Off The Green Wall

We're Back! ....(elsewhere)

2010-03-06T17:46:00.001-08:00

For the few that have been following us and are interested in new material, we've got a new site over at www.offthegreenwall.com

we'll maintain a site here, but all activity will be over there.

thanks for following/reading us.

martin

Really...?

2008-11-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reviewing a PDF I received from a friend of mine at Coca-Cola. It's from The Green Choice Alliance and it's goal is to, "control China's pollution through responsible supply chain management". I'm sifting through it but in a nutshell it's a government sanctioned watch dog agency sponsored by the Chinese government. The Alliance has government support to find bad actors, photograph their assaults on the environment and tell them they have two choices: a) clean up or b) have the government approach their foreign clients and "recommend" they work with someone else.

If China can put its muscle of single party totalitarian rule behind this than perhaps the dystopian environmental hell that is likely China's future can be at least diminished if not averted.

More to follow, and let me know if you know of any countries with similar programs.

Standardizing Standards for People Who Don't Like Standards

2008-11-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

I was part of a sustainability council meeting for members of a multi billion dollar industry this afternoon and was struck (again) about the sheer volume of work that goes into creating a sustainability standard. Typically, our connection with an item being green is through a label on a product's package. But (like making sausage) seeing the actual process of how a real standard becomes that label can be a draining experience. To get to the label that this industry will launch in 2009, they have invested four years of research, a few thousand volunteered hours by member companies employees (with self paid travel), and thousands of dollars spent on consultants and submission of their entire process to a standards body that certifies/creates real standards in accordance with internationally accepted practices. In a nutshell, this is hard work.

Governance, marketing, compliance committees and sub committees meet and review minutes, discuss progress and basically pole vault over mouse turd sized issues to make sure the standard can be approved. It is both draining and awe inspiring to see this work get done. It is also some of the most tedious crap I've ever hurled myself into and subsequently dragged myself out of. Yet every time I get to be a part of this process, I'm reminded that there are so many people working to do the right thing.

However, there are some in industry and in companies that simply call the marketing department and have an expected, hollow, eco-label developed and then placed on their product. I've seen this done. And as consumers, it's extremely hard to decipher what is real and what is corporate spin.

While we take for granted that manufacturers and product suppliers are meeting our expectations regarding sustainability, the good ones, the ones that open themselves up to real standard development and do the right thing put in unbelievable effort to create a visual piece of iconography that we can recognize and say, "oh...cool".

Here's to those who'll do the leg work so we can buy green.