Article
Subject: Article
From: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 5/22/08, 23:25
To: "Anna Bohichik" <anna.bohichik@gmail.com>

Waste Not, Whatnot


by Barrett Brown


According to the Environmental Protection Industry, the event and trade show industry is the second largest producer of solid waste in the United States, second only to demolition and construction in this dubious honor. Don't apologize to your kids just yet, though; solid waste, while none too pretty, is only a small stroke of the brush in the greater ecological picture, with experts having developed new and better criteria as of late to determine who's been mucking up the planet and how much mucking up they've been doing. Besides, your kids may very well have their own apologizing to do. When was the last time you checked the locks on the liquor cabinet, anyway?


Pursuing eco-friendly operating procedures is surprisingly easily, increasingly marketable, and almost universally profitable. Perhaps more to the point, it may soon become legally mandatory. There's no need to take my word for it, though; for all you know, I'm the one who jimmied open your liquor cabinet in the first place.


Instead, listen to spokespeople for the half-dozen trade show industry associations which co-sponsored this summer's "Green Event Summit" in San Fransisco, where hundreds of event professionals met to showcase new, greener options for display dealer owners, project managers, and the like. Although the convention's express goals were admirably wide-ranging, the most relevant message may have been sent by the host city itself. A month prior to the event, San Francisco officials announced new regulations that will require Bay Area businesses to pay a small but measurable tax on carbon dioxide emissions, and which will no doubt end up serving as a template for similar laws in other large cities over the next decade.


Government prodding aside, trade show professionals have every reason to green it up over the next few years. From a marketing standpoint, advertising one's wares and services as environmentally sound is a no-brainer - more and more potential clients want to hear it, others don't care one way or the other, and the few who might actually object are generally cranks who don't buy anything unless they have a coupon for it anyway. Most likely, you don't take coupons.


Moreover, it's easy to forget that you can't spell "economic" without "eco" unless you're cheating on a crossword puzzle; those who have pursued greener practices for any particular reason almost always find that they've also managed to save money in the process. And the more mundane the changes, the more surprising the savings often turn out to be. The U.S. Army, for instance, recently audited its paint purchases and discovered that the eco-friendly sorts ended up costing them an average of $1.76 less per can than did the regular types – even when both kinds came from the same supplier. This, from an organization that used to blow hundreds of dollars on a single hammer.


The trick, though, is to go about these things the right way. The Army saved itself a bundle by consulting with Green Seal, one of the several independent certification groups that reckon degrees of ecological efficiency by reference to "Life Cycle Assessment." Nana Wilberforce, one of Green Seal's environmental scientists, explains the term thusly: "When conducting an LCA of products from different companies, the entire life cycle of products should be considered: First, the acquisition of raw materials. Secondly, the production processes. Thirdly, you have to look at the product use phase. Lastly, you have to also look at the end of life of the product – what percentage of the product is recyclable, what percentage contains harmful chemicals and how those chemicals are disposed of, what types of waste management does the product require. In all, the concept of sustainability must be taken into consideration."


Since most firms don't have an environmental scientist on staff, such a nuanced consideration as that may seem somewhat daunting. Luckily, Green Seal offers a free online database of products and services that have met strict LCA standards. Another non-profit, the Greenguard Environmental Institute, hosts a similar database with an emphasis on emissions and indoor air quality. Between these two websites alone, one can quickly locate green-certified suppliers of surfacing materials, furniture, paint, textiles, adhesives, fleet vehicle maintenance, cleaning services, print materials, and other items of relevance to the trade show world.


Once you've gotten on the waste wagon, there still exists the matter of communicating your new-found social responsibility to customers. In a market that's becoming increasingly glutted with such terminology, simply describing your firm as "environmentally-friendly" is akin to offering cheap candy in Candy Land. Instead, be specific about your greenery; point out that you're doing business with "LCA-certified suppliers of green products and services," and you'll get increased business with those who know their stuff, not to mention those who are easily impressed by mysterious acronyms.


Also, don't forget to render your TLK's with an upper-trending FRW before the next FOM.


Just kidding. But seriously, though, LCA is a real thing, and you should get on it ASAP.



It's Not Easy Being Green... Or Is It?

Paul Firth, vice president of technology for the environmental watchdog group Green Standard, suggests that your firm address a few simple issues to get the ball rolling.





If You Cheat on Mother Earth, She'll Leave Threatening Messages on Your Voice Mail


We won't judge you for cutting environmental corners, but your customers might; making dubious claims of greenness can have nasty repercussions. There was some public relations fallout for Toyota when the firm was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Association for the far-out claims it was making last year regarding the allegedly low environmental impact of its vehicles. Around the same time, the ASA publicly scolded a Scottish energy company for claiming that they'd plant enough trees to offset the carbon dioxide produced by their customers; it turned out that, while the company did indeed arrange for trees to be planted, the program managers had no idea how much CO2 a tree could actually absorb. Oops.