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Recent Posts by Joel Makower
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This week's announcement by General Motors that it has joined with more than 30 utility companies across the U.S. to work on issues related to electric vehicles got a great deal of media play. But the coverage only began to scratch the surface of the complexity of bringing plug-in electric vehicles to market in mass quantities. In reality, the GM-utility conversation isn't entirely new. It began in January, at a Vehicle Electrification Workshop held at GM's research center in Warren, Michigan. I had the privilege of attending the meeting, which was facilitated by my colleagues at the sustainability strategy firm GreenOrder. The meeting included more than two dozen utility executives, including a team from the Electric Power Research Institute, the industry-funded consortium that served
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This week's announcement by General Motors that it has joined with more than 30 utility companies across the U.S. to work on issues related to electric vehicles got a great deal of media play. But the coverage only began to scratch the surface of the complexity of bringing plug-in electric vehicles to market in mass quantities. In reality, the GM-utility conversation isn't entirely new. It began in January, at a Vehicle Electrification Workshop held at GM's research center in Warren, Michigan. I had the privilege of attending the meeting, which was facilitated by my colleagues at the sustainability strategy firm GreenOrder. The meeting included more than two dozen utility executives, including a team from the Electric Power Research Institute, the industry-funded consortium that served
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Jeffrey Hollender, the founder, CEO at Seventh Generation, published a counterpoint to my recent post, How Bad Is Greenwashing, Really? I encourage you to read it here. I just responded on his site, and thought I'd share the conversation here. To wit: Jeffrey, Thanks for your comment. I've long admired your outspokenness on the topic of the green marketplace, and your willingness to be, as you describe yourself, an inspired protagonist. I don't disagree with some of your points, but I think you missed mine. It wasn't about companies that can't handle criticism. And it wasn't about condoning companies that are being misleading or dishonest. As you well know, I have been an outspoken critic of greenwashing myself over the past twenty years. But there is a tremendous amount of
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Is greenwashing really as bad a problem as some are making it out to be? I've been thinking about this question a lot recently, as the G-word crops up more and more frequently in articles, blogs, reports, and conversations. Of course, the answer depends a lot on one's view of the potential for big companies to improve their environmental performance — and talk truthfully about it — and whether the pace of corporate change is sufficient to address the magnitude of the problems we face. Like "beauty" (and "green"), "greenwash" is in the eye of the beholder. The definition of greenwashing has changed in recent years. In the early 1990s, the term was used to describe deliberate and cynical attempts by companies to mislead the public about their
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As fuel and electricity prices have ratcheted up, so, too, have the queries about what to do: where can companies, especially smaller ones, go for help? On the one hand, that's a big, vague question. Where you go depends on what business you are in, where you're located, what you need, and how much, if anything, you're able to spend. On the other hand, there's a lot of help out there, much of it low-cost or free, if only you know where to look. Below are just a few of the resources aimed at small and midsize companies. They will be of help largely to U.S.-based companies — apologies to those elsewhere, though there likely are analogs to these resources in other countries. This is by no means comprehensive; indeed, it probably only scratches the surface. But it points to a handful
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GreenBiz and GreenYour: Something Old, Something New
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Something old is new again. GreenBiz.com, of which I am executive editor, has just relaunched with a new, improved format. The new site — the result of a revamping of the somewhat antiquated technology platform on which the site was originally built in 1999 — now reflects the topics you deal with daily: energy and climate; the various aspects of daily operations, from purchasing to cleaning to fleets; the design of products and packaging; the more efficient use of energy, water, and materials; and the way you communicate all of this through marketing, PR, and reporting. There are also sections for smaller businesses and on green careers.
Kudos to the team, headed by Matt Wheeland and Carlie Peterson, for making it all happen.
The new look represents the beginning of a forthcoming wave of new products and other enhancements we'll be making in coming months. Look for new newsletters and sites, and a few surprises.
And while we're on the topic of GreenBiz, please check out Greener by Design, our forthcoming conference on the mainstreaming of green product design at both big companies (Clorox, Dupont, GE, GM, IBM, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Xerox, and others) and smaller ones (Method cleaning products, TerraCycle garden products), as well as insight into how green innovation happens inside big organizations. There will also be some features that are not your usual conference fare — such as Green Gurus @ Play, during which conference participants will engage in small consulting sessions with select speakers and panelists (on a first-come, first-served basis); Innovative Flashes; and other experiential opportunities that get past conventional talking heads.
(Also, per my style: almost no speeches or presentations — rather, conversations facilitated by pro's, such as Marc Gunther of Fortune.)
Registrations are rolling in nicely, and the event — June 12 and 13 — is likely to sell out. Don't say you weren't warned.
Meanwhile, my colleagues at GreenOrder have launched a new site that offers a world of green possibilities. GreenYour.com is a smart and information-packed site offering tips and products on the greening of just about everything.
The site features more than a dozen categories of topics — appliances, personal care, energy use, lawn and garden, clothing, car, food and drink, travel, etc. Each category drills down further into subcategories and sub-subcategories — for example, under "Office and School" there are business operations (building, business travel, career, company values, lighting, mail, staff commuting) and office supplies and equipment (batteries, cell phone, computer, copier, copy paper, mobile device, printer).
Under each are clearly written tips, fact, and products. If you register (free), you can add your own tips and resources — the wisdom of crowds.
It's a work in progress, but off to a promising start. For all of the hundreds (thousands?) of consumer-facing websites out there, no one offers such clear, no-nonsense, and accessible information on life's basics. The fact that experts can add their own two cents will no doubt make the site richer and richer over time.
As they say, none of us knows as much as all of us.
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