Here's another recent sample; it's an article I did for a newsletter geared towards the event/convention industry. Also pasted below are a few random dining and venue write-ups that I did for AOL when I was writing for their CityGuide feature's division in my younger years, and which are reprinted on the websites of the venues described. As I mentioned, I've done a number of similar features for Prism under my mom's byline over the past couple of years, including pieces on shopping, music venues, dining, and other such things. I've also written similar features for Dining Out, Chowbaby.com, Austin Monthly, The Onion (Austin print version), and other random publications as well as national outlets like National Lampoon.
Thanks,
Barrett Brown Brooklyn, NY 512-560-2302
WasteNot, Whatnot
by Barrett Brown
The Environmental Protection Agency
has deemed the event and trade show industry to be 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; 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?
The implementation of eco-friendly
operating procedures is surprisingly easy, increasingly marketable,
and almost universally profitable. This, at least, was the central
message of last month's
Green Event Summit in San Fransisco,
where hundreds of event professionals met to showcase new, greener
business practices of potential interest dealer owners, project
managers, and the like.
Now, skepticism in the face of
increasingly ubiquitous buzzwords like "eco-friendly" is
understandable, particularly in the absence of any clear definitions.
But the environmental movement has come a long way since the first
Earth Day, having since branched out from a propensity for vagueness
and granola into something that one can actually take to the bank
without getting laughed at by the teller.
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.
The trick, though, is to go about
these things the right way. The Army saved itself a bundle by
consulting with Green Seal (greenseal.org), one of several
independent certification groups that reckon degrees of ecological
efficiency by reference to "Life Cycle Assessment." As Green Seal
environmental scientist Nana Wilberforce explains, an LCA measures
the environmental impact of a given product or service by tracing its
eco-footprint from cradle to grave, covering everything from the
early extraction of raw materials to the later disposal of dangerous
materials. "In
all," says Wilberforce, "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
(greenguard.org), 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, furnitures paint, textiles, adhesives, fleet vehicle
maintenance, cleaning services, print materials, and other items of
relevance to the trade show world.
But saving money while going green can
be even easier than simply changing suppliers, and the event industry
is in a particularly advantageous position to do so. "Saving money
on eliminating bottled water is the easiest, low-hanging fruit,"
says Amy Spatrisano, one of the Green Event Summit's keynote speakers
and a principal of Meeting Strategies Worldwide. "We've had clients
save $25,000 to $50,000 by not serving bottled water and providing
large drinking water containers instead. Caterers can also save 15 to
50 percent on serving items in bulk versus individual packets." At
the same time, it's easy to get sloppy in the process. "In their
enthusiasm to adopt something green, [companies] don't always think
it through," Spatrisano notes. "If you're going to eliminate
bottled water and provide a refillable container, make sure the
container is made environmentally responsibility." LCA standards to
the rescue!
Several of the methods by which
display dealers in particular stand to save both money and planets
are slightly more complicated, though still well within the realm of
the doable. Josh Rose, who serves as the Event Designers and
Producers Association's vice president of connectivity and also sits
on its board of directors and runs his own consultancy firm to boot,
points out that the industry practice of pricing shipments by weight
provides an opportunity to kill two birds with one etcetera. "Greener
products are being designed into exhibits to reduce weight and add
flexibility for future adaptation: more aluminum instead of wood and
steel, more fabric instead of wood and laminated or plastic finishes.
This reduction in weight has lower material handling costs and fuel
costs." Then, there's the recycling route. "The red carpet at Fox
events in Hollywood for the last year or two has been standardized,
cleaned, and reused instead of going to the landfill," Rose points
out. "When you are talking about thousands of square feet, that
translates to real dollars. Also, builders are creatively restocking
used exhibit components and then 'reskinning' them for the next
client or show. Instead of pitching old graphics after a specific
event, the graphic has become more generic and reused for multiple
events with a changeable tag line. One of our clients has saved over
$20,000 a year by using this process on an eight-show circuit."
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. "Greenwashing is becoming a much bigger issue," says
Spatrisano, using a term that denotes the making of misleading claims
regarding a firm's ecological commitment. Environmental watchdogs
have always been on the lookout for fraud in this regard; now,
customers are increasingly savvy to such things as well, so it's
important to be specific about your greenery. Point out that you're
doing business with "LCA-certified suppliers of green products and
services," for instance, and you'll get increased business with
those who know their stuff, as well as 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, has some ideas on how to get the ball rolling:
Your firm should pursue "waste
management and recycling that addresses office and production
wastes." An inexpensive session with an environmental consultant
will help.
Before moving on to the more
advanced stuff, seek to reduce energy use "through reductions or
efficiency gains." Some firms are rolling out corporate buses;
others make do with energy-efficient light bulbs and computer
monitors, while still others just turn the damned things off at the
end of the day. Also, cell phone chargers and the like should be
pulled from the socket when not in use; they still run when there's
nothing hooked up to them, people.
Compose "a plan to move towards
more renewable or alternative energy sources." Again, a consultant
will come in handy.
Lock your principals in a room
together until they settle on a "purchasing policy to address
purchasing habits and criteria to aid in using more sustainable
materials." Switching to products and services with favorable LCAs
is surefire.
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.
Toyota suffered some PR fallout when the firm was reprimanded by the
Advertising Standards Association for far-out claims it had been
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.
WasteNot: What, Not?
In the rush to
green one's scene, avoid being taken in by bad ideas, some of which
actually damage the environment, as well as your reputation among the
environmentally adept.
Don't recycle
company computers or other electronics; the process remains dirty
and expensive. Selling them used will drum up cash and encourage
others to avoid making unnecessary purchases of new goods.
Having a
little tag line on your e-mails encouraging people not to print them
out unless necessary is increasingly common. It's also irritating
and probably ineffective.
The green
movement, like all movements, runs the risk of being bound up with
aesthetics at the expense of common sense. Ordering a $7,000 coffee
table made with Southeast Asian hardwoods from a boutique with a
cutesy name may help to tie your building's lobby together, but it
also entails a massive carbon footprint when one takes shipping into
account. If you don't need to order something from the other side of
the planet, don't.
If you're
thinking about greening up your coffee service (hey, why not?),
don't swap your regular milk for the "organic" sort in hopes of
reducing environmental impact it'll actually have the opposite
effect for reasons too wonky to discuss here. Go for soy milk, which
is not only more environmentally sound but also better for you and,
frankly, tastier.
Biofuels were
once hailed as a major solution, but are now roundly rejected for
their massive pollution. Rhyming is fine, though.
There was
recently a study going around to the effect that regular light bulbs
are actually better for the planet than the more efficient sorts,
but the study in question failed to take into account several of the
sorts of things that studies are generally supposed to take into
account. Stick with the new, more efficient bulbs.
Compared to other more salsa-soaked Dallas
suburbs as Plano and Garland, Flower Mound
has historically suffered from a relative Tex-Mex
deficit. But as deeply tragic as that might
be, residents do have options, and Anamia's
is generally regarded as one of the best. Standard
cross-border offerings like beef fajitas and
soft flour tacos are solidly executed, the
salsa of residence is quite distinctive if
only by virtue of inordinate levels of spice,
and the combo plates are amply-portioned enough
to feed two adults from the same trough. Those
on the lookout for the unorthodox won't be
disappointed, either; the menu is speckled
with such inspired irregularities as grilled
shrimp served atop Romaine lettuce, to which
slices of avocado and pineapple have been added
in what appears to have been a sudden spate
of ingenious afterthought. Barrett Brown
As one of the most peaceful, family-friendly spots in one of the most peaceful, family-friendly neighborhoods on earth, Snider Plaza
has catered to the well-manicured sensibilities of those dwelling in
the surrounding Park Cities for generations. Happily enough, the
three-block shopping center is also home to some of the area's most
eternally beloved dining spots, with Kuby's, Bubba's and Balls
Hamburgers forming a sort of walking-distance triumvirate of comfort
food (other, slightly more formal dining establishments are also on
hand for those with a liking for cloth napkins). But the backbone of
Snider Plaza's local appeal is the dozens of charmingly petite boutiques
specializing in everything from stationary to antiques to imported
fabrics. Rounding out the almost otherworldly wholesomeness of it all
is the Eisenhower-era gas station -- a compact, three-pump affair where
attendants still race out to fill one's tank. -- Barrett Brown
This is Barrett Brown, Karen Lancaster's son; I wrote that introductory piece on Dallas for you last week, plus a number of other things under my mom's name for Destination Dallas. Just wanted to check and see if you expect to have much work to hand out over the next few months, as I could always use more gigs these days. Keep me in mind.