping and hiking, and PennFuture is doing the important environmental
advocacy and legislative work that I deeply believe in. They recognize that a
strong Pennsylvania economy is helped, not hurt, by a strong environmental
stewardship, and they get results.”
Media Guides Out Of Bounds
Three Big Ten universities — Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin
— have announced they will stop printing media guides immediately. All
the relevant information found in the guides, they say, will be made easily
accessible on their respective websites. The schools estimate a savings of
$250,000 per year as well as enhancing their image as environmentally
responsible institutions.
Isley New Haven
Alexander Isley recently created the website for 360 State, a new green
development in New Haven. It's a clean, direct, easy-to-expand-upon
design. The look and content of the site emphasizes that the client is
“on the cutting edge of environmentally progressive design”
where “green will be a way of life at 360 State.”
http://www.360statestreet.com/
He's A Prodigy
Ben Grossman, director of Grossman Marketing Group's Green Marketing
& Sustainability Practice, wins the 2009 Prodigy Award by the New
England Direct Marketing Association. The award is given to one marketing
professional in New England under the age of 30 who contributed to the
direct marketing industry. Grossman was honored for his leadership in the
green marketing space. His efforts to bring sustainable practices to market
have helped his fourth generation family business obtain business from such
organizations as Zipcar, National Parks Foundation and Google.
http://www.nedma.com/about/prodigy-award-winners.asp
SFI Conference
The 2009 SFI Annual Conference is rapidly approaching and a wide array of
speakers are scheduled. Among them: Brian Dumaine, Global Editor of Fortune
Magazine; Michelle Desiderio, Director of Green Building Programs, National
Association of Home Builders Research Center; Craig Hanson, Director, People
and Ecosystems, World Resources Institute; Sean Ross, Director of Forestry
Operations, The Lyme Timber Company and Scot Williamson, Vice President,
Wildlife Management Institute. The dates: September 22-24 in Nashville TN.
http://www.sfiprogram.org/conference-2009.php or 202.596.3458.
Sappi Renews
Sappi Fine Paper North America has renewed its support for Living Lands
& Waters in 2009. The company has been a consistent supporter of the
non-profit environmental organization, which focuses on the protection,
preservation and restoration of America's major rivers and their watersheds.
Last year, Sappi and the group organized several river cleanups; more are
expected this year. Jennifer Miller, Executive Vice President of Marketing
and Communications, states: “Sappi Fine Paper is pleased to continue
its corporate sponsorship of Living Lands & Waters, for it is an
environmental organization that is truly remarkable in its mission and its
grassroots approach to cleaning up our nation's rivers and watersheds.”
http://www.na.sappi.com/sfpna-renews-support-for-llw-and-sustainability
Keep On Truckin'
Unisource Worldwide is rolling out a fleet of newly designed trucks in
key markets to highlight the unisourcegreen.com website, and help
showcase Unisource's environmentally-friendly papers, services and
initiatives. “With the introduction of our new unisourcegreen.com
truck decals, Unisource is proudly upholding our commitment to practice
sustainability and provide more environmentally-friendly brands and
services in order to meet the needs of our many green customers,”
said Al Dragone, CEO for Unisource. “These state-of-the-art
designed truck wraps are being placed on select Unisource trucks in
targeted markets to help spread the word about Unisource's own green
initiatives and spark other's interest about the green movement.”
http://www.unisourcegreen.com
Saving The Amazon
Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos defended the seemingly un-eco-friendly style
of his company at the annual shareholder meeting recently in Seattle. He
made four main points. First, the company loads its trucks efficiently and
directs them based on the optimized route for fuel economy. Second, the
company's investment in the Kindle may lead to less paper usage in the
long run. Third, Amazon has instituted “frustration-free”
packaging, featuring extraneous wires and ties. Lastly, hundreds of
employees have been recognized for identifying waste and offering
recommendations for a greener Amazon.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Cheryl Heller, Heller Design Communications, New York NY, “Brand New
World” Workshop at the Sustainable Brands '09 conference in Monterey CA
“Here's yesterday's news: The industrial age concepts and structures
that still define our management models — in business, education, health
care and economics — have failed us. The celebration of narrow
specialization over broad perspective and wisdom, a focus on quick returns
over an understanding of systems and long-term solutions, top-down control
that stifles new strategies and innovations, and a morass of silos, politics and
arbitrary boundaries have been recognized as the culprits in the multiple crises
we face, and in the legacy of a world-view that is no longer relevant. The
strategies currently offered to solve our problems are those that were used
to create them.”
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SPAM AND SUSTAINABILITY
62 Trillion:
The number of spam emails sent out in 2008.
33 Billion:
Kilo-watt-hours of energy used by spam.
2.4 Million:
Homes that could be powered by wasted energy.
131 Kilograms:
Annual carbon dioxide the average business user is
responsible for in email-related emissions.
3.1 Million/2 Billion:
Cars/gallons of gas to which wasted spam energy equates.
Source:
McAfee and ICF International
The Carbon Footprint of Email Spam Report
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