The green bandwagon: Avoiding the eco-electro-flouro-bio-hydro-organically sustainable potholes

So many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon that its hybrid-driven axles are sagging. Businesses large, small and conceptual are crowding into the green marketplace, seeking ways to add more green to their bottom lines. Among the latest: If you enroll in its paperless statements program, Citibank will donate a tree on your behalf to the National Arbor Day Foundation (and, coincidentally, significantly reduce its administrative costs). In the process of careening toward green, however, a number of initiatives have taken on a drab shade when seen in the light of day.

The U.K. supermarket chain Tesco, for example, hit a pothole after announcing a "green plan" by which it promised to shrink its carbon footprint. Among other steps, it's allowing customers to recycle paper-based food cartons in its stores and is displaying the carbon footprints of its products on labels. British media discovered, however, that Tesco has been shipping CDs and DVDs to Switzerland and then reshipping them back home as a scheme for avoiding a value-added tax. To save its customers a pound or two, it was generating many more pounds of emissions from transporting the disks.

Lexus also has hit some bumps in the road by producing the LS 600h L hybrid luxury vehicle as a muscle car that reportedly gets only 20 miles per gallon.

These paradoxical kinds of actions on the part of corporations increasingly are viewed as "greenwashing" by influential bloggers and journalists. Companies that rush to proclaim a green scheme must be committed to maintaining that program over time and need to think through all the ramifications of their processes to ensure that they truly are reducing pollution and/or energy use.

"The blogging community is many things to many people, but few would contest that they routinely serve very effectively as a kennel of watchdogs identifying malfeasance, real or contrived, with remarkable alacrity," points out Airfoil Vice President, Eric Kushner. "Just as conventional journalism emerged from the perceived need to keep a close eye on government and its officials, bloggers are gaining their reputation by focusing very sharply on the true actions of corporations, holding them to a high consumer standard with no tolerance for questionable green claims."

Kushner offers these steps for helping to ensure that your claims, green or otherwise, avoid the wrath of consumer-generated sites and the media:

1.     Earn consumer buy-in early. Provide previews and exclusive information to the online community and seek their input. The questions raised in response to your own blog posts and on the sites of influential watchdogs are your best sources of research. Address these questions in a serious and diligent manner to reassure consumers and the media. Likewise, ask for consumer input on the next steps they would like to see you take to advance your green program so that you gain allies even before you expand your efforts.

2.     Be as open as possible. In online conversations, don't try to "spin" the benefits of your product or service. Be straightforward in declaring exactly what you believe your offering will do, how it will do it and how you will measure the results.

3.     Invite consumer groups and/or influential bloggers to your announcement event. Make them a part of your solution to reduce the chances of their later becoming part of the problem.

4.     Continue communicating after the initial announcement of your green plans. Report back to the media on the positive impact your program is having, on the growth of sales in your green arena and on comments you've received from customers.

5.     As your program rolls out, stake a claim. Become a part of the green infrastructure by promoting your program among your industry peers, at consumer events and in consumer publications. No one company or organization "owns" the green movement at this point. Take advantage of the opportunity to become a thought leader based on your own commitment and results.

6.     Always tell the truth. Exaggerated green plans or claims wither quickly under the heat of consumer and media scrutiny. Become a positive force against which the actions of other companies are measured.

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IT industry serves up its own green programs

While many companies are turning to technology as a tool for advancing green initiatives, the IT industry itself has begun to examine its own not-so-virtual footprint. Gartner analyst Simon Mingay reports that, in February of this year, Greenpeace published a study of environmental pollution generated during the manufacture of electronic products. In his analysis of this research report, Mingay cited several potential implications for the IT industry, including these:

• Environmental groups will increase their investigations of the IT industry in relation to chemical contamination, greenhouse gas emissions produced during the life of an electronic product, and use of nonrenewable resources.
• IT vendors must work to reduce their environmental footprint.
• Buyers of IT products are focusing on operational power consumption and "e-waste." According to Mingay, Gartner expects IT consumers "to become more environmentally concerned and informed. They will increasingly challenge vendors about the full-life-cycle environmental footprint and impact of IT-related equipment.."

Subsequently, in a June 19 report, Mingay noted that major software, hardware and Internet companies have formed the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, which Gartner believes "will contribute to reductions in IT power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions." The research firm specifically anticipates that the initiative "will spur good progress on reducing motherboard power consumption, but that improvements in power supply efficiency would have happened anyway. A significant part of the initiative centers on education and awareness, the effectiveness of which will be hard to measure."

Whatever the result, individual consumers and businesses are increasingly likely to hold IT vendors to their pledge of greener products, Mingay notes. It will be crucially important for these companies to communicate their actions and their results effectively to the marketplace.

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Treehugger.com: Growing green

As fast as businesses are seeding their companies with green initiatives, green media are sprouting online to cover every aspect of ecology, sustainability, alternative energy, conservation and global warming mitigation. A flourishing crop of Web sites to meet business demands and consumer interest range from PointCarbon.com, a heavy-hitting, "facts and stats" news and analysis site focused on the global power, gas and carbon markets, to consumer-focused sites like Grist.org, to extensions of venerable organizations like Sierraclub.com.

Treehugger, a green CNN-meets-MySpace hybrid, is a thicket of multimedia outlets, including a blog (currently with more than 13,000 posts in eight categories), a daily and weekly enewsletter, weekly video segments, a weekly radio show, and a user-generated blog titled Hugg. The organization also offers "green guidance" to other media and corporations.

Separate sections of the site are devoted to news and blog posts in the categories of cars & transportation, science & technology, design & architecture, culture & celebrity, travel & nature, food & health, business & politics, and fashion & beauty. All these areas are supplemented by a long list of surveys (from readers' computer habits to incandescence vs. fluorescence), a job board for ecological positions and a listing of other green-oriented blogs. The site also offers specific tips on "how to go green" in 28 categories, from babies and pets to wardrobes and weddings.

"The varied and vast amount of user-generated content on Treehugger.com represents how hungry people are for a range of new choices, from easy eco-tips, to "lighter green" alternatives, to paradigm-shifting approaches to lifestyle and business operations," said Airfoil Account Director Jean Lombard. "Treehugger is one of several outlets whose rapidly-growing popularity reflects increasingly intense consumer and corporate demand for knowledge and greener practices."

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Business-to-business online marketplace calls on Airfoil for media relations expertise

Airfoil is working with MachineTools.com, a leading business-to-business online marketplace for the metalworking industry, to provide media relations strategy and support for the company. Airfoil is developing relationships with key industry media and is working directly with the company's CEO on new business to support two outdoor sports enthusiast Web sites. Since teaming with MachineTools.com, Airfoil has provided messaging and press material development for a number of initiatives, including their expansion into China, India and Mexico.

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New hires augment consumer and technology expertise at Airfoil

Lindsay Nowicki has joined the Airfoil business-to-consumer team as an account coordinator where she provides media relations, media monitoring and event planning support for several clients. Prior to joining Airfoil, Nowicki lent her creative talent and media relations savvy to Janine Gordon Associates, a New York public relations firm. There she worked on public relations and strategic marketing efforts for a variety of consumer and lifestyle clients. Nowicki earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Tony Onofrio has also joined the Airfoil team serving within the operations group as an IT coordinator providing network support and helpdesk services to the firm's headquarters and California operations. Tony brings two years of IT experience to the organization gained during his tenure providing desktop support for his alma mater, Brigham Young University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.

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