A radical shift is happening in the marketplace—consumers are increasingly basing purchasing decisions not just on value, but on their values.

As I describe in my book, The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler; February 2011), now more than ever, consumers of all stripes are demanding that the brands they buy and the companies that make them, share their own personal social and environmental values.

Consumers are increasingly seeing businesses as linchpins with the resources and the incentives to address pressing societal needs (and this is especially so when government is seen as falling behind or inadequate in this regard.) This perception is changing the rules of the road for marketers who must respond quickly or risk being left behind by offerings viewed as more authentic and committed to sustainability.

As I detail in the book, new rules are being written by consumers for manufacturers and marketers.

1. Values guide consumer purchasing. Historically, consumers bought solely on price, performance, and convenience. But today, how products are sourced, manufactured, packaged, disposed of - and even such social aspects as how factory and farm workers are treated - all matter. This green consciousness is not confined to the younger generations. Over half of Baby Boomers consider themselves socially conscious shoppers. That’s 40 million green boomers who choose to organize, pluck resource-conserving products from the shelves, boycott products of companies that pollute, and “pro-cott” the products of companies that give back to the community.

2. Life Cycle considerations are important. Today’s consumers are doing more than just checking prices and seeking out familiar brand names. They turn over packages in search of descriptors that reflect a panoply of environmental and social issues that can impact a product throughout its entire life cycle. In the same breath, consumers can look for products that are at once, “pesticide free” “fair trade” and “sustainably harvested.” Representing a sea change in the history of promotion, marketers need to move beyond sheer product benefits in their messages and tell the whole story behind their offerings.

3. Manufacturer and retailer reputation count now more than ever. Not all greener products have ecolabels or green claims emblazoned on them. Many consumers defer to manufacturer and retailer reputations as a defacto eco-label. Consumers are asking, “Who makes this brand? Did they produce this product with high environmental and social standards?” That’s one reason why S.C. Johnson is quick to remind us that they are “A Family Company”, and why CEOs such as Tom Chappell (Tom’s of Maine), Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm) and Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) maintain high profiles.

4. Businesses are their philosophies. It used to be that companies were what they made. International Business Machines. General Foods. General Motors. Now, businesses and brands are what they stand for. San Francisco-based Method’s innovative line of household cleaning products uses design, fragrance, efficacy, and environmental and personal safety to make cleaning a positive experience for the individual and the environment. Their “People Against Dirty” campaign” featured on the methodhome.com website and their equally empowering “Say no to (laundry) jugs” campaign supporting their new 8X concentrated laundry detergent in waste-free squirt bottle equip consumers with the wherewithal to make a difference.

Meanwhile, “Starbucks proves that a global company serving 50 million people per day can turn a proactive approach to sustainable sourcing and operations into a strategic and profitable part of its brand. And Timberland’s attention to quality, passion for the environment and society, and commitment to transparency has helped earn a strong customer following willing to pay its premium.

5. Nearly everyone is a corporate stakeholder. A reflection of the growing social consciousness that exists among today’s consumers, corporate stakeholders are no longer confined to just customers, employees, and investors; today, publics of all stripes are now corporate stakeholders including environmentalists, educators, and children - even the unborn. For instance, the astronomic rise in cause-related marketing efforts, now refined to a science helps business such as Starbucks and in turn, their enlightened customers support people living with AIDS in Africa.

6. Authenticity. It’s not enough to slap on a recycling logo or make a biodegradability claim. Brands viewed as the most genuine integrate relevant sustainability benefits into their products. That’s why HSBC and Stonyfield Farm aim to reduce the carbon impacts of their corporate operations. Their industry-leading track record for managing their carbon footprint (which we at J. Ottman Consulting advised them on) undergirded HSBC’s Effie award- winning “No Small Change” green marketing campaign which empowered consumers to reduce their own carbon footprint, in line with the bank’s own experience.

*** Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information her.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 
 

Twenty-three-year-old Jessica Felstead has a new red woollen coat. Buttoning it in front of the mirror she spins round to show her friends. "I absolutely love it!" she grins.

Around her women are admiring handbags, riffling through a clothes rail and fishing out brightly coloured scarves from a pile on the table.

I'm in the middle of a clothes swapping party at the offices of sustainable PR agency Futerra, and this morning Jessica's red coat was hanging unworn in the back of my wardrobe.

Clothes swapping parties have spread worldwide since they were first given "a glam facelift" and a brand six years ago by Lucy Shea, CEO of Futerra, who christened the swaps "swishing" – the noise of rustling clothes from your friends – and set up a website to help people put the parties on.

In the past few weeks she has had requests for swishing party advice packs from women in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sydney and Paris. The swishing website gets up to 10,000 visits a month from around the world, and in the UK she estimates that 7,000 women swap 25,000 items every year.

It is easy to see why it's popular. As they sip champagne with their friends, guests are allowed to pick up any clothes or accessories they want for free. Everybody is told to bring some clothes they'd be "proud to pass on", and swishing etiquette is to take away the same number of items as you bring to the party.

Although there were quite a few pairs of Primark pumps on the shoe table, I also saw a pair of Valentino heels, a Max Mara skirt, a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans, and a Burberry necktie with the tag on still on. Unfortunately these were mostly already in other people's hands by the time I got there – it's a good idea to be punctual when swishing.

Every year in the UK we buy around 2 million tonnes of clothes, and throw away one million tonnes , all of which comes with a colassal footprint of embedded energy, water and toxins. According to the Observer journalist Lucy Siegle, author of To Die For: is Fashion Wearing Out the World?, the average woman owns 22 items she's never worn.

Swishing is designed to cut this waste by giving women "the thrill of retail therapy without the environmental side effects," says Shea, and by "making swapping clothes an aspiration, rather than a shabby secret". According to Futerra, 0.4 kg of CO2 is saved for every item of clothing that is re-used rather than bought new.

Talking to Katherine Symonds, a 33 year-old swishing novice who works at Coca Cola, it seems the rebrand is working. "I used to go to thrift shops at a child but as an adult I never do. I don't really like the atmosphere," she says. "Charity shops don't have champagne and nice women and, you know, canapes." She's now thinking about holding her own swishing session: "We all get rid of so many clothes but there's a bit of awkwardness about offering somebody your leftovers," she says. "It's really nice to make a party of it."

Although you can't really go swishing if you're after something specific like a smart black skirt, several women said they rated the experience more highly than a trip to the high street. "It makes you choose something you wouldn't normally choose in a shop and branch out a bit," says Felstead. "I prefer it to shopping because I don't feel guilty at the end."

Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of Futerra and longtime "swishette" says it's a mixture of "the massive vicarious pleasure of free stuff", the mystery and anticipation of what will be there, and the sociable nature of swishing, with women complimenting each other on their finds. "When was the last time you talked to a stranger in Topshop?" she asks.

The party was very friendly and good-mannered, and the "no scratching, spitting or biting" sign on the door seemed to be in jest. But I'm told that large public swishing parties can sometimes be less convivial, with women running to grab the best items or tussling over things they want. "It works best with friends" says Harriet Kingaby, a 28-year-old who works in PR. Fans of online shopping can also swap clothes at sites such as Big Wardrobe, Swop2Shop and Posh Swaps .

Last time she did the calculations, which was in 2009, Shea says swishing had prevented around 202,800 kg of clothes from going to landfill, and she estimates it will now be much more.

But with a fifth of the UK market made up of low-cost, short-lifetime garments, many clothes are thrown away because they're bad quality, not because they've fallen out of fashion or favour. There's a limit to how much can be swished.

By the end of the evening I'm pleased with my swapped swag – a pink high-waisted Jaques Vert skirt and a matching blouse, brought by Shea's mum's friend.

A look online when I get home shows lots more parties around the country, from a swap at the Good Fashion Show in London, to a debutswishing and swing dancing night, to a fundraising swish in a Baptist church in Bedford .

"We have so many resources in circulation which aren't being used to the best of their ability, says Shea, "we need to move towards more collaborative forms of consumption. But what I love about swishing is women don't do it for those reasons – they do it because of the parties and the clothes."

*****

The original information from this article came from Sylvia Rowley.  Sylvia Rowley is an award-winning freelance journalist who writes about the environment and social issues. She also works on Al Jazeera English's environmental show, earthrise.

Ever since the resurgence of environmentalism in 1990, consumer polls have attempted to measure awareness, attitudes and behaviors towards environmental issues and products. Poll after poll has found that consumers claim to be concerned about the issues, they report high levels of green product purchase, and even claim willingness to pay a premium for greener products and packages.

But empirical evidence doesn’t seem to jibe with the research. In some markets, green products barely eke out 3% share, in contrast to the near majorities of consumers who express to pollsters interest in all things green. And despite consumer pronouncements otherwise, premium-priced green brands often gather dust on shelves. 

What can explain the gap between the polls and actual in-market performance? Are consumers lying to pollsters in an attempt to look virtuous?  Is the spirit willing but the pocketbook weak?  Or is it possible that we ourselves need to change the way we view the green consumer market — and ask different questions?  I suspect the latter.

What is “green” — exactly?
One of the biggest challenges in defining “green”, whether it be consumers, products or ads, is that “green,” like the planet itself, encompasses everything — air, water, biological life, chemicals, energy, you name it. 

When it comes to zeroing in on “green” products, what constitutes “green” can run the entire gamut of one or more attributes spanning a product’s lifecycle starting with raw materials (“sustainably harvested”, “organic” and “recycled”), right through to disposal  (“compostable”, “recyclable,”) — and everything in between. 

And most consumers can be said to be “green” in some way. For instance, NMI’s 2011 US LOHAS Consumers Trends poll found that 83% — an overwhelming majority of consumers — said they identified with green at some level.  (Who wouldn’t be for green?).

So when majorities of consumers say they are concerned about environmental issues and express interest in buying green products and recycling their newspapers and bottles, chances are they are telling the truth. 

Consumers may think they are actually greener than we give them credit for.
Is it possible that polls may overstate green consumer purchasing and behavior because consumers think that some of the conventional products they buy are actually green? 

Consider the language on the back of bottle of Tide. Every bottle of Tide, and many other big laundry detergent brands, too, now carries a recycling label and these messages:  “Bottle made from 25% or more post-consumer plastic,” “Contains no phosphates,” “Ingredients include biodegradable surfactants (anionic and nonionic) and enzymes.”  This all sounds pretty green to me!   

Even without such language, is it possible that consumers may believe that trusted brands from reputable companies are “green” —or that the government is watching out?

Do greener products need to scream green via eco-logos and images of planets, babies and daisies to merit a check mark in the “green” column?   Consider, too that white vinegar and baking soda have long been touted as green cleaning aids but don’t sport eco-logos of any stripe.

There may not even be such as thing as “green” marketing.
When the FTC Green Guides are issued in revised form (likely this year), what are referred to as “generalized environmental claims” will most likely be discouraged.  So “green” marketing is really an umbrella term for educating consumers about the various specific environmental benefits and attributes of one’s products or company.  Babies, planets and daisies are quickly disappearing from the vernacular and in their place are claims for particular environmental attributes.

So the answers to the $64,000 dollar questions of green marketing:  Who is the “green” consumer and will she pay a premium for green? Maybe that all  (or, okay, most ) consumers are green consumers since most consumers may think they are already buying green products, however they may define them.  And the extent to which they are willing to pay a premium may be no different for “green” than other products and that is: Do they provide value?

The Path Forward
What we seem to be dealing with, then, is a question of semantics, and the challenge of knowing which questions to ask to help us understand green market opportunities.  “Green” is a cozy, easy to remember term, but it may not be so useful in communicating with consumers who likely have their own interpretations of  ”green” expressed throughout their day-to-day lives.  And misleading polls results don’t help to build credibility for investment among skeptical businesspeople who for the past 20-plus years have been hearing that consumers “don’t care” and “won’t pay a premium”.

To those willing to take a shot at rebuilding interest and credibility in all things “green”, remember three important things: 1) Most consumers want to do the right thing. They want clean air and clean water, healthful food to eat, litter-free parks and beaches to play in, and energy to run their lives; 2) Whether it be keeping their bathtub clean, saving for retirement, driving the speed limit or eating healthfully, all consumers tend to overstate virtuous behavior to pollsters. (More than we would like, they report the person they aspire to be, or who they are just part of the time. ) And; 3) just like for all products, most consumers will only pay a premium when products demonstrate genuine added value.

Although it might take a little doing, most consumers have the wherewithal to understand the building blocks of “green”, e.g., “recycled”, “recyclable” and “biodegradable”.  Happily, businesses have the wherewithal to address consumers’ needs and to do it sustainably. Their motivations: a competitive advantage, profits, brand loyalty, motivated employees, the ability to innovate, and the promise of a business that will be sustained over time.

My book, The New Rules of Green Marketing includes detailed strategies and tools for businesses looking to positively address consumers’ environmental consciousness without fear of backlash.  On the top of the list, is the need for customized research to understand one’s own consumers’ attitudes and awareness of specific environmental attributes, including carefully segmenting the marketplace, and marketing one’s products accordingly.

Considered the nation's foremost expert on green marketing, Ottman is also a sought-after speaker and author of four books on green marketing. Her latest book is The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011). It is being hailed as "The New Green Marketing Bible" and "a must read for all marketers." Link here for more information.

Fair Trade USA recently published its 2011 Fair Trade Almanac: a compliation of data that the organization's certification department collects from both business partners and producer organizations. The report serves as a key indicator for the health and growth of Fair Trade in the United States.

The 2011 edition showcases monumental growth in Fair Trade Certified™ imports, record-breaking community development premiums, and Fair Trade USA’s reinvigorated efforts to strengthen producer organizations through a variety of new cooperative development programs. This parallels significant increase in consumer awareness, which has quadrupled in the past 5 years.
 

Continuous Growth in Fair Trade Certified Imports
Thanks to conscious consumers across the United States, and more than 800 committed companies, Fair Trade Certified products are now available in virtually every major supermarket in America as well as thousands of restaurants, cafeterias and cafes (nearly 100,000 retail locations).  In fact, in 2011 the vast majority of food categories showed impressive growth, including:  Coffee (32%), Cocoa (156%), Tea (22%), and Sugar (31%).

Here are some exciting highlights from the 2011 Fair Trade Almanac:

Coffee
In 2011, Fair Trade USA certified a record 138 million pounds of Fair Trade Coffee from 22 different countries around the world, 52 percent of which were also certified organic. In total, coffee imports were up 32% versus 2010, resulting in almost $17 million in Fair Trade coffee premiums paid to producer organizations, a new record for Fair Trade premium returns in one year. The money generated by the surge in consumer demand for ethically and sustainably sourced products is invested into farming businesses to build infrastructure and capacity, as well as into farming communities for schools, roads, health care and other development efforts.

Produce
2011 showcased growth across nearly every country. Notably, 2011 marked the first time that Fair Trade Certified bell peppers, cucumbers and bananas from Mexico were imported into the United States. One of the most outstanding trends within the produce category during 2011 was continued growth of organic imports, up 64% over 2010.

Co-op Link
In addition to what farmers earned in both sales and community-development premiums, since 2006 Fair Trade USA and its partners have invested over $7.4 million in programs to strengthen small-scale farming communities in projects spanning sugar, cocoa, produce, tea and coffee.  Building on this deep history of development work, in 2011 the organization took an invigorated new approach, called Co-op Link.  Fair Trade USA surveyed farmers to better understand their most pressing needs, raised $5 million in 2011 alone for programs to address these needs, and worked with NGO’s and local service providers to execute programs.

Green has gone mainstream. Not too long ago, just a small group of deep green consumers existed. Today, 83% of consumers (Source: Natural Marketing Institute, 2009) - representing four generations, Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen Ys and Gen Zs - are some shade of green. Each in their own way, these generations are quickly transforming what used to be a fringe market that appealed to a faction of eco-hippies is now a bona fide $290 billion industry ranging from organic foods to hybrid cars, ecotourism to green home furnishings. Teen daughters of yesterday’s activist moms search out Burt’s Bees lip balm made from beeswax while their “twenty-something” brothers opt to clean their new digs with Method ‘s cucumber-fragranced dish liquid. Today’s Dads boast of higher mileage, fewer fill-ups, and the peppy look of their new Mini Coopers or diesel-powered Jettas that get 50-plus miles to the gallon; expect their Gen X sons to be kicking the tires of Nissan’s electric Leaf, now heading towards showroom floors.
 
Thanks to advances in materials and technology, today’s “greener” products (defined as having a lighter impact on the planet than alternatives) and today’s more “sustainable” products (those that add a social dimension, e.g., fair trade) now not only work well, they likely work better and more efficiently than the “brown” counterparts they were designed to replace. Channels of distribution have changed have changed, too.  As I point out in my just released book, The New Rules of Green Marketing (Berrett-Koehler, February 2011)  today, sustainable products are readily available in conventional supermarkets such as Fred Meyer and Safeway, brightly lit emporiums such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market, while mighty Wal-Mart leads the charge towards lifecycle-based standards for products through its groundbreaking Sustainability Consortium
 
Once confined to open spaces and rooftops, solar power is now mobile, fueling a modern-day, on-the-go lifestyle embedded in cellphone chargers, backpacks, and even the latest fleet of powerboats. Or confined to the tissue boxes or wrappers of days gone by, recycled content is now good enough for Kimberly-Clark’s own Scott Naturals line of tissue products (with its new “coreless role”)  and Staples’ EcoEasy office paper, Patagonia’s Synchilla PCR (post-consumer recycled) T-shirts made from recycled soda bottles, and Aveda’s Uruku cosmetics packaging made from recycled newsprint, to name just a few.
 
A sure sign that caring for nature and the planet and the people who live here now and in the future is here to stay – “Sustainability” is a core value of every living generation, starting with the Baby Boomers, the nation’s primary household shoppers and societal leaders who led the green charge back in the mid to late-1960s, and extending right through to Internet-savvy Generations X, Y, and Z who promise to transform markets as future decades unfold.
 
Four Generations of Green
The consuming power of the four current generations is remarkable if marketers can target them by what appeals to them uniquely.
 
Boomers: The First Modern Green Generation
Now the heads of millions of U.S. households, the Baby Boomers and been influencing society since the 1960s when they planted the seeds of the modern day green movement when as idealistic youths, gathered to celebrate the first Earth Day, in 1970, followed by the first Solar Day in 1971. Their peaceful demonstrations of concern gave rise to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the founding of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts that same year, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
 
The Middle East oil embargo, marking the beginning of the energy crisis of 1973-75, then focused the Baby Boomers on the need for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.  Witnesses to the 1979 the release of the fictional The China Syndrome, a movie about safety cover-ups at a nuclear power plant, serendipitously opened at theaters two weeks prior to the partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear-generating station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They learned first hand about the need for renewable energy.
 
Taking the values and attitudes they have instilled upon society and have imparted to their children and grandchildren to supermarket aisles, today, over half of Baby Boomers consider themselves socially conscious shoppers. That’s 40 million green boomers who, as illustrated in the chart below. choose to organize, pluck resource-conserving products from the shelves, boycott products of companies that pollute, and “pro-cott” the products of companies that give back to the community.
 
GenX: Eyes on the World
CNN brought global issues into the living room of this generation 24/7.  Counting among them actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz as two of the most outspoken environmentalists of their generation, Gen Xers see environmental concerns through a lens that aligns social, educational, and political issues. They witnessed the fire in the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal India, and the aftermath of the explosion in Chernobyl. In 1985, the Live Aid concert helped to instill in them the need for famine relief in developing nations to an unprecedented 400 million worldwide, and more pointedly, in 1989, Gen Xers saw the massive devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
 
Millennials: Digital Media at Their Command
This generation grew up in front of computers and unleashing the power of the Internet is second nature to them. Having lived through Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill, and with growing awareness of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (the size of Texas), they tend to be distrustful of government and authority, and are quick to challenge greenwash and other marketing practices they deem to be unauthentic or untruthful. With their majority believing that humans cause climate change and the Millenials (aka Gen Y) are twice as likely to buy green products than those who believe climate change is occurring naturally.
 
Green is an integral part of this generation’s college experience. Legions of students now opt for newly created environmental studies courses (and majors) and are active in campus sustainability initiatives.
 
Reusable water bottles and coffee mugs are ubiquitous on college campuses where many savvy companies now reach out with sustainability messages to future householders with significant incomes. Not content to sacrifice all for the almighty dollar, Millennials seek to balance “quality of life” and the “quest for wealth”; they seek to work for socially conscious employers.
 
As the offspring of the Baby Boomers whose social and environmental values they share, Millennials are the likely new leaders of the modern-day green movement. With the ability to express their opinions through blogging, texting, and social networks, they are capable of mustering immediate responses from millions around the globe.
 
Generation Z: Green is a Natural Part of Their Lives
The first generation to be brought up entirely in an environmentally conscious world, green is part of their everyday life. This generation - currently under the age of 16 - think nothing of living in solar-powered homes with a hybrid car in the driveway. In school and at home the 3Rs of waste management, “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” are as common as the 3Rs of “reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic.”  Sorting paper and plastic for recycling is a normal part of “taking out the trash.”  As school kids, they likely viewed The Story of Stuff, a 20-minute animated video that divulges the environmental impact of our daily consumption. Environmentally sensitive cleaning aids, locally grown produce, and recycled-paper goods likely top their parents’ shopping lists; clothes made from organically grown cotton and biobased fibers are part of their own Gen Z uniform.
 

******
Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here. Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 

A quick review of sustainability trends reported on the internet shows (not surprisingly) that energy will stay a high priority. The focus is on alternative energy, energy efficiency  and solar energy. Within the green building movement, retrofitting buildings for sustainability is gaining momentum.

This poses a huge market opportunity for businesses. However, it helps if (local) governments create the environment that is beneficial for investing in clean energy. For rapid introduction of new technologies a so called ‘innovation system’- the needs to be in place. Innovation systems are networks of organizations that work together on diffusing new technologies. They are facilitated through entrepreneurial activity, knowledge development through collaboration with educational institutions, and knowledge diffusion through networks such as accelerators and business platforms. Governments can play pivotal roles in facilitating innovation systems.

A more recent trend is concern over water issues. Many places in the world don’t have access to enough water to meet agricultural, urban and industrial water needs. Large areas deal with droughts, and disruptive weather patterns caused by climate change  aggravate these issues.

Though this is important for business, especially in the food industry, it is even more important to governments. Water supplies are directly related to energy and food needs. The repercussions of water shortages in combination with an exploding world population cannot be underestimated – and may lead to water wars. Meriting this issue to be dealt with from a diplomatic point of view. For example: it is for a good reason that China does not want to leave Tibet: the country is the source of all the rivers in the region.

Thirdly, employee engagement is finally on the corporate agenda. Which is great, because the social side of the triple bottom line often gets little attention.  I often wonder why we have so few very successful cases for sustainability. In my opinion, engagement is the missing link – you can’t just roll out policies, or change light bulbs. Sustainability becomes a part of the organization when employees are engaged in the subject. Luckily for us, there is a strong business case for engagement, and links to sustainability within a company

Conventional marketing is out. Green marketing and what is increasingly being called “sustainable branding” is in. According to the new rules of green marketing, effectively addressing the needs of consumers with a heightened environmental and social consciousness cannot be achieved with the same assumptions and formulae that guided consumer marketing since the postwar era. Times have changed. A new paradigm has emerged requiring new strategies with a holistic point of view and eco-innovative product and service offering.
 
Historically, marketers developed products that met consumers’ needs at affordable prices and then communicated the benefits of their brands in a memorable way.

Paid media campaigns characterized by ads with catchy slogans were de rigueur. Green or “sustainable” marketing and branding is more complex. It addresses consumers’ new heightened expectations for businesses to operate and requires two strategies:

1. Develop products that balance consumers’ needs for quality, performance, affordability, and convenience with the lowest impact possible on the environment, and with due concern for social considerations, e.g., labor, and community.

2. Create demand for the resulting brands through credible, values-laden communications that offer practical benefits while empowering and engaging consumers in meaningful ways about important environmental and social issues. These communications represent value to consumers for what they provide functionally and what they represent, and often positively reinforce the manufacturer’s track record for sustainability as well.

The new rules being laid down by today’s eco-conscious consumers cannot be addressed with conventional marketing strategies and tactics.

Brand builders in the 21st century are accountable to tough new standards. Sustainability represents deep psychological and sociological shifts - not to mention seismically important issues - as did one of its predecessors, feminism, which forced marketers to develop more convenient products in step with two-income lifestyles and to portray women with a new respect.

Meeting the challenges of today’s level of green consumerism presents its own mandates for corporate processes, branding practices, product quality, price, and promotion. To realize that the rules of the game have changed in a big way, one need only recall the unsavory backlash that is now occurring over what is perceived by environmentalists, regulators, and the press as inconsistent and often misleading eco-labels and messages. The resulting deluge of skepticism, confusion, and regulatory nightmares that spurious green claims - dubbed “greenwash” - are spawning in the marketplace proves that environmental marketing involves more than tweaking one or two product attributes and dressing up packages with meaningless and often misleading claims. Too many marketers are learning the hard way that leveraging environment-related opportunities and addressing sustainability-related challenges requires a total commitment to greening one’s products and communications.

Green marketing done according to the new rules also affects how a corporation manages its business and brands and interacts with all of its stakeholders who may be affected by its environmental and social practices.
 
The Seven Strategies for Green Marketing Success

Under the new rules, the currency of sustainable branding is innovation, flexibility, and heart. I have formulated seven strategies which I believe can help businesses address these deep-seated and lasting changes in consumer sensibility. Reflecting our learning from working with sustainability leaders over the past 20-plus years, they can be summarized as follows:

1. Understand the deeply held environmental and social beliefs and values of your consumers and other stakeholders and develop a long-term plan to align with them.

2. Create new products and services that balance consumers’ desires for quality, convenience, and affordability with minimal adverse environmental and social impacts over the life of the product.

3. Develop brands that offer practical benefits while empowering and engaging consumers in meaningful ways about the important issues that affect their lives.

4. Establish credibility for your efforts by communicating your corporate commitment and striving for complete transparency.

5. Be proactive. Go beyond what is expected from stakeholders. Proactively commit to doing your share to solve emerging environmental and social problems - and discover competitive advantage in the process.

6. Think holistically. Underscore community with users and with the broad array of corporate environmental and societal stakeholders.

7. Don’t quit. Promote responsible product use and disposal practices. Continuously strive for “zero” impact.

***Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 

Over the past few years, we have watched companies focus more and more on reducing carbon emissions in their supply chains. We have attended the same conferences that you attend, we have read the same reports and white papers, we have analyzed the same types of CO2 emissions data, and we agree: a large percentage of your corporate emissions—and therefore large opportunities to reduce your footprint—reside in your supply chain.

Wal-Mart famously has begun a campaign to require their suppliers to reduce emissions. Timberland is working with some of its competitors and the Outdoor Industry Association to improve processes in their supply chains. Stonyfield Farm measured cow burps and learned that the cows were their largest emitters. The coffee industry is taking a long, hard look at issues in and around its supply.

With the knowledge that addressing emissions in a supply chain can be overwhelming and complex, we have developed an integrated approach for companies. Our original model of developing and marketing carbon offset projects now includes strategies to identify and fund opportunities in our clients’ supply chains. So far, we have used our knowledge, experience, and connections to create emissions reductions by:

• Improving efficiency and re-purposing waste on the farms that supply milk and crops to our food industry clients
• Providing safe, clean drinking water, preventing deforestation, and encouraging reforestation in the regions that grow coffee for our coffee industry clients

The excitement of discovering new ways to reduce carbon emissions—and realizing how the programs can also benefit employees and growers in a company’s supply chain—was particularly evident following a recent trip by members of our project development team to coffee growing regions in Africa. During this trip, they oversaw the installation of water filtration systems in the homes of people who work on coffee plantations. Normally, these workers have to burn wood to boil and purify their water. But the new filters provide clean drinking water without the need for combustion, which improves the air quality in their homes, conserves trees, and, of course, reduces greenhouse gas pollution.

During the trip to Africa, the project development team also met with one of our partner NGO organizations to begin evaluating the cost and carbon reduction benefits associated with planting shade trees in and around coffee groves. This project is now being modeled and we expect it will be implemented in 2013.  

There are many opportunities for organizations to reduce their carbon emissions both onsite and off—some that are obvious, and some that take time to uncover. But one thing is clear: reducing greenhouse gas pollution is an important goal. Over the coming months, we look forward to seeing how we can utilize our expertise to further reduce emissions within corporate supply chains.  

If you have an opportunity or idea you would like to explore, we want to hear from you. Contact us at 800-924-6826 or business@nativeenergy.com.

NativeEnergy is an expert provider of carbon offsets, renewable energy credits, and carbon accounting software. With NativeEnergy’s Help Build™ offsets, businesses and individuals can help finance the construction of wind, biogas, solar, and other carbon reduction projects with strong social and environmental benefits. Since 2000, NativeEnergy’s customers have helped build over 50 projects, reducing more than 2.5 million tons of greenhouse gases, and the company has over 4 million tons under contract. All NativeEnergy carbon offsets undergo third-party validation and verification. Learn more at www.nativeenergy.com.

Original source

Eco-labels are an excellent way to enhance credibility for green marketing claims, but they are not without risk. While 28% of consumers look to green certification seals or labels to confirm that a product adheres to claims, these labels can also confuse. Happily there’s enough method within the madness for marketers to pave a way forward.
 
Eco-labeling challenges
More than 400 different eco-labels or green certification systems are now on the market. Questions such as which label is better, which product is safer for the environment and what does a label even mean are common questions that well-intended green shoppers may find themselves asking when trying to make an environmentally responsible purchase.
 
Confusion can arise from labels that certify too much or too little information. Some eco-labels focus on a single product attribute (e.g., recycled content), which keeps things simple but can inadvertently mislead consumers into thinking the product is green overall. Other labels look at several characteristics of a product or even a product’s entire life cycle; such multi-attribute certifications may raise questions about the credibility of a single-attribute certified product while also preventing easy comparisons.
 
Some products, such as electrical appliances, have a number of labels and certifications, while others, such as mattresses or flatware, have none. Another common reason for confusion is the discrepancy in the levels of rigor applied to some eco-labeling—some require independent, third-party verifications while others allow self-certification.
 
Here are some important criteria to consider when seeking the labeling most relevant to your brand:
 
Single-attribute labels
 Single-attribute seals focus on one environmental issue, e.g., energy efficiency or sustainable-wood harvesting. Before certification, an independent third-party auditor is typically required to verify that the product meets a publicly available standard.
 
Many single-attribute labels are sponsored by industry associations looking to defend or capture new markets. Others are sponsored by environmental groups or NGOs that want to protect a natural resource or further a cause. Two single-attribute labels with a global presence are the Forest Stewardship Council (or FSC) label, ensuring the sustainable harvesting of wood and paper, and Fair Trade Certified, ensuring that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of such agricultural products as coffee.
 
Voluntary U.S. government labels
Unlike in some countries, such as Canada, Japan and South Korea, the U.S. government has opted for voluntary single- rather than multi-attribute labels. (The private sector and not-for-profit groups hold sway in the area of multiattribute eco-labeling.) Outside of those associated with independent testing, the government-backed labels don’t involve fees. One of the most visible and influential labels is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR (for which we at J. Ottman Consulting were proud to advise over many years).
 
ENERGY STAR promotes energy efficiency in more than 60 product categories, and almost 3,000 manufactured products now feature the ENERGY STAR label. In fact, according to the Natural Marketing Institute, in 2009, 93% of the American public recognized the ENERGY STAR label and 73% said they would be more likely to purchase products that carried that label.
 
Other EPA labels include WaterSense, SmartWay (transportation) and Design for Environment (safer chemicals). The USDA stewards the USDA Organic and USDA Certified Biobased labels (another J. Ottman Consulting client).
 
Multi-attribute labels
As the name suggests, multi-attribute labels examine two or more environmental impacts. Founded in 1989, Green Seal is the granddaddy of them all. It provides a seal of approval for a variety of products that meet specific criteria on a category-by-category basis. Products are reviewed annually for a fee. A few of the organizations whose products now bear the Green Seal certification include Wausau Paper, Clorox, Kimberly-Clark and Hilton.

If your green ads showcase the now tiresome images of babies, daisies, and planets, your messages will likely be irrelevant to mainstream consumers. Eco-imagery may have tugged at the purse-strings of “deep green” consumers, but their lighter green counterparts, who make up the bulk of the market, want to know how even the greenest of products benefit them personally. While the environment may be the underlying reason a product was created or upgraded, it will likely not be the primary motivation for consumers to choose your brand over those of competitors.
 
Avoid green marketing myopia
In other words, don’t commit the fatal sin of “green marketing myopia”. As my colleagues, Ed Stafford and Cathy Hartman of the Huntsman Business School of Utah State, and I point out in our much-quoted article, “Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia,” remember that consumers buy products to meet basic needs - not altruism.
When consumers enter a store, they don their consumer, not citizen caps. They are looking to find the products that will get their clothes clean, that will taste great, that will save them money or that will make themselves appear attractive to others. Environmental and social benefits are best positioned as an important plus that can help sway purchase decisions, particularly between two otherwise comparable products.
 
Quiet Green Marketing
Underscoring the primary reasons why consumers purchase your brand - sometimes referred to as “quiet green” - can broaden the appeal of your greener products and services way beyond the niche of deepest green consumers. Quiet green might also help overcome a premium price hurdle. So, focus communication for greener products on how consumers can protect their health, save money, or keep their home and community safe and clean. Show busy consumers how some environmentally inclined behaviors can save time and effort.
 
To be clear, this does not mean focusing exclusively on such benefits - to do so would be to go back to conventional marketing altogether. But focusing too heavily on environmental benefits at the expense of primary benefits will put your product in the green graveyard, buried under good intentions. Happily, thanks to advances in technology, many greener products these days do provide added value in the form of enhanced benefits.

Does your green product improve health?
Keep in mind that the number one reason why consumers buy greener products is not to “save the planet” but to protect their own health. Categories most closely aligned with health are growing the fastest and tend to command the highest premiums. Health messages can apply to a wide variety of product categories. Consider, for instance, a print ad for AFM Safecoat (that ran here in the U.S.) featuring 16 buckets of paint; 15 of the buckets are painted red and bear labels such as “Gorgeous Paints,” “100% Pure,” “Low Odor,” and “Sustainable.” However, the last bucket stands out in green and announces “The Only Paint that is Doctor Recommended.”
 
Does your product appeal to the style-conscious?
American Apparel was created as a brand that provides excellent working conditions for its employees and uses organic cotton. But, in 2004, when its “sweatshop free” label did not bring in the numbers that CEO Dov Charney was hoping for, he switched to promoting a sexy, youthful image for his company - complete with racy, controversial ads with young women. Three years later, the company has 180 stores and revenue estimated at $380 million. Sounds heretical? Keep in mind that the same sustainably responsible clothing is still being sold to consumers, together with all the same benefits to society and the environment.
 
Does your product save consumers money?
Many brands find that their green benefits neatly translate into something direct and meaningful to the customer, such as energy savings translating into cost savings. Ads for Sears’ Kenmore’s HE5t steamwasher state that it uses 77% less water and 81% less energy than older models. The headline grabs readers with the compelling promise, “You pay for the washer. It pays for the dryer.” In New Jersey, Marcal’s Small Steps campaign positioned the use of 100% recycled household paper products as an easy measure to take for the environment and save money.
 
Today’s consumers want to know the back-story about products and packages, so focus on primary benefits in the context of a full story that incorporates the environment as a desirable extra benefit. Better yet, integrate relevant environmental and social benefits within your brand’s already established market positioning, and you’ve got the stuff for a meaningful sale.

******
Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman.
 

Originally published in The Guardian, September 23, 2011.

Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Sprint, KFC, Shell, Chase, Ford, Staples, CVS and the long list goes on.  These larger than life brands immediately conjure up images and thoughts of our past experiences that have either helped or hurt these companies perception regarding sustainability.  

Image courtesy of Yum Brands

Of the ten companies above, 100% are doing something around sustainability issues related to their respective industries.  Some are improving energy, some reducing waste, some have take-back programs, some are are even developing products for the eco-conscious consumer. Whatever the companies are doing, a larger issue is hiding just under the surface… trust!  

We have all felt and witnessed corporate green-washing, but is this simply the beginning of the change process, we all have to start somewhere, right?  Corporate sustainability and CSR are poised to be the next evolution of business trends, similar to how IT changed the game. How can we know that these companies are sincere, committed and really able to transform their impact?  Should we care or shop elsewhere?

A tougher issue many of us already know, is that the base product lines of these companies don't exactly help people or the planet. There are health studies, insider videos, user testimonials, advocacy groups and other opposing groups asking us quite directly 'not' to support some of these companies.  Are these  really the opposite of the shop local movement, considering others in our community are employed there? 

So, what's a good socially responsible citizen to do?  More over, what is a newly socially responsible corporation to do, when they have the realities of their industry and various product lines to transform?  

Here is a fast recap of just some of the eco-positive moves BIG companies are undertaking: 
1. CVS is rewarding consumers for bringing reusable bags with their Green Bag Tags 
2. Sprint has a new line of eco-friendly mobile phones with less environmental impact.  
3. Ford is releasing an electric vehicle on the way called the Focus Electric.  
4. Staples is directly crediting shoppers for taking back used ink cartridges.
5. KFC has released the first ever reusable side container in the fast food industry (just don't tell the SF Soup Company) 

Hopefully this corporate sustainability trend will continue and grow until the "S" word is removed and sustainability is just part of doing good business, that serves the triple bottom line. I guess we will have to call this LOHA then?   

If you want to read more about what the world's largest companies are doing please pop over to triplepundit.com and do a search for any company.  Some news is positive, some negative and some down right controversial, but all of it interesting and forces us to question our beliefs.  

Jared Brick is completing his MBA in Sustainable Management at the Presidio Graduate School in SF.  He is working on creating the first ever reusables tracking platform, rewarding consumers everywhere in their retail experiences.  Follow the journey at traxactions.com or on twitter: traxactions
 

The University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute keeps track of the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the United States. It's a bit depressing to see how slowly things are progressing, but at least there is some progress; it would be even more depressing to see a decline in MPG over time... The noteworthy milestone that was reached last month is an average of 24.1 MPG, the first time ever that the MPG average for new vehicles in the U.S. has been above 24 MPG.

As you can notice on the graph above, so far the 2012 average is 23.4 MPG, but recent months have spiked quite a bit, most probably thanks to higher fuel costs.

© University of Michigan

If you are curious about the methodology, here's what the authors of the study had to say:

The average sales-weighted fuel economy was calculated from the monthly sales of individual models of light-duty vehicles (cars, SUVs, vans, and pickup trucks) and the combined city/highway fuel-economy ratings published in the EPA Fuel Economy Guide (i.e., window sticker ratings) for the respective models. For both monthly and model year averages, sales-weighted means were calculated. The bars in the graph show the average for each model year. All vehicles purchased from October 2007 through September 2008 were assumed to be model year 2008. Analogous assumptions were made for vehicles purchased in each additional model year. The fuel-economy information was available for 99.8% of vehicles purchased.

For cases in which the EPA Fuel Economy Guide contained multiple fuel-economy ratings for a vehicle model, the average of these ratings was used (without regard to sales figures for each specific engine or vehicle-model variant). Additionally, when a vehicle model was sold during a particular model year but it is not listed in that year’s EPA Fuel Economy Guide, the fuel economy rating(s) from the most recently available year were used. Finally, for very low sales-volume manufacturers (e.g., Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, etc.), all vehicle models for that manufacturer were aggregated and one average fuel-economy rating was calculated. Analogously, the sales figures for such manufacturers and models were also aggregated each month.

Still, no car can beat walking or biking, and only plug-in vehicles can come close to transit. Only drive if you have to, and pick the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets your needs.

*****

The orginal inforamtion from this article came from Michael Graham.  Michael has been with TreeHugger since 2005. He started out as a part-time writer, but after about a year (circa February 2006) he made the transition to full-time editor-in-chief. He held that role until January 2008 (the highlight of this period was of course the acquisition of TreeHugger.com by the Discovery Channel), and he's now editor of the Science & Technology and the Cars & Transportation categories

Once considered a short-term promotional tactic, cause marketing is now a mature, long-term strategic business practice that can enhance brand image and boost sales. Most importantly, cause-related products give businesses an impact that goes far beyond mere tax-deductible checks (philanthropy).

Several successful brands are making social causes central to their business. Consider the enormously successful TOMS One for One campaign, which gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of their rubber-soled alpargatas shoes they sell.

The monumental success of cause marketing campaigns thus far creates high expectations. Your brand may need to follow suit by getting in touch with relevant social issues. Below, I’ve detailed some of the opportunities and challenges to consider when developing cause-related products.

Cause marketing successes

One of the most visible in the history of cause-related marketing is Project (RED). Launched in 2006 by Bono of rock group U2 and Bobby Shriver of Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa (DATA), multiple high-profile companies joined on by donating 50% of profits from products labeled as (RED). The funds have provided over 825,000 HIV-positive people with antiretroviral therapy, 3.2 million AIDS orphans with basic care, and prevented more than 3.5 million deaths.

Another successful instance of cause marketing was IKEA’s partnership with UNICEF to benefit children in Angola and Uganda. IKEA agreed to donate $2.00 from every sale of their BRUM teddy bears to UNICEF’s “Children’s Right to Play” program, which uses play-based interaction to educate and empower children in need. The promotion was called “A Bear that Gives,” and between 2003 and 2005 it raised $2.2 million to educate street children in Angola and displaced children in Uganda, as well as putting 38,000 Ugandan children in daycare centers.

Even small businesses can participate in meaningful cause marketing.

Consider 1% for the Planet, founded by the environmentally passionate Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, to connect businesses and their consumers with philanthropy. Currently, more than 700 environ-mentally conscious companies contribute 1% of their sales to a growing list of more than 1,500 environmental groups around the world.

Cause for concern

Before embarking on your own cause-marketing effort, realize that there are some rules of the road. Consumers are attracted to causes that put them in the driver’s seat, and they will turn on a misguided campaign.

Some Sierra Club members created a stir – and some even pulled out of the organization – in response to breaking news that the Sierra Club was receiving an undisclosed amount of money for what they perceived as an endorsement of Clorox’s Green Works cleaning products. Sierra Club members’ objections to the partnership included the fact that Clorox manufactured chlorine bleach and that 98% of Clorox products were still made from synthetic chemicals. (Green Works only accounted for 2% of Clorox’s total sales). Both organizations now disclose the financial compensation that Sierra Club receives for its support, and as of late 2009, Clorox announced it would no longer make bleach out of chlorine and sodium hydroxide.

Reflecting its ability to gently but effectively clean waterfowl affected by oil spills, Dawn dishwashing liquid ran a cause-related campaign with the Marine Mammal Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center in which it donated $1 for every specially marked package bought by consumers. However, some visitors to its Facebook page and YouTube commercial protested the promotion, citing that Procter & Gamble tests its products on animals, forcing the company to defend its policies and remind its detractors that it has invested more than $250 million developing alternative testing methods.

Finally, Ethos Water, co-owned by Pepsi and Starbucks, donates 5 cents for every unit sold to help people in underdeveloped regions to get clean water. Environmentalists question this approach, maintaining that clean, drinkable water should be a human right and not a function of corporate profits. They also maintain that promoting bottled water for environmental benefits is inconsistent with the related impacts of plastic recycling, energy expended to transport the product, and potential depletion of natural water supplies.

Creating authentic brand value

To reap the benefits demonstrated over 15 years of cause-related marketing. Follow these guidelines for success outlined by Cone’s 2008 Cause Evolution Study:

• Allow consumers to select their own cause

• Ensure that the cause you pick is both personally relevant to consumers and makes strategic sense to your business

• Choose a trusted, established not-for-profit organization

• Provide practical incentives for involvement, such as saving money or time

• Provide emotional incentives for involvement, such as it making them feel good or alleviating shopping guilt.

***Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 

The plastic bag has become the poster child of our wasteful consumerist society: after its short use, we throw it ‘away’ where it pollutes the environment and takes decades to degrade.

Different approaches have been used to eliminate plastic bag use. In the UK, it is left to the voluntary action of consumers and retailers. Ireland and Denmark prefer a tax. Other countries, such as parts of the U.S., South Africa, Bangladesh and India have installed bag bans. In the U.S. there are 24 communities with plastic bag bans, most of them in California. In Bangladesh and India bags were banned out of necessity: bags were clogging the sewer systems and exacerbating floods.

However, these campaigns are focused on large grocery bags. They leave out an important type of bag use: the single use HDPE bag. More simply put: those little bags you use to put your veggies and fruits in at the supermarket, or the bags that are wrapped around your favorite Thai takeaway dinner.

These bags are such a blind spot for municipalities that it is nearly impossible to find data about their use. Only Australians seem to record this information:

“In 2007, Australians used 3.9 billion lightweight single use high density polyethylene (HDPE) bags. 2.96 billion of these came from supermarkets” and “In 2005, Australians used 192 HDPE bags per capita.”

If these are the numbers for Australia, can you imagine the numbers for the US?

Not so long ago it was impossible to think that plastic grocery bags wouldn’t be a part of the supermarket scene. Currently many customers bring their own bags – and have fun doing it. The bag has become a fashion statement of a consious lifestyle.

If you can bring your own grocery bags to the supermarket, how about taking the small but revolutionary step of bringing reusable bags for fresh produce too?

What Should We Be Eating?

If you try to google for information on the food that's most important to buy and eat organic, it's a tad confusing. Every list seems to focus on a few different things, usually driven by nutrition and meal plan bias. So rather than dig through a lot of conflicting lists, I thought it would be interesting to see what organic foods consumers discuss the most.

I was amazed to see that these main food categories all have similar volume. As consumers, we're buzzing about a wide variety of organic foods. Interestingly, animal products are the big winners, even if by a small margin. There has been ample coverage, mostly in books and films, on the state of the meat and dairy industry in the US; perhaps there is slightly more consumer awareness that drives these conversations.

Per Capita Buzz

I thought it would also be interesting to look at volume of conversation per capita to see if there are any states that stand out in their conversation around, or awareness of, organic. 

The standout regions are the West Coast and Northern New England/New York State. Indiana, Wyoming, and Georgia were also standouts (though worth noting that Wyoming had a total of 94 mentions to Texas' 1,000+).

Noteworthy Themes

Apparently, as consumers we talk about chicken more than beef. And we're really interested in information that includes scientific backing, or at least mentions scientists. Also interesting that the UK's Organic Trade Board, tweeting under @whyiloveorganic, pops up.

While I don't have the answer to what exactly are the best products to buy organic, I will be interested to see how these trends change over time. Right now, the volume of conversation is lower than I expected, at just over 100,000 mentions in 6 months in everything from tweets to recipe blogs to Facebook conversation. I think we will see volume growth as consumers continue to get more education on the importance of organic, and brands like our client, Horizon Organic, have the kind of distribution that make organic increasingly accessible.

This article was originally published on Capture The Conversation.

******

Room 214 is the Official Social Media Agency for LOHAS.  We help businesses like yours connect to the people who matter most, creating online social experiences that integrate business intelligence, social network & mobile technologies.  Founded in 2004, Room 214 serves organizations desiring to go deep with social media. From funded start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, we help you grow leads, sales, brand awareness, customer engagement and loyalty.

Mental health conditions in Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have become an important public health problem. Up to 37% of the over two million service members who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are struggling with serious mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression, and traumatic brain injury.[1] These mental health conditions result in debilitating pain and suffering and are associated with additional problems including addiction, difficulties maintaining work, and homelessness.[2]

These mental health issues can lead to tragic consequences, as illustrated by increasing military suicide rates. Active duty suicides reached epidemic levels in 2010 with one active duty service member committing suicide every 36 hours. Our Veterans are killing themselves at twice the rate of other Americans.[3]-[4]

There are approximately 214,000 women serving in the military today, with more entering military service every year.  In addition to the combat experiences that their male counterparts have to cope with, female Veterans suffer from significantly higher rates of Military Sexual Trauma, and have suicide rates that are up to three times higher than the rates of civilian women.³  In addition, the impact of these problems has a cascading effect on each of the 8-10 family members directly related to each service member and Veteran.

Despite barriers to care (e.g., the perceived and/or actual availability of health care services, particularly the availability of women-specific services), soldiers are seeking mental health help more than 100,000 times a month.[5] The number of active duty troops discharged from the Army for mental health problems increased by 64% between 2005 and 2009. In 2009, there were 17,538 hospitalizations for mental health problems, 17,354 for pregnancies, and 11,156 for injuries and battle wounds.[6] Mental health problems now account for one in nine medical discharges. For the first time, in 2009, more U.S. troops were hospitalized for mental health disorders than for any other reason.

Fortunately, there are effective treatments for these mental health problems and a great number of clinicians dedicated to helping our nations heroes.  Unfortunately, even when provided with the best evidence-based treatments, non-response rates can be as high as 50%.[7] In addition, access to these treatments may be obstructed by an array of institutional and diagnosis-related barriers. 

A Solution

Yoga is a path to experience greater connection and wholeness in life, a way to reconnect when life's challenges result in a deep sense of fragmentation.  Yoga has been increasingly accepted as an effective complementary therapy for mental health issues including PTSD.

According to Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk, clinician, researcher and teacher on posttraumatic stress since the 1970s:

People with PTSD lose their way in the world. Their bodies continue to live in an internal environment of the trauma. We all are biologically and neurologically programmed to deal with emergencies, but time stops in people who suffer from PTSD. That makes it hard to take pleasure in the present because the body keeps replaying the past. If you practice yoga and can develop a body that is strong and feels comfortable, this can contribute substantially to help you to come into the here and now rather than staying stuck in the past.         

Yoga is increasingly being utilized by the military and VA to help address unmet mental health needs. Veterans and active duty military personnel who practice yoga regularly report reduced anxiety and depression, improved sleep and concentration, a greater ability to focus on the positive, support in addiction recovery, pain relief, and increased ability to deal with the mental and emotional strain of combat. A recent Department of Defense study found that Veterans diagnosed with PTSD showed improvement in their symptoms after 10 weeks of yoga classes.[8]

Over the past few months, this meditation has helped me realize how closely connected my physical and mental pain are. I told my wife that I feel like I’m untangling a big knot. I didn’t know which strand was which when it was all knotted together, but as I do the meditation, I feel myself unwinding. As I undo the knot, I see what was mental and what was physical and how letting go of each helps the other.

         – Jon, Vietnam Veteran

When I heard we were going to do yoga, I laughed! I thought that soldiers doing yoga was ridiculous. After two weeks of practice, though, I thought, ‘Who would have ever thought you could get so chill?’ I want to find a class to do with my wife, something we could share. 

–OIF Veteran (3 deployments)

Give Back Yoga Foundation’s Commitment to Veterans

Give Back Yoga Foundation believes in making yoga available to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the transformational benefits of this powerful practice. We do this by supporting and funding certified yoga teachers in all traditions to offer the teachings of yoga to under-served and under-resourced socio-economic segments of the community and inspire grassroots social change and community cooperation. Give Back Yoga Foundation also supports the creation and distribution of yoga resources and products, such as books, CD’s, DVD’s, to serve these communities in need.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation has spent the past few years researching and working in the field of yoga for Veterans. In 2010, we awarded a small grant to Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, to support a yoga and meditation program for wounded warriors. We quickly found ourselves deluged with requests both from yoga teachers around the country wanting to serve returning Veterans and from the Veterans and their families themselves.

Since that time, Give Back Yoga Foundation has been recognized as a national leader in the provision and distribution of empirically-informed, clinically-tested multi-media resources for veterans. We have supported the creation and distribution of the following unique yoga resources for Veterans, which have been distributed to a range of sites to date:[9]

1. Meditation CDs donated by Karen Soltes’ iRest Yoga Nidra: Easing into Stillness (who teaches at the Washington, DC, VA hospital as part of the War Related Illnesses and Injuries Study Center); Suzanne Manafort’s "Breathe In, Breathe Out: Quick and Easy Breathing Practices to Help Balance the Nervous System,” designed for the Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans Coping with Trauma Program, a component of the PTSD Rehabilitation Residential Program (PRRP) in Newington, CT.; and Deep Relaxation: Yoga Nidra with Patty Townsend, a master teacher with a background of over 40 years in yoga and meditation.
2. Beyond Disability: A Yoga Practice DVD based on Matthew Sanford’s unique experience with yoga and paralysis;
3. a book, Finding Peace: A Yoga Guide for Veterans, Active Duty Military Service Members and Their Families, written by Beryl Bender Birch;
4. the Mindful Yoga Therapy Practice Guide by Dr. Daniel Libby and Suzanne Manafort produced specifically for veterans coping with trauma; and
5. a new DVD, VetsYoga, by Washington, DC yoga teacher Daniel Hickman who teaches at Walter Reed Medical Center, produced by Yatra Yoga International and Craig Coffman Productions.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation also recognizes the need for rigorous empirical research on the effects of yoga for combat-related mental health conditions. Although testimonials from Veterans and active duty service members have convinced us of the benefits of yoga for mental health, well-conducted research is required to document these benefits for policymakers, and to understand which yoga practices and which methods of delivery are the most effective.  To this end, Give Back Yoga Foundation is supporting a pilot randomized clinical trial of Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans coping with trauma led by Daniel J. Libby, PhD, clinical research associate with the Evaluation Division of the National Center for PTSD.

The Operation Finding Peace Campaign

This is an incredible opportunity to help a demographic that suffers from combat-related stress. When I first began yoga in 2001, the vast majority of military members were very doubtful about the benefits.  Since then, more and more military personnel are accepting the benefits of yoga. The classes here average about 20 each time. It is amazing how word spreads and how much people like it. Military personnel don't realize how much they need yoga until they try it.

                 –U.S. Navy Lt. Taeko McFadden, Base Command Group, Al Asad, Iraq

Those men and women who have put their lives on the line to serve their country need our help. Good work is happening:  Throughout the United States, dedicated yoga teachers are working with Departments of Veterans Affairs and other organizations that currently offer or are interested in offering yoga as an adjunctive therapy practice for Veterans coping with mental health problems.  However, a large gap remains between those desiring yoga information and instruction and actual delivery of these services and resources to those who need them most. To help close this gap, the Give Back Yoga Foundation is launching Operation Finding Peace, a targeted effort to provide the benefits of yoga to the military community.  It is our goal to touch the lives of over 30,000 service members, veterans, and military families over the next three years through the following key activities:  

• Create and distribute high-quality yoga and meditation resources to veterans organizations and other groups that provide evidence-based mind/body approaches for service members deploying and returning to help manage combat stress (see attached list of current partners, which we anticipate will grow). 

• Objective:  Produce 10,000 Yoga for Veterans Toolkits that include the complete suite of yoga resources for veterans, and distribute them to interested military bases, VA’s, and other community groups serving veterans and their families nationwide.  These will also be distributed to the National Guard pre-deploying in order to help them have some tools provided by yoga and meditation prior to going into a combat theatre. See attached description of Toolkit contents.

• Objective: Create a pilot program that distributes 250 iPod Nanos, pre-loaded with yoga and meditation programs such as those listed above, to veterans at greatest risk, and evaluate the results via user surveys.

• Create a free, 24-hour Meditation Hotline for veterans suffering from PTSD to call anytime, and especially in moments of extreme anxiety or flashbacks. The hotline would guide veterans through simple meditation and breathing exercises, and would also provide access to additional mental health assistance. Not all veterans, particularly those living in rural areas, have access to a CD player or computer but they generally have a cell phone handy.

• Objective:  Provide an easy-to-access, cloud-based 24-hour resource for veterans and service members suffering from PTSD and other mental health disorders.

• Provide scholarships for Veterans who wish to become certified yoga instructors so that they, in turn, can share the gift of yoga with other veterans. One of the most common questions that yoga instructors face when teaching veterans is “did you serve?” and veterans who practice yoga are themselves the best teachers of this unique population. This program will provide 50% tuition assistance for an accredited Yoga Teacher 200 or 500-hour certification program, with the remainder of costs to split equally between the studio and the student. The program includes a pledge that the veteran serve others in the military community or other underserved populations in need (e.g., at-risk teens).

• Objective: Support 200 veterans in their quest to become certified yoga instructors, seeding future outreach to the military population.

Join With Us to Serve

Yoga has helped me to reduce my anxiety and has improved my ability to focus... I think of yoga as survival training for the Veteran mind, body and soul.

- Paul, Vietnam Veteran

One area where I see yoga can be very helpful is in helping to prevent the effects of PTSD itself. My humble daily practice while under daily fire in Iraq helped to keep me centered and able to detach from the traumatic events happening all around me. I honestly believe that yoga could have helped to prevent the American NCO from shooting all those villagers in Afghanistan a few weeks ago...and truly want to help see if we can help to prevent such things from happening again in the future.                                                                                   - Chris, Iraq Veteran

I can testify to this program (iRest Yoga Nidra). The exercises were of personal help and now I will again introduce it as a form of relaxation and sleep enhancement to my Veterans diagnosed with TBI and Chronic Pain.  Thanks a million.                                                                                                                        - Dorrett, RN, Fmr. CPT USAR

Together, we can provide the healing benefits of yoga and meditation to thousands of returning Veterans, service members preparing for deployment, and their families, and in so doing, improve mental and physical well-being for those who have done so much to serve our country.  Support in any amount makes a difference. Join with us today.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our Federal Tax ID is 20-8666751.

….”[earth] has, or had, a problem which was this: Most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper… which is odd, because on the whole, it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy…”
— Douglas Adams

The recent financial crisis has been a credit crisis, and in response the government and the Federal Reserve have taken an active role in increasing the money supply to manipulate business cycles. The surges and contractions of the business cycles cause fluctuations in the economy, and thus in employment. In this way these fluctuations are felt in every aspect of society. We take these cycles as a given. However, in Ecological Economics Herman Daly and Joshua Farley (2008) put forward an interesting idea: the fluctuations in the economy are caused by the design of the monetary system, and not by law of necessity. By decoupling business cycles from the circulation of money these ups and downs can be avoided.

Currently the worldwide money supply is tightly linked to investment cycles. Business has its natural cycles, but the linkage of these cycles to the money supply by means of lending and borrowing causes a self-reinforcing feedback loop: when investment goes down, spending goes down, causing a decrease in the money supply, which will further decrease investments, and so on. Daly and Farley have a novel proposition: ‘there is no reason why the monetary system must be linked with the private commercial activity of lending and borrowing’.

Let’s imagine a world where the monetary system is decoupled from the activity of lending and borrowing. Money will be treated as a public good that facilitates exchanges within the economy. The government can match the supply based on for instance, consumer price indexes. A beneficial side effect is that inflation will be easier to control. The reserve requirements of banks will be 100%. Banks will make money by charging for services they provide and by borrowing and lending real money instead of by creating it.

What effects will such a decoupling have? Currently, the financial sector has a disproportionate size compared to the real sector: the size of the real sector is roughly $30 trillion per year, whereas the trade in money, with no intervening commodity is almost $2 trillion per day. The financial sector should be in service of the real economy, and a decoupling of the money supply from investments will support this.

With investments recoupled to the real economy – making economic profit based on increased production capacity by means of investments- the focus on how to make economic rents will shift.  Currently profits are made by moving paper around. With the financial sector recoupled to the economic sector it will become more important to make profits in the real economy. Introduction of a 100% reserve requirement will bring investors closer to their investments. It is only make-believe, but it is interesting to think of what implications this will have for business. With rents primarily to be made in the real sector instead of the financial, how will this affect the organization and management of business?

The current design of the economy and its institutions, banks and business, make up a system that is unstable, unpredictable and uncontrollable. After the crisis in 2008 most agreed that things needed to change. Yet most has returned to business as usual. The necessity for change has not eroded. Exploring this possibility of decoupling the monetary system from private lending may be a perfect solution to many of our economic problems.

Based on:

Daly, H., & Farley, J. (2007). Ecological Economics. Principles and Applications. Dehli: Island Press.

The mainstreaming of green brings with it the need to segment audiences. As marketing efforts behind the Toyota Prius demonstrate, targeting messages to specific consumer groups can broaden appeal.

When launching the Prius in 2001, Toyota opted to target not the green-leaning drivers one might expect, but rather tech-savvy “early adopter” consumers. Featuring a beauty shot of a shiny new car parked at a stop light and illustrated by the provocative headline, “Ever heard the sound a stoplight makes?” an introductory print ad emphasized the hybrid car’s quiet ride (and specifically the fact that the motor when switched into electric gear did not idle at stoplights like combustion engines).

Putting primary benefits first, the key visual was a big, bold beauty shot of the car itself set off against a backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge while the body copy explained the revolutionary technology.

Environmental benefits appeared at the top right corner of the ad in mouse print in the form of compelling statistics about the car’s fuel economy and emissions. To establish its green bona fides and get a buzz going among influential greens, a supplemental campaign, “Genius,” spotlighted the car’s lighter environmental touch and activist group endorsements.

Spiked gasoline prices subsequently triggered a new campaign highlighting the car’s fuel efficiency. Today, its distinctive styling makes the Prius —and its now extended family of members—a rolling billboard of one’s environmental values and forward thinking. A successful public relations campaign, including stunts like celebrities rolling up to the Academy Awards in a Prius, bestowed the car with a “coolness” factor the reason why, anecdotally, many people buy a Prius.

******
Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman.
 

Many leading companies have realized that sustainability is good for the environment, their customers, and even the bottom line. Better still, by teaming up with other businesses for green initiatives, companies can achieve a greater impact. Through one recent collaboration, NativeEnergy’s Project Supporter Program, 25 brands are working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help build renewable energy and carbon-reducing projects across the U.S.

These businesses—which include LOHAS companies like eBay, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, EILEEN FISHER, Aveda, and Clif Bar—purchased Help Build™ carbon offsets to fund three projects.

The Iowa Farms Wind Project features the construction of two 1.6 MW wind turbines on family farms in northern Iowa. It’s expected to reduce about 9,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. Plus, it will provide power to about 5,200 nearby homes and an important source of income for the farm owners.

Project Supporters: Aveda, EILEEN FISHER, Clif Bar, Designtex, Touring Green, Reverb, Ben & Jerry’s

The Wewoka Biogas Project in Oklahoma powers a family-owned brick plant by using methane from a landfill. It captures and destroys the methane—a potent greenhouse gas—that would have been emitted otherwise. The discounted biogas also helps keeps the brick plant in business.

Project Supporters: eBay, Esurance, Designtex, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Eco-Products, Clif Bar, Brighter Planet, Reverb, Vital Choice, Touring Green, Presidio, College of the Atlantic

The Northeast Farm Separation Project in Pennsylvania cuts methane emissions on a family-owned dairy farm by separating volatile solids from manure. It also benefits farmers and helps reduce agricultural runoff.

Project Supporters: Ben & Jerry’s, The Brick Companies, Carlisle & Company, Comedy Central, RLP Capital, Credit Union Cherry Blossom Run, Pax World, and ABR, Inc.

Not only will these projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions—by a total sum of 400,000 metric tons—but they also help on a smaller scale by supporting local economies and family farms. So by participating, these corporate leaders have made a difference in the daily life of countless people.

The modern world is increasingly obsessed with consumption. We buy things we don’t need, which leads to waste. Fortunately, these companies prove that the corporate world is conscious of environmental issues and motivated to take action—on their own and collaboratively. In this case, success can even drive sustainability.

To learn more about the Project Supporter Program, visit http://www.nativeenergy.com/psp.html.

An business’ objection to sustainability could be a practical one, that there still is not strong business case. Or one might object that it is not business’ responsibility to take care of social issues, which would get us in ethical territory.

The first argument is getting weaker by the year. The second argument can be sidestepped by showing that there is a relevant business case for sustainability. To give some examples:

• Ray Anderson contended that his company Interface survived several economic crisis because of savings caused by sustainability programs
• GE’s Ecomagination products added US$12bn to the bottom line in 2006, with expectations of $20bn returns by 2010
• For every one-tenth-of-a-point increase in employee engagement at Best Buy, each Best Buy store increased profits by $100,000 a year per store
• 15% of U.S. workers are actively disengaged, Gallup estimates that this costs the economy about $328 billion
• Companies that are considered sustainability leaders are outperforming traditional stock by an average of 25 percent
• Philips made sustainability an integral part of the company in 2009, since then, its sales of green products increased to $11.85 billion, making up 39 percent of Philips’ total sales

Though these are tangible bottom line results, often sustainability is linked to stakeholder groups and intangibles that are not on the balance sheet. Nevertheless, according to thought leader Bob Willard, they have a direct influence on the bottom line, for example: `

• customers are very sensitive to the brand image of a company
• ‘green’ companies have less difficulty in attracting and retaining talent
• governments are addressing sustainability issues with policies– with a focus on sustainability businesses can actively anticipate or co-create legislation

Furthermore, sustainability is related to risk, such as

• erratic weather caused by climate change,
• the possibility of a price on carbon
• resource shortages in water, oil, food, and metals.

Although all of these issues might be difficult to quantify, and perhaps do not show up on the balance sheet, each sensible business person  must acknowledge that they compose material risks and opportunities to the bottom line. Added to that, it proofs that we are working with outdated business models, since they do not incorporate what is relevant to the organization.