Help Diane MacEachern Get To Copenhagen!

Good friend of Good And Green(R)–and one of this year’s panel participants–is a finalist in the Huffington Post contest to send a Citizen Ambassador to Copenhagen for the Climate Conference.  We encourage you to help her with the mission by voting here:  http://ow.ly/HNcc

Good luck, Diane!

U.S. Postal Service Unveils New Version Of Green Website

The U.S. Postal Service has just amped up its cyber presence. The agency recently unveiled a slick new version of its green website, usps.com/green. First launched in 2008, the improved version is an attention-getter for people who care about the environment. The site allows users to purchase 100 percent recyclable Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging supplies delivered directly to their homes or offices at no charge, takes users on a cyber tour of forests where 1.7 million new trees are planted each day to replace what’s harvested, has a place where children learn how to create green family tree and includes great tips anyone can use to make the home environment more renewable.  In addition, visitors can find out more about the Postal Service’s carbon footprint and learn now to calculate savings and help the environment by mailing and shipping from the online Post Office that is always open.  “Friends of the environment will find smart tools on usps.com/green to measure their carbon emissions and create individual conservation plans,” said Sam Pulcrano, vice president of Sustainability. “The Skip the Trip calculator shows how to save money, fuel and energy by using our easy online services. It’s another way the Postal Service helps customers make greener choices about their mail.”

AVEENO® Helps Women Reduce Waste And Help Local Communities

The AVEENO® brand continues to make strides towards sustainability with the announcement of exciting new eco-conscious efforts and an alliance that educates consumers on the importance of reducing waste and helping the environment, all building off a foundation set more than three years ago with the brand’s AVEENO® Inspires campaign.  In an effort to educate consumers on how they can personally make sustainable strides in their local communities after they have purchased and used AVEENO® products, the brand kicks off a partnership this month with TerraCycle. This unique partnership offers communities a chance to make sustainable strides; AVEENO® Beauty Brigades are currently being formed across the country to collect empty AVEENO® product tubes (all of the elongated tubes from sun care, facial care, baby and body care products). For each tube received by TerraCycle, the AVEENO® brand will pay two cents to the non-profit organization or school of one’s choice or to the featured charity, The Skin Cancer Foundation. “We are incredibly proud of the progress the AVEENO® brand has made in terms of sustainability,” said Michael Marquis, AVEENO® brand group product director. “We continue to look for ways to improve our eco-conscious practices, from how we source ingredients and packaging materials, to reducing waste and resources needed for product transport. It’s through our collaboration with partners like TerraCycle that makes it possible for us to expand our commitment to sustainability, giving back to the community and improving our environment.”

New Website Hopes To Raise Awareness Of Climate Change Issues

More than half of Americans say they’ve never heard of cap and trade. But a new website, GreenDetectives.net, is hoping to raise awareness of cap and trade and other complex climate change issues in advance of Copenhagen’s historical United Nations climate change conference.  “Between new Pew Center research illustrating low awareness and concern about climate change, and the millions of dollars invested in ‘debunking’ beliefs that it even exists, America has a real problem as we head into COP15 in Copenhagen,” says Valerie Davis, CEO of HEnviroMedia, a firm that focuses on authentic green marketing.  EnviroMedia president Kevin Tuerff added, “Valerie and I have spent our careers researching and explaining air, water and waste pollution challenges to consumers. Global climate change is by far the most complex issue we’ve taken on, but we have faith Americans will contribute to the solution if they take time to understand the connection between our everyday lives as consumers, and important issues like cap and trade being discussed in Copenhagen at the United Nations climate change conference.”  The goal of the new Green Detectives website is to demystify the climate change debate before the United Nations climate change conference. At GreenDetectives.net, Tuerff and Davis simplify terms like climate finance, REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), climate adaptation, technology transfer and cap and trade through the use of a “decoder,” which provides a video explanation of the term selected by the user.

In Copenhagen, Davis and Tuerff will provide daily updates on COP15 via GreenDetectives.net, and serve as delegates representing the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development.  Davis and Tuerff were originally dubbed the “Green Detectives” in a 2008 Washington Times news article after they started GreenwashingIndex.com—an online tool featured in Time and Newsweek to call out misleading green advertising.

The Home Depot® Foundation Plants More Than 36,000 Trees During NeighborWoods Month

In October, The Home Depot® Foundation worked with the Alliance for Community Trees to sponsor National NeighborWoods Month, a month long series of tree planting events by 24,000 volunteers in 231 cities across the country. As a result, more than 36,000 trees were planted in just one month. In addition to the NeighborWoods Month tree planting projects, volunteers also provided tree maintenance tips, training activities and educational seminars to improve urban communities.  Team Depot volunteers were a critical part of National Neighborwoods Month. They led and participated in many of the projects across the country:

• In Asheville, NC, 24 Home Depot associates volunteered their time to plant more than 100 oak, dogwood and fruit trees and sixty holly shrubs at the Dearview Apartments.
• In Albuquerque, NM, 30 Home Depot volunteers planted a total of 300 trees at 100 homes in the Sawmill neighborhood and several other affordable housing communities.
• In Pittsburgh, PA, 50 Home Depot volunteers planted 20 trees throughout the East Liberty development.

 The Home Depot Foundation is committed to efforts that support environmental stewardship and provide proactive solutions to helping create healthy sustainable communities and affordable housing.  “Trees are an important component of responsible design to ensure that homes are affordable, energy efficient, safe and healthy,” said Kelly Caffarelli, President of The Home Depot Foundation. “By partnering with ACT and local NeighborWoods organizations, The Foundation is able to further its goals of investing in the overall health and success of our communities.”

 

‘Green Is Universal’ Has Successful ‘Green Week’

‘Green Is Universal’ kicked off its annual ‘Green Week’ November 15th, demonstrating a continued company-wide commitment to raise environmental awareness and activate consumers around ways to preserve the environment. For the third straight year, over 40 NBCU brands featured environmentally themed programming across the company’s television and digital platforms.  The centerpiece of this year’s “Green Week” was the “Green Counts Here” campaign, a cross-platform initiative that invited NBC Universal audiences to make green count, by pledging to make small green changes in their daily lives. The sum of these pledges will illustrate to consumers’ the collective impact of their environmentally friendly actions.  Throughout “Green Week”, both on-air and online promotion for “Green Counts Here” appeared across many of NBCU’s properties, inviting consumers to make an online pledge to adopt an eco-friendly habit. For instance, USA Network encouraged viewers to power down their computers, iVillage promoted shopping with reusable bags, The Weather Channel asked people to turn down the thermostat and Syfy suggested carpooling to work or school. The pledges could be made on each brand’s website, and a running tally of these commitments is featured online. 

“While the challenges facing the planet can seem vast, we can all make small green changes that cumulatively add up to make a huge difference,” said Beth Colleton, Vice President of Green is Universal. “Through this program we hope to mobilize our audiences in pledging to green just one aspect of their daily routines. Together we can have a meaningful impact on the environment.”  Talent across all NBCU networks played a significant role in encouraging viewers to be greener, through a series of environmentally themed “The More You Know” PSAs. Topics included how to conserve water, use less energy and recycle.

Levi’s® Announces charity: water As Winner of GO IV Fortune Charity Giveaway

The Levi’s® brand is proud to announce charity: water as the winning charity of its recent GO IV Fortune $100,000 green charity giveaway. Beginning in mid-October, GO IV Fortune players nominated hundreds of charitable organizations with a commitment to sustainability and the environment. The list was narrowed down to ten finalists and thousands of gamers voted for the charity they felt best embodied the Levi’s® brand’s pioneering spirit and rich legacy of promoting sustainability. charity: water (www.charitywater.org) is a non-profit organization that brings safe and clean drinking water to people in developing nations. Almost 1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean water – one in eight people don’t have access to the most basic of human needs. In three years, charity: water has raised more than $11 million and funded 1,549 water projects in 16 countries. 100 percent of public donations to charity: water goes directly to fund these important water projects. The charity: water team rallied their followers and fans to join in the movement to bring water to developing nations and used social networking and word-of-mouth efforts to encourage people to vote for them in Levi’s® GO IV Fortune challenge.  “We’re thrilled to accept the generous $100,000 charitable gift from Levi’s. Almost a billion people on the planet currently lack access to clean drinking water, and 100 percent of the money will be used to bring clean and safe water to 5,000 people in need,” says Scott Harrison, President and Founder of charity: water.  The GO IV Fortune interactive challenge wrapped up last week and another $100,000 was awarded to the player who cracked the final cipher on Tuesday, November 17. The winner went to an undisclosed location on Saturday, November 21 to dig up the buried $100,000 prize.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we spend time this week giving thanks, we want to thank you for sending us your great green marketing ideas and campaigns and turning to us for all the latest information on how to successfully connect with socially-conscious consumer.  Here are some great green marketing stories you can enjoy during your holiday travels and visits:

Moving Green Consumer Purchasing From ‘Me’ to ‘We’
GreenBiz.com, November 24, 2009
Research finds the “majority of consumers are most likely to put their dollars toward greener options when they perceive a clear, personal benefit such as saving energy, avoiding toxic chemicals and enhancing health; or don’t have to make sacrifices or pay more.”  

Toy recall hurts company’s ‘green’ image
The Globe and Mail, November 23, 2009
What happens when a brand known for its attention to health & safety has to recall 26,000 toys due to paint contamination?

Chevy Volt Coming to Your Child’s School
U.S. News & World Report, November 24, 2009
Students and teachers in a Los Angeles school will “take part in a giant show-and-tell webcast featuring that upcoming electric car with the built-in range extender, the 2011 Chevy Volt.”

Take Brighter Planet’s Sustainability in the Workplace Survey

Brighter Planet would like to hear your thoughts about sustainability at work.  The Sustainability in the Workplace survey is aimed at gathering reliable data about how employers and employees are interacting around the issue of sustainability.  “We spend more 1/3 or more of our life in the workplace,” says Patty Prairie, CEO, Brighter Planet.  “Employees are the front-line of any organization.”  To take the survey, visit:   https://brighterplanet.wufoo.com/forms/sustainability-in-the-workplace/.  By completing the survey you’ll automatically be entered into a random drawing to win $200 cash.

Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle™ Packaging Begins Hitting Store Shelves

The Coca-Cola Company recently announced that beverages in its innovative PlantBottle™ packaging are beginning to arrive on store shelves in select markets throughout the world, initiating the company’s journey toward a goal of producing 2 billion of the special PET plastic bottles by the end of 2010.  PlantBottle PET plastic bottles are made partially from plants, which reduces the company’s dependence on a non-renewable resource — petroleum. Other benefits are that it is 100 percent recyclable, and preliminary research indicates that from the growing of the plant materials through to the production of the resin, the carbon footprint for the PlantBottle packaging is smaller than for bottles made with traditional PET. “We are taking a major step along our sustainable packaging journey as The Coca-Cola Company becomes the first-to-market with a recyclable PET plastic bottle made partially from plants,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. “From Coke brands in Copenhagen to DASANI water in the Western United States, we are starting to roll out the first generation of the bottle of the future.” Throughout Denmark, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light and Coca-Cola Zero in 500mL and 2L sizes are now available in the PlantBottle packaging. A variety of products, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fresca and DASANI will be in Western Canada in the PlantBottle beginning in December and for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. And for select markets in the Western United States, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, PlantBottle packaging will be used for sparkling brands and DASANI in several sizes, starting in January. Future launches are being planned in other markets, including Brazil, Japan and Mexico and for China’s Shanghai Expo in 2010. “While the PlantBottle introduction and market launch put The Coca-Cola Company on the forefront of bio-based packaging innovation, we are continuing to strive to make an even better bottle,” said Scott Vitters, Director of Sustainable Packaging, The Coca-Cola Company. “Our vision is to continue innovating to achieve a bottle that is made with 100 percent plant-waste material while remaining completely recyclable.”