Media

On the heels of the 2008 Green Gap Survey conducted by Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Cone LLC, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a public workshop on April 30th to “examine developments in green packaging claims and consumer perception of such claims.” The seminar will take place as part of the agency's first regulatory review of the Green Guides since 1998.

Findings by the 2008 Green Gap Survey showed that many Americans are confused by new terminology used in environmental marketing and advertising, and that a majority believes these phrases should be regulated by the government. Phrases such as “renewable” and “sustainable” are not yet addressed in the FTC’s Green Guides, and while some marketing experts fear that revised regulations could hinder advertisers’ abilities to communicate important information, others argue that better supervision will reduce the growing risk of consumer backlash.

A live webcast for those outside of Washington D.C. will be available during the event.

Download the workshop agenda in PDF here.

Download a PDF file of speaker biographies here.

To register to attend, send an email.

The latest issue of TIME has gone green, literally. As Managing Editor Richard Stengel explains, the special Earth Day issue of the magazine represents a first:

"For this one issue, we've exchanged our trademarked Red Border for a green one. By doing so, we are sending a clear--and colorful--message to our readers about the importance of this subject, not just to Americans but to everyone else around the world as well."

The cover story, "Hot to Win the War on Global Warming", written by Bryan Walsh, is a call-to-arms, making the case that the U.S. must lead in the fight against global warming:

"The outcome of any crisis is usually determined by one dominant global player that has the innovators who can churn out the technology, the financiers who can back it and the diplomatic clout to pull the rest of the planet along... Going green: What could be redder, whiter and bluer than that?"

The piece outlines a number of important steps, including establishing an effective cap-and-trade system, tougher energy-efficiency mandates and significant new investment in green technologies.

At the recent TED Conference in Monterey California, Former Vice President and Academy Award winning slideshow presenter Al Gore unveiled some of his latest thinking on the global climate crisis via, you guessed it, a new slideshow.

In it, he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be worse than previous predictions, and challenges people to act with a sense of "generational mission" to solve the problem.

View the presentation (~28 minutes).

Protecting the environment has become increasingly important to consumers, with online blogging activity around sustainability growing 50 percent in 2007, according to a recent report from Nielsen Online. The report highlights that consumers are not just increasingly vocal about the issues, but much more focused on practical action. Online discussion broadened beyond topics like global warming, with issues such as Renewable Energy/Alternative Fuels, Resource Conservation and Recycling becoming top sustainability topics in the blogosphere.

The report also highlights "greenwashing" as a failed corporate strategy, as consumers are increasingly holding corporations accountable for action and results. Nielsen Online analysis showed that similar environmental initiatives can provoke different consumer responses depending on a company’s reputation and history. For example, in the retail sector, while Wal-Mart and Target both introduced reusable shopping bags, some consumers voiced skepticism towards Wal-Mart because of its association with environmental, labor, and health care issues. Although in general consumers were supportive of Wal-Mart’s reusable bags, some were still dubious of the retailer’s intent. “When it comes to the environment, consumers are insisting on both transparency and consistency from the corporations they patronize. Consumer support depends on action as well as perceived sincerity and commitment,” said Jessica Hogue, research director, Nielsen Online.