3p Contributor: Gina-Marie Cheeseman
Recent Articles
Bar Codes Apps Allow Consumers To Make Informed Choices
Consumers are becoming more socially conscious. A Nielsen survey released in March found that 46 percent of global consumers are willing to pay extra for products and services from companies that have implemented sustainability programs. Nielsen defines those consumers as socially-conscious consumers. The survey found that 76 percent of socially conscious respondents said they look for opinion and information posted online by other consumers, and 59 percent said they are more likely to use social media to help make purchase decisions. That is good news for OpenLabel, a smart phone app that allows users to scan a bar code and get crowd-sourced information. At present OpenLabel is in Beta and only available for iPhone users, but Android will follow.
“The Open Label is remarkably simple,” OpenLabel CEO Scott Kennedy says in a YouTube video. Anyone who has a smart phone “can scan a bar code on any product and immediately see what people say about it,” Kennedy says. Once a person scans the bar code, they will see “a bunch of comments in various categories.” Users can even vote comments up or down, report comments that “you feel it shouldn’t be there,” and follow other users or organizations.
Electronic Recycling Up via eCycling Leadership Initiative
Over 4.6 million tons of e-waste ended up in U.S. landfills in 2000 according to the EPA. On average, an American household has 25 different electronic products, most of which will someday wind up needing to be recycled. The problem with electronic waste is that the toxic chemicals, like mercury, in the electronics can leach into the land or be released into the atmosphere. Thankfully, electronic recycling is increasing. In fact, last year 460 million pounds of electronics were recycled, a 53 percent increase over the 300 million pounds recycled in 2010, according to the first annual report of the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) eCycling Leadership Initiative.
The CEA launched the eCycling Leadership Initiative on April 13, 2011 with a dozen electronics companies with the goal of recycling one billion pounds electronics a year by 2016. One billion pounds of electronics would fill about 88.9 million cubic feet, equivalent to a 71,000 seat NFL stadium. The amount of drop-off locations increased nationwide to almost 7,500 last year from just over 5,000 in 2010, and 96 percent of the recycling done by the Initiative participants, by the end of last year, was conducted in third-party certified recycling facilities
The Problem with the TOMS Shoes Charity Model
Remember the old proverb about how it’s better to teach a man to fish then catch a fish for him to eat? I am reminded of that saying when I think about TOMS Shoes buy-one pair, give-one pair model. A Fast Company article points out that the model “does not actually solve a social problem.” Instead, it functions more like colonialism, diving in to local economies to solve problems rather than listening and figuring out how best to help.
There are several big problems with TOMS’ model: by giving away shoes, it creates a dependency, and it disrupts local economies. Values and Capitalism points out that the TOMS model “needs improvement” because “giving away free stuff… almost always has a negative long-term impact on local economies.”
Is Your State Prepared for Climate Change?
A new report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that 29 states, almost 60 percent, are not prepared for water threats caused by climate change. Only six of the 36 states facing possible water supply challenges have comprehensive adaptation plans, and only 22 states have formally adopted or established greenhouse (GHG) emissions reduction targets or goals
The report, titled Ready or Not: An Evaluation of State Climate and Water Preparedness Planning categorizes all 50 states into one of four categories. Category 1 represents states that have the best and most prepared plans, while Category 4 includes the most unprepared states. California, the most populated state in the nation, is one of the nine most prepared states. California stands out even among the group of nine states in Category 1 with a comprehensive climate change preparedness plan, as an NRDC blog post points out. That is a good thing considering that the state’s annual GDP of almost $2 trillion in 2009 ranked it as the eighth-largest economy in the world. California’s over $3.2 trillion of assets are at risk from the impacts of climate change, and annual damages of $7.3 billion to $46.6 billion could result.
Bottled Water Industry Launches Marketing Battle Against Tap Water
Many people are finally waking up to the fact that pre-packaged bottled water is just not necessary. It has even been banned in places like Grand Canyon National Park. Over 90 U.S. universities have either banned or plan to ban bottled water on their campuses, according to the Ecologist, and over 100 U.S. towns and cities have also banned most forms of bottled water.
The bottled water industry is not taking this backlash lying down. Instead it has launched a marketing battle “to turn the public back onto plastic bottled water,” as the Ecologist puts it. In the U.S., the battle is being waged by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) trade association. The IBWA even launched a YouTube video against what it terms the “anti-bottled water activism on college campuses.” The video, titled, Student Activism: 101, paints college campus bottled water bans as a matter of “freedom of choice.”
Watch it here:
Whole Foods to Stop Selling Overfished Species
Fish provides almost three billion people globally with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. However, many of the world’s fish populations are in trouble. In fact, 53 percent of the world’s fisheries are exploited and 32 percent are overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion. Enter Whole Foods and its commitment to selling sustainable sea food.
Whole Foods Market found a way to commemorate Earth Day: it will no longer sell wild-caught fish with a “red-rating,” meaning a species is overfished, in its seafood departments, starting this Earth Day (April 22). This is one-year ahead of its original target of Earth Day 2013. A red rating is determined by non-profit organizations Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium, and in addition to meaning a species is overfished, it can also mean that the current fishing methods used harm other marine life or habitats. Whole Foods will be the “first national grocer to stop selling red-rated seafood,” according to a press release.
The Rising Trend of Take Back Programs
A number of companies have take back programs that allow customers to return products at the end of their life cycles. It’s an important trend because some products just can’t be put into a recycling bin outside of your house. Electronics, in particular, fit into that category. Consider a few statistics about electronic products in the U.S. In 2009, 438 million new electronic products were sold. A total of 2.37 million tons of electronics were ready for end-of-life management in 2009, but only 25 percent were collected for recycling.
Trendwatching lists the “phenomenon of brands helping consumers recycle by taking back all old items from customers, and actually doing something constructive with them” as one of its green trends for 2012. It attributes the rise of this type of recycling by companies as coming from an increasing awareness among consumers of the “material and ecological value of stuff,” and dubs that awareness “eco-cycology”
Does a Tobacco Company’s Environmental Effort Really Matter?
The British American Tobacco (BAT) recently released its 2011 Sustainability Report. The report shows that BAT met its targets for energy, water and waste ahead of schedule. BAT bills itself as the world’s largest tobacco group by global market share. It sells its brands in about 180 markets worldwide, and has over 200 brands in its portfolio. “We make the cigarette chosen by one in eight of the world’s one billion adult smokers,” BAT brags on its website. Last year, BAT’s subsidiary companies sold 705 billion cigarettes.
In full disclosure my grandfather and two great uncles died from lung cancer caused by smoking. I am well aware of the dangers of smoking. My awareness of those dangers causes me to ask a question in regards to BAT’s progress in meeting its environmental goals: What does that really matter given the dangers of smoking?
Supreme Court Rules Against the EPA
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of an Idaho couple that challenged an EPA Clean Water Act compliance order which carried up to $75,000 in fines. The couple, Chantell and Michael Sackett bought a subdivided lot north of Idaho’s Priest Lake where they intended to build a house on land designated as a federal wetland. The Sackett’s filed a lawsuit to fight the EPA’s designation. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the lawsuit, so the Sacketts took their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruling says that the Sacketts are entitled to challenge the EPA’s compliance order in federal court. However, the ruling does not say the couple can continue to build their house on the lot. The ruling, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) leaves “intact the EPA’s ability to issue compliance orders that protect our health and our environment.
Starbucks Mission to Increase Use of Reusable Cups
Starbucks recently released its 2011 Global Responsibility Report which highlights last year’s progress toward meeting its sustainability goals. Last year, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary, making it fitting that in 2011 Starbucks achieved some progress when it comes to meeting its environmental and sourcing goals for the target year 2015.
When it comes to environmental stewardship, Starbucks has goals for green building, recycling, and water and electricity use. The goal for green building is for all new company-owned stores to be built to LEED certification standards. Starbucks is well on its way to meeting that goal as a total of 75 percent of all new company-owned stores were built to LEED certification standards, starting in December 2010.
The following are highlights of Starbucks progress in the other areas of environmental stewardship:
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