GREENBUZZ :: May 5, 2008

If you are having trouble reading this page, you may view the current issue online here

May 5, 2008 News, Tools & Resources from GreenBiz.com Hot Topics   |   News   |   Resources   |   Job Link   |   Our Sites   |   About GreenBiz.com   Taking Care of Business You may have noticed that meetings are getting greener -- at least a little. This is a big deal. The impact of all of those conferences, expos, workshops, retreats, meetings, and other get-togethers add up. And many of those were from Eco-Hell -- wasteful in every respect. But that's changing. What started years ago as a handful of small and largely symbolic practices -- printing on recycled paper and recycling name badges, for example -- has taken a far more substantive turn. Meeting planners are examining every aspect of event organization and operation to find ways to reduce the environmental footprint of these happenings. And it's not just green-oriented conferences that are reducing waste, offsetting emissions, serving sustainable food, and implementing other green innovations. Now, events of all types are getting into the act. Not that they couldn't use some help, which comes this week from Danny Bradbury of BusinessGreen. He describes some of the things companies can do. (We've got a lot more such information on GreenBiz.com -- here.) Like most other green initiatives, the key is to green meetings is to understand your options and educate everyone involved. No small matter, to be sure, but a growing number of companies is demonstrating that it can be done, and done profitably. Of course, once you manage to produce meetings that are less stressful for the planet, you might consider making them less stressful for the people who attend them. -- Joel Makower, Executive Editor New on GreenBiz Radio: Approaching Efficiency as an Investment By Tilde Herrera Cost is the perennial barrier to green corporate investments in energy efficiency, but a new approach from Economist Jerry Jackson, the author of "Energy Budgets at Risk," can help companies evaluate these expenditures using tools created by the financial industry. You can listen to GreenBiz Radio online, download programs to your desktop, or subscribe to the GreenBiz Radio RSS feed. THIS ISSUE'S SPONSOR Want to be a GreenBuzz sponsor? Click here. Subscribe to GreenBiz.com RSS Headlines The Latest News on Business and the Environment Corporate Execs Must Take Charge of Green IT, Report Says Hiring a C-level 'Energy Czar' position and creating a corporate average data-center efficiency metric are among some of the top-level changes companies should adopt in order to make serious reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released by the Uptime Institute and McKinsey. Dow Chemical Wins ESS Excellence Award for Environmental Reporting Dow's project, lauded as the best of the year by crisis-management software company ESS and BNP Media, saved the company more than $2 million by using IT to streamline and improve the accuracy of its reporting processes. U.K. Dairy Industry Unveils Plan for Packaging, Energy, Emissions In the Milk Roadmap, industry and government have come together to set goals for reducing milk's impact on the environment in a number of ways. GreenTV Program Aims to Clean Up the Tube's Life-Cycle >From manufacturing to energy use to end-of-life, the LCD TV Association's new GreenTV program brings manufacturers together with vendors to shrink the television's ecological footprint. Verso Paper Met Most Environmental Goals for 2007 The papermaker now gets most of its energy from biomass and has steadily reduced its greenhouse gas emissions since 1998. OfficeMax Unveils Line of TerraCycle's Made-from-Waste Office Products Among the new offerings the retailer announced yesterday are binders, pencil cases, trash cans and cleaning products that are made from reclaimed waste materials and environmentally beneficial ingredients. U.K. Greenwash Complaints Quadrupled in 2007 The Advertising Standards Authority received 561 complaints about environmental and green claims in advertising last year, more than four times the amount of complaints in 2006. Tesco Adds Carbon Footprint to Product Labels Shoppers at Tesco supermarkets can now see the carbon footprint of certain items just by checking the label. Suppliers See Climate Change Regulation as Business Risk: Survey The Carbon Disclosure Project queried suppliers about what emissions they report and if they feel greenhouse gas regulations and climate change will impact their operations. Eco Trademarks Made Big Gains in 2007 Submissions of environmentally-focused trademarks applications helped create the busiest year since 2000 for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Dr. Bronner Files Lawsuit Over Organic Claims Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps filed a lawsuit this week against several competing personal care brands alleging the companies, such as Estee Lauder, Juice Organics and Stella McCartney CARE, are misleading consumers with false organic labeling. SAS Develops Software to Analyze, Recommend Sustinability Efforts Business intelligence software developer SAS has releases SAS for Sustainability Management to help companies better understand their current and future environmental impact. Rivals Boeing and Airbus Partner for Greener Aviation The partnership will work to save fuel and reduce emissions by increasing aviation efficiency and reduce air traffic congestion through better routing, more effective arrival management and speed control to wipe out unnecessary delays and air time. > MORE NEWS HEADLINES Featured Resource A Wealth of Hands-On Help Wood Products and Carbon Protocols This report from Dovetail Partners looks at how the storage of carbon within wood products and the low energy and fossil fuel intensity of wood products has been ignored by policy analysts. > MORE RESOURCES Columns and Features Insight and Inspiration from the Experts Can Business Conferences Ever Be Green? By Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen There are plenty of measures firms can take to limit the environmental impact of business conferences, even in the least-green of locations -- although ultimately holding fewer events may be most sustainable answer. Toward a Real-Time Macroethical Assessment for Sustainability By Brad Allenby As shown by the current uproar over the use of food crops as stock for alternative fuels, we need to incorporate a flexible and highly adaptive system of ethical guidelines to our plans for addressing the environmental problems that loom increasingly large over human activity. GreenBiz Blogs Joel Makower's Two Steps Forward: GreenBiz and GreenYour: Something Old, Something New > More from Joel Makower Marc Gunther on Corporate America: KKR meets Environmental Defense > More from Marc Gunther David Wigder's Green Marketing Strategies: Making What's Inconvenient Matter > More from David Wigder Andy Savitz's Triple Bottom Line Blog: Six Ways That Businesses Are Prodding And Dragging Government Toward Sustainability > More from Andy Savitz Wanna write for GreenBiz? GreenBiz is looking for guest and regular columnists and feature writers. We're seeking contributions from business leaders as well as the journalists who write about them. If you're interested, send a brief query to managing editor Matthew Wheeland, at editor@greenbiz.com | Read our editorial guidelines > MORE COLUMNS     > MORE FEATURES FEATURED EVENT Greener By Design Hosts: Greener World Media & Global Executive Date: June 12-13, 2008 Location: Arlington, Va. This two-day conference by the staff of GreenBiz.com aims to teach companies the how-to of building sustainability into the product development process with a focus on greening mainstream products, both consumer and B-to-B. > SUBMIT YOUR EVENT FEATURED BOOK Managing Climate Risk By Adam Jolly Climate change poses a serious threat to the continuity and prosperity of organizations, but there are ways to be prepared. > BUY IT! > READ MORE THE LATEST GREEN JOBS > Development Assistant Rainforest Alliance New York, N.Y. > Sustainability Director Sustainable Business Council Missoula, Mt. > General Manager - Environmental Solutions Group Clear Standards Reston, Va. > Business Development Manager The GreenLife Organization, LLC Various Locations > Communications Assistant, Neotropics Communications Rainforest Alliance Chicago, Ill. YOUR AD HERE! Become a GreenBuzz sponsor or advertiser, reaching tens of thousands of businesses every week. Click Here to receive more information. Please e-mail content queries to the GreenBiz Editor.   GREENBUZZ and GreenBiz.com are produced by Greener World Media, Inc. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | About Us | Privacy Policy Forward email Email Marketing by GreenBiz.com | Greener World Media, Inc. | Oakland | CA | 94610