By John Bain via GoodB

At this point, it’s obvious that our society needs to make basic changes to its energy infrastructure. If you’re like me, you might be excited that the transition from oil to sustainable energy is just beginning to take on steam. However, all these changes make it easy to forget the personal focus of the original environmental movement. That is: conservation is something you and I must engage in on a daily basis, and if everyone helps out a little we will eventually see a worthwhile change.

So when you go to the grocery store, why are you still asking for plastic?

Yes, it turns out that to help save the planet, you actually have to do something. Something as simple as bringing a reusable bag next time you go to the supermarket. However, state and local governments can also help by banning plastic bags altogether. The documentar!y Bag It!, filmed to support a proposed plastic-bag ban in Boston, cuts to the heart of this issue with a couple revealing statistics. For instance, it costs $4000 to recycle a ton of plastic bags, so only about 5% of major recyclers accept them. Instead, local governments tell people to take them back to the store, where they are most likely just thrown away.

And that’s the last thing we want, since plastic bags only decompose after… well, as this Slate article tells us, there’s no way of knowing how long it takes plastic to break down since it’s only been around for about 50 years. In fact, plastic doesn’t biodegrade in the traditional way because it is a synthetic material; the sun has to break it down over time, and estimates for the length of this process range between 500 and 1,000 years.

So why not just use paper bags? As a commentator in Bag It! notes, the upshot of these is that they’re biodegradable — however, as it turns out they are both expensive to produce and wasteful of wood and water. Well, that’s fine – let’s get over it and start using reusable bags when we shop. It’s just a bag!

But in California, after a huge amount of infighting a recent plastic bag ban failed to pass in the State Senate. What gives? Why do lawmakers care so much – besides lobbyist dollars from the petrochemical industry, of course?

There is a viable objection to forcing businesses not to use plastic bags from a libertarian standpoint, which is why many California state senators rejected the proposal. “It’s my business,” you might say. “Let me run it how I want.” I hear you. This issue is a somewhat regrettable example of the government having to micromanage our lives – people should be doing this on their own. But they don’t.

And the stakes are too high for us to ignore this any longer. I don’t mind my personal liberty being slightly curtailed in this manner if it will help save the planet – I really have bigger things to worry about than my God-given right to plastic bags. In theory a law like this may be “about” more than just plastic bags, but at the end of the day it really is just a plastic bag. Call me when they come for the Bill of Rights.

Our failures to create sane personal and local policies about this material belie the global consequences of the way we deal with plastic waste. Enter the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Or actually, don’t, because it’s an incredibly gross soup of plastic waste stretching from Japan to California. The media has tended to portray this “patch” as a literal island of plastic twice the size of Texas; however, recent research has revealed the plastic exists mostly as particles rather than as a visible mass. That’s not to say there isn’t a “trash island” out there (plastic waste tends to congregate in one area due to ocean currents), but it’s smaller than most of the media would have you believe.

In any case, the existence of a contiguous “trash island” would be better than what’s really happening. Rather than breaking down completely, like an organic substance would, plastic is merely turning into particles and being ingested by plankton. This report states that in 11 random samples of North Pacific ocean water, the mass of plastic was six times greater than that of plankton. Think about that for a second. This is the source of most of the world’s water. Not only that, but consider the effects it could have on marine wildlife, including the fish we eat. Gives you pause.

Mind you, this is all in the Pacific Ocean, so where do you think a lot of it comes from? California! Not to mention rapidly developing economies like that of China, and already-established consumer nations such as Japan. Things like this are why I support this planet eventually jettisoning its garbage into space. What’s the worst that could happen — species-wide embarrassment when environmentalist aliens notice a massive floating ball of our trash? But that’s a political issue for the next century.

So it is ours to ask, right now: What am I going to do about it? Buy plastic water bottles?

No, we need to make change for everyone because we are everyone. We’re guilty on a personal level, to be sure — but the blame also lies in our complicity with governments that continue to prop up plastic. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the result of millions of individuals making millions of choices they didn’t think would matter in the long run. Remember that plastic bag you threw away 10 years ago? I didn’t think you would.

So… What are you going to do about it?

Image source: Rakka

By Deborah R. Herr Via Greenbiz.com

Whether your organization is large or small, profit-centered or charitable, there are affordable options for green efforts in your face-to-face meetings with customers and employees. The only requirement is some new thinking.

With a recent study from Experian finding that 29 percent of US adults (more than 62 million people) claim to be green-aware, it doesn’t take long for consumers’ wants and preferences to move up the business ladder and into the world of B-to-B marketing.

Businesspeople are also consumers, and they bring their consumer attitudes with them to the workplace. So, if organizations are going to be greener, it makes good sense to include your B-to-B interactions — such as meetings, conferences, trade shows and sales efforts — in your green initiatives. This means making some changes to business as usual, and in the process can be very good for business and save money.

Opinion polls have been pointing out the burgeoning environmental consciousness trend since the turn of the millennium. A McKinsey & Co. global survey in 2007 showed an astounding 87 percent of consumers in 8 major economies around the world were concerned about the environmental impact of products they buy. Closer to home, an AMP Agency report found that 53 percent of consumers factor a company’s social and environmental activities into their purchasing discussions.

Green Initiatives Must Be Cultivated

The first step on the journey to being able to present a green image in your meetings and events is to do your homework within your own organization. Is there a sustainability plan? Does your company have a Sustainability Officer? Is there a Green Team, and if so, how can you get on it?

Make a list of your company’s green efforts so you can answer questions from customers or develop a promotional piece to highlight them. Today’s audiences are very sensitive to “greenwashing,” so don’t exaggerate your efforts or their impact on the environment. Your customers realize that going green is a process so they will not expect you to have all programs fully operational right away.

In conducting your research, you may find that your company is greener than you think. For instance, does it encourage recycling of office paper or bottles and cans? Has your office installed water coolers in place of individual plastic bottles? You may find green tactics already in place that you can extend to your B-to-B efforts or others that you can highlight to increase your customer credibility.

Be assured that you are not alone in your quest to add green tactics to your face-to-face marketing efforts. There are plenty of websites that offer tips and ideas — and answer questions — about going green. See Exhibitor Online’s Ask Mr. Green column, and the BlueGreenMeetings.org website.

How To Start Greening Your Meetings, Exhibits and Events

According to a profile of the convention and meeting industry in the San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. meetings are a $107 billion industry serving 136.5 million people attending 1.2 million business events annually.

Most of those meetings could benefit from signficant greening. So, what can be done right now that’s cost-effective?

There are many small changes that can add up to some big savings in actual dollars as well as green credibility. Start as early as possible in your planning process to consider green tactics. Make sustainability a part of your RFP process as you speak with facilities and convention/visitors bureaus. Request suppliers that have sustainability practices in place, such as caterers. Keep insisting that facilities and suppliers tell you how they will help minimize the environmental impact of your gathering.

Ask each of the facilities and suppliers you’re working with to tell you what they’re already doing to be more sustainable. These four areas are a good place to start:

• Saving energy and water
• Reducing the environmental impact of transportation
• Recycling policies
• Donating leftover food to shelters

Tips for Greener Meetings and Conferences

When you are planning a meeting:

1. Consider “walkable” destinations to save money on transportation such as shuttle buses.
2. Ask hotels and caterers about their recycling policies.
3. Supply newspapers to rooms only on guest request and refrain from setting the room a/c to “frostbite” prior to guest arrival.
4. Request paperless signage (LCD screens) or design your signage to be reused. (Create arrows that can be removed from the sign; when room assignments change, simply reverse the arrows)

Travel and registration practices also can be greener:

1. Request paperless check in/out.
2. Supply meeting agendas by email or beamable to PDAs onsite.
3. Supply walking routes to/from convention center and other venues.
4. Try and find shuttle providers using cleaner energy sources such as natural gas, electricity, or biodiesel. Insist on a no-idling policy for vehicles when waiting for passengers or dropping off.
5. Provide a location for attendees to turn in their name badges for reuse — collecting 1,300 name badges for reuse can save $975 at your next event.

In the meeting itself:

1. Serve bulk water not individual bottles.
2. Use smaller, biodegradable cups for hot and cold beverages when china is not available or appropriate.
3. Request seasonal menus with ingredients sourced locally wherever possible.
4. Serve at least one vegetarian meal such as pasta. Animal protein, particularly beef, is hard on the environment — 150 percent more carbon-intensive than fish or chicken.
5. Choose responsibly grown flowers for centerpieces. Consider edible flowers.
6. Don’t pre-fill water glasses at the tables.
7. Supply presentations on thumb drives or post to a website.
8. Use both sides of the paper for any necessary handouts.

Tips for Exhibits and Exhibit Managers

Spread the word on every communication you send that your exhibit is going green. Be sure to say that you consider this a process that will grow over time as you replace and update your booth architecture.

1. Ask exhibitors to minimize paper collateral materials or use recycled materials and vegetable based inks.
2. Encourage the use of recycled materials such as aluminum and polyester in booth design.
3. Insist on carpeting, made from recycled fibers such as soda bottles.
4. Provide the exhibitor and booth assignment list as a PDA download.
5. Lighten the load with careful choice of materials and crates. A lighter exhibit means better truck fuel economy and lower drayage costs.
6. Minimize giveaway literature. The Center for Exhibit Research estimates that 65 percent goes into the trash rather than the suitcase.
7. Consider a thumb drive with company or product logo as a giveaway. Pre-load literature/sales sheets that would have been printed for the exhibit.

Whatever you do will make a difference. Right now, the trade show industry is second only to the construction industry in the amount of waste generated.

Does any of this effort make a difference? Of course it does. The U.S. is the largest market for paper products in the world, consuming about 100 million tons annually. In a typical brochure run, using paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council or recycled paper and soy based inks you can save 47 trees, enough water for 1,100 eight-minute showers, 75 large cans of garbage and equivalent exhaust emissions to driving a car for 5,322 miles. If enough companies progress beyond thinking green to actually being green, we’ll all breathe and live easier.

However, green can’t be your only strategy. As always, focus on your brand and what it means to your customer. Make sure your product message is coherent and consistent with your audiences’ needs. Then, when you attract interest due to your green tactics, your customers will come back again and again because of the value of your product or service.

Remember, you need to start someplace. As the old saying goes: If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got. Don’t hesitate. The best time to go green is now.

Photos by Goodwin Ogbuehi.

Oh, lovely upcycling. “Upcycle” is the hot new green buzz. What is upcycling? Upcycling is: “is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.”

Kristen McKain of KM Studio makes products out of recycled material. These include magnets, hair clips, bookmarks, and jewelry. Simple things like plastic containers and soda cans can have other uses as well if you think creatively. You should always take a look at what you’re about to throw away before doing so and decide if there would be a purpose for it in another way, and if not – recycle it. Landfills are filling up quick and we only have one earth. Lets not ruin it!

When Kristen started recycling and saw how many soda cans were used within just one household in one week, she decided to try to think up other uses for them. She started out with magnets and gradually added new things like hair clips, bookmarks, and jewelry. She backs her items with foam so that there are no sharp edges. She now also uses recycled plastic containers to make sleek modern jewelry. You can hardly tell they are made from recycled plastics!

Her designs show you that you can make items that are used daily from things that would have otherwise ended up in landfills around the world

By EcoSpree.

We’ve all heard about Groupon by now. The company is one of the fastest growing start-ups in the history of the internet. Groupon capitalized on the simple and proven business model of coupons-for-sales, added some social media functionality, and employed strategic marketing tactics. Groupon built a multi-billion dollar company in record-breaking speed… not too shabby.

On the heal of Groupon’s success, daily deal sites are popping up left and right. An interesting trend in the daily deal boom is the emergence of green coupon sites. In the course of just a couple months we’ve seen the launch of Blissmo, Ethical Deal, Gather Green, Green Deals, Green Box Top, and CauseOn.

Ethical Deal, Gather Green, and Green Box Top seem to be following the design and model of Groupon, with a green Twist. Ethical Deal is based in Vancouver with plans to expand to additional cities soon. Gather Green just launched in the Los Angeles area. Green Box Top has been running weekly deals in San Francisco and plans to expand to Colorado soon.

Two of the more interesting and unique new entrants are Blissmo and CauseOn. Blissmo runs weekly savers that feature online deals from businesses individually selected based meeting the company’s sustainability criteria. As a “mission-driven” company, Blissmo’s mission is to “promote sustainable consumption for a happier, healthier people & planet”. CauseOn is also an interesting one in that it focuses on raising funds for local causes (the company is based in Portland, OR). CauseOn donates a whopping 20% to its featured cause.

This will certainly be an interesting year in the world of green deal sites. Our prediction is that by this time next year some of these companies will have rapidly expanded, others will have shut their doors, and new sites will emerge- further shaking up this growing market.

By Vikas Yadav Via Greenmarketing.tv

Are you wondering why social entrepreneurs should consider participating in a business plan contest? Besides the prize and the limelight these competitions may bring, there are other benefits that you should consider before deciding to add participation in a business plan competition to your ‘to do’ list.
The most obvious benefit of participating in business plan competitions is that the prize money could serve as seed funding for your social venture. The other advantage is that business plan competitions force entrepreneurs to think clearly and articulate their social impact and financial aims unambiguously. Rigorous grilling by judges and their subsequent feedback can provide precious inputs for refining your business plan further.
Participating in business plan competitions also offers an unparalleled opportunity to network with investors and like-minded individuals. You may or may not win the competition, but you can certainly find useful contacts and wise mentors. Remember, that it is not unusual for contest participants to find funding even when they do not win the contest.
You can find about various business plan competitions from friends or by attending social enterprise conferences. You could also try our list of business plan competitions for social entrepreneurs from around the world.

Image source PIX