PUBLISHERS NOTE: BOTH SIDES NOW

Print design is a punching bag in the debate over the environment, energy and climate. The conventional narrative is simple: printed matter is yesterday's news, a manufactured mess resulting in dead trees, packed landfills, and rampant pollution; in contrast, digital communications are sleek, cool and having no physical consequences. Pixels versus paper has not been a fair fight, in part, because friends of print cower in the face of this narrative. Lately, however, that has begun to change. This fall, The Print Council, a US-based advocacy group, released a position paper entitled "Why Print Is Green." Roughly at the same time, a UK initiative called Two Sides, representing companies spanning the graphics supply chain, launched an awareness campaign in England to promote print as "Renewable, Recyclable and Powerful." Both organizations strike at the conventional wisdom. They make the positive case for paper as a natural and renewable resource; for the rise of responsible recycling, sustainability and stewardship practices; and for print as an environmentally sound choice for today's communications. They dare to make the contrarian point that the physical consequences of electronic communications — ravenous energy demands, huge carbon footprint, and vast recycling challenges posed by the digital infrastructure — cannot be wished away. Forgive my tortured boxing analogy, but if paper versus pixels were a heavyweight match, print would be bloodied. However, with passivity fading, the next few rounds should be more interesting. I am not sure where the appropriate balance lies, nor do you. Shouldn't we hear both sides (or all sides) before making consequential media, business and public policy decisions?

— Gordon Kaye

THINKING GREEN

Quadruple Bottom Line
AIGA unveiled a new sustainability framework, The Living Principles for Design, at last week's Make/Think: AIGA Design Conference in Memphis. The framework seeks to distill the collective wisdom found in decades of sustainability theory and bring them to life in the first quadruple bottomline framework. To the commonly accepted triple bottomline analysis — environmental protection, social equity, and economic health — the Living Principles for Design add cultural vitality because culture is where sustainability finds its way into the blood stream of society and where designers have the deepest impact in shaping habits and values. The AIGA Center for Sustainable Design co-chairs are Gaby Brink and Phil Hamlett, and strategy committee chair is Nathalie Destandau.
www.livingprinciples.net and www.sustainability.aiga.org

Public Printer Goes Hybrid
The U.S. Government Printing Office benefited from a program in the stimulus bill to upgrade the agency's fleet with more fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicles. GPO received a dozen new vehicles; the GPO fleet is now operating with three hybrid and nine flex-fuel vehicles. Some of the agency's less efficient and older vehicles are being eliminated. "GPO employees are pleased to play a role in helping the environment by replacing older vehicles with more energy efficient ones and assisting with the stimulation of the economy at the same time," said Public Printer Bob Tapella.

Fashion Statement
Euro RSCG Chicago has launched a new campaign for Pivot, an online boutique based in Chicago that sells fashionable and eco-conscious clothing and accessories. "Make a Fashion Statement" encourages people to make a connection between fashion and their personal environmental impact, local economies and more thoughtful commerce. A combination of high-fashion artwork and compelling copy include host lines such as "Do the clothes you wear, wear out the world?", "Be green in any color you like", and "Good karma is in." Steffan Postaer is chair and chief creative officer of the ad agency.
www.pivotboutique.com

P&G Future Friendly
Companies of all stripes continue to line up on the side of sustainability. A good example is Procter & Gamble. The consumer packaged goods giant has begun a "Future Friendly" program, an educational initiative that is intended to reach up to 50 million U.S. households by Earth Day 2010. It will seek to educate consumers about making sustainable choices and, ultimately, to sell its "sustainable innovation products" — such as slimmer, less landfill-y Pampers — into 30 million U.S. homes. The company has also pledged to provide billions of gallons of clean drinking through the "Children's Safe Drinking Water" program. This will include an awareness campaign to reach at least 300 million people.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: CULTURAL VITALITY

The influence of design on culture is enormous. As designers create messages, artifacts and experiences for consumers, they have an important opportunity to weave sustainability into the broader fabric of culture, helping to shift consumption and lifestyle aspirations to a more sustainable basis for living.
 
— Richard Grefé,
AIGA executive director, at the Make/Think Conference, discussing the new sustainability framework, The Living Principles for Design

MORE THINKING GREEN

This Is Big
Big Book of Green Design is focused exclusively on the graphic design and advertising communities, and on showcasing real world green solutions from small to medium sized firms. Over 200 examples of these earth-friendly designs are included. The release date from HarperCollins is looming: November 17.

SFI Standard Revised
SFI heads into 2010 with a revised standard that continues to support responsible forest management and address the growing market interest in products from these forests. The revised standard (SFI 2010-2014) is the outcome of a one-year open review process which involved thousands of participants. Revisions include adding emphasis on avoiding controversial or illegal fiber sources, strengthening landowner outreach and logger training programs, and better aligning principles with international criteria and indicators. "As a result of the transparent review process, the revised standard reflects all values, including important provisions for wildlife habitat and biodiversity," said Scot Williamson of the Wildlife Management Institute, and a member of the task force that reviewed comments.

Next Generation Creative
Seventh Generation, a fast-growing green products maker, appoints Carmichael Lynch as its creative agency. Central to the account win, says Seventh Generation CEO Chuck Maniscalco, is Carmichael Lynch's green thinking. "I'm very impressed by the spirit and culture of Carmichael Lynch and I think it will meld well with ours," he stated. "Additionally, their dedication to sustainable business practices is commendable and consistent with our mission and vision as an organization." Seventh Generation makes green household products such detergents, dish soaps and baby diapers and paper towels.

EPA Honors Mills
For 2009, The EPA has recognized 17 leading green power purchasers in three categories: Green Power Partner of the Year, On-Site Generation, and Green Power Purchasing. Of these, two are major premium paper companies — Mohawk Fine Papers and Neenah Paper. The complete lineup: Green Power Partners of the Year (Mohawk, Deutsche Bank, Intel, Kohl's); Green Power Purchasing (Neenah, Beaulieu Commercial, Bloomberg LP, EarthColor, Foulger-Pratt Management, The Joinery, Motorola, Shaklee, Steelcase, and Western Pennsylvania Energy Consortium); and On Site Generation (Applied Materials, Butte-Glenn Community College District, Wal-Mart).
www.renewableenergymarkets.com/gpla_details.shtml

Arbor Day
NewPage Corporation expands the Arbor family of certified, recycled, eco-friendly paper to now include Arbor Plus, a domestically manufactured, No. 2 sheetfed grade offering. Arbor Plus contains 30 percent postconsumer recycled fiber and carries three chain-of-custody certifications from the FSC, SFI and PEFC, and is in compliance with the Lacey Act Requirements. Arbor products are ideal for high-profile printed materials like magazines, catalogs, annual reports, direct mail and retail inserts. (You can see Arbor and Arbor Plus in use in next month's American Graphic Design Awards annual issue.)
1.800.638.3313 or www.NewPageCorp.com

AGFA GREENWORKS EXPANDS

The GreenWorks program from Agfa Graphics was recently expanded to include a wider pool of green printers. The GreenWorks recognizes and honors printers that integrate, support and promote environmentally sound practices within their facilities. To date, Agfa has recognized 130 printers in North America for their green printing efforts. To become part of Agfa's GreenWorks program, companies must be current users of selected Agfa platemaking technology which are helping commercial printers significantly reduce their impact on the environment when compared to conventional digital or analog plates. Companies must also actively promote cleaner and more efficient printing practices, use other environmentally-friendly products and be involved in additional eco-friendly efforts such as recycling, waste reduction programs or use of alternative energy sources in their plants to be considered for GreenWorks. States Roger Hinds, marketing manager, CtP, Agfa Graphics, North America: "Developing new technologies that minimize environmental impact and provide the best quality output is a primary concern for Agfa. And we are constantly working to achieve both."
www.gdusa.com/agfa

MORE THINKING GREEN

Thanks A Million
Domtar has marked a milestone with the sale of its millionth ton of FSC certified paper. Since the company's first FSC-certified ton was manufactured in 2002, Domtar's offering has evolved from one product to a full line of environmentally and socially responsible papers, known collectively as Domtar EarthChoice®. Tensie Whelan, President of Rainforest Alliance, said, "The Domtar EarthChoice® commitment has brought sustainability into the mainstream with more than one million tons of Rainforest Alliance/FSC-certified product sold. This has been good for business for Domtar... as well as good business for the trees - on which we depend for water, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat. Thanks a million, EarthChoice!"

Sweet Packaging
New Leaf Chocolates has added a plant-based packaging for shipping its premium chocolates. For the UK-based company, which formerly used polystyrene foam boxes, the challenge was to preserve the delicate nature of its chocolates while shipping throughout the U.S., especially in the Sunbelt where melting is an issue. The company chose to adopt a "GreenPod" packaging system because it uses plant-based materials that are recycled, recyclable or biodegradable. The company says it will continue to work with its packaging design in order to accomodate larger chocolate products. More on the technicals at...
www.newleafchocolates.com/aboutus.sc#greenpod

A New Standard
48HourPrint.com recently switched its standard paper offering to a paper made with recycled content as one of a number of steps the company is taking toward that goal. The online printer partnered with NewPage to make the switch effective September 1. Any addition cost for the recycled stock will not be passed onto customers, say 48HourPrint.com executives, and will be absorbed by the company as part of its investment in environmentally responsible business practices and quality services. "Offering a recycled sheet as our standard paper choice sends a strong message about 48HourPrint.com's commitment to quality and the environment," said Raymond E. Pinard, President and CEO.

More Than A Toy
Unisource Worldwide has won a 2009 Greener Packaging Award for its environmentally-friendly sustainable packaging product. Unisource and its customer, Green Toys of San Francisco CA, partnered to create a 100 percent recyclable corrugated box packaging for a range of toys constructed from recycled plastic and other environmentally-friendly materials. The toys are made from 100 percent recycled milk containers; the designs by Unisource require a minimal material footprint and use recycled board and soy-based inks.
www.greenerpackage.com/greener_package_awards

GDUSA PACKAGE DESIGN COMPETITION

This is the fastest-growing of GDUSA's national design competitions for a simple reason: Marketers are challenged as never before to convey their message and promote their brand in an era of tight budgets, fragmented audiences and intense competition. Package design is increasingly the difference when the purchasing decision is on the line. There are two dozen categories, including Sustainable Packaging. The deadline for American Package Design Awards submissions is December 10. Neenah Paper is the exclusive sponsor. For more information or an Entry Form, visit...
www.gdusa.com/contests/apda.php