Last night while watching The Biggest Loser, I noticed the NBC peacock in the bottom right corner of the screen was green. Then at the top of the commercial break, Jillian the trainer told me to restrain from using disposable dishes during the holiday season to reduce waste. Two commercial breaks later I was reminded to choose reusable shopping bags.

I choked on my pasta leftovers a little. I’m so glad someone, or conglomerate rather, is using its clout and credibility to speak for the environment.

Happy Treehuggers and Critics
I wasn’t the only eco-friend who was pleasantly surprised. The Green Home Lady blog author said in a post she didn’t see it coming.

“Scripted into all the programs I watched were characters reminding each other to recycle, buy solar energy or turn off lights. It made me giddy, I tell you.”

But as we all know, you can’t please everyone. Some claim NBC’s showing a bias toward the Blue Party. Anne Simons, author of brandsizzle blog said:

“…the effort was, at best, intrusive and preachy, and at worst,
was evidence of a liberal media conspiracy.”

But my question is, why does the network get labeled liberal if there’s concern for mother earth? Regardless of whether you believe in global warming or not, what’s the harm in helping out the planet? Even if global warming does prove to be bogus, no harm was done.

Green is Universal site
While the NBC character’s were offering me up some green tips, they also told me about the Green is Univeral Web site. So I went. I listened to Conan O’ Brien’s green tip PSA and built my dream green home. The Web site did exactly what it was designed to do – engaged its audience. I spent upwards of 45 minutes on the site. Here’s a clip of celebrities talking about their green habits.

And the Moral of the Story is…
Some say Green Week doesn’t work for NBC. So what? The way I see it, Green Week is a success because NBC created a conversation. The company engaged its audience on the site with games, information and videos. And I stumbled across numerous blogs loving or hating NBC for its initative. The loving or hating doesn’t matter.

 What matters is NBC got people talking about the green movement and created buzz via print and online. NBC got its key audience to participate and to have a conservsation. And that, my friends, is public relations.

Green tip #4 – Salt drain cleaner and sponge savior
Household salt has other uses besides flavoring dishes. Equal quantities of salt and hot water poured down a drain can help get rid of nasty smells and dissolve grease, plus slow future buildup. By soaking kitchen sponges in heavily saline solution, it helps kill the bacteria that cause nasty smells.

Frustration-free packaging
Amazon surprised me this morning. Thanks to my blogger buddy Chris Hansen, MarketGreener author, I learned about Amazon’s Frustration-free packaging. Thank goodness someone is spearheading this initiative! It always baffled me how toothbrushes are plastic sealed, the kind that’s impossible to open without injury and light bulbs are in a flimsy, sad excuse for cardboard. I don’t get it.

Amazon’s actually invited its consumers to post videos and pictures of packaging horror stories. Some are pretty humorous. The packaging reduction is a part of their enivornmental promise. So not as much of this packaging to the left and more recyclable cardboard packaging.

Hansen also said on his post that this environmental initiative will sway his purchasing decisions.

” I find myself shopping online a lot, and this is just one more reason for me to try Amazon first.”

It’s very true though. I do the same thing. I support companies more that care about the earth. PR students – if your client can, promote its environmental stance. Because it makes a difference. The company looks ethical and boosts image. But for heaven sakes, only when it’s appropriate. Don’t greenwash.

Locally grown
The next two companies, Forest City and Great Lakes Brewing Company are both Cleveland-sprouted sustainable companies.

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is a realty and development company that ensures its properties and construction are as eco-thoughtful as possible. It all feeds into the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit.

Cheers for beers
The Great Lakes Brewing Co. is brewery and restaurant but also ships its beers elsewhere. This company is ethical down its last hop. Not only does the company love the environment but it also funds non-profit organizations throughout Cleveland. Its Web site has dedicated three pages about how and why the planet is important. It recycles everything; its “Fatty Wagons” (delivery truck and shuttle bus) run off vegetable oil from the kitchen and paper, cardboard, kitchen scraps and grain are fed to worms to produce organic fertilizer that incubates the herbs and veggies found on the menu. You can read the entire list of its current environmental projects here.

Like I said earlier in the post with Amazon, people are looking for these initiatives and it’ll sway purchasing decisions. Just last night, I bought a bottle of of GLBC’s Christmas Ale – delicious. The company’s promise to the environment was on the bottle asking me to join them in recycling. No worries, it’s already in the bin.

In closing, with the holiday season approaching, support the companies that care about the planet. So go out into the world and buy a frustration-free gift, buy a sustainable home and drink some Christmas Ale for the companies that do their part.

Green tip #3
White vinegar is a natural fabric softener. Replace your chemical-filled choice with 1/4 – 1 cup of vinegar next time you wash. It’s cheaper and it doesn’t leave behind a scent. (It really works. I tried it.)

This year, the event’s theme is Salvage – a completely green-geared event. It’s Friday, Nov.7 in the Kent Student Center Ballroom. It starts at 8 p.m. and the fashion show starts at 10 p.m.

When my interior design friend, Lindsey Ray told me about the event, I’m pretty sure I clapped my hands in excitement. It just goes to show that there’s a place and demand for green practices in every industry.

Talk the talk and walk the walk
Ray said not only will the fashion show feature natural and recycled material, but the decorations and promotional efforts are also “salvaged.”

“We wanted to really take a holistic approach to this green idea. Last year we printed tons of posters,” said Ray. “This year we only had 160 printed and we’re branching out to more online promotion to save paper.”

Ray said they’re emphasizing word of mouth, Facebook and emails. It’s good to see the green consideration being carried out through all steps of the event. No green posing here.

Ray said she wants to accomplish two things through salvage.

“I want everyone to have a really good time. In college, it’s hard to find good, clean fun. And we wanted to create that atmosphere. And two, I want people to see how industries can go green together and separately, to really understand what’s going on.”

Kent State is one of many universities taking on a green fashion show and green event plan. The picture to the right, is a poster for an NYC student fashion event. Pretty cool.

Green Pie
I was a green geek even before it was cool. And I have to say, I love that the concern for the earth is now mainstream, some what. Some people still don’t care and that’s just not worth spinning my wheels over. But every organization and brand wants a piece of this green pie. In fashion, green is the new black and in PR, green is essential for a client’s corporate image. And I love it.

Green tip #3
Throw in the towel! Use dishrags and clothes instead of paper towels in kitchen cleanup. Not only do paper towels fill up the trash but the National Zoological Park estimated that the production of paper towels is more than twice as energy-intensive as the reuse of cloth (factoring in washing and initial production).

1. Save the planet sign inside my hotel room telling me only towels on the floor would be washed in attempt to save water.
2. Ecotainer cups at breakfast. The cups were biodegradable and compostable.
3. During the PRSSA sessions, GM gave us the opportunity to test drive a hybrid Escalade or Saturn Vue.

I was the only Kent officer to notice these minute green pushes. Although the hotel wanted its guests to save water, they didn’t recycle. I guess they wanted to sport the green label without any extra effort. And this got me thinking about greenwashing and green posers.

Greenwash with Swiffer
Jennifer Fehrenbacher, contributor to Inhabitat blog, wrote an excellent eye-opening post questioning Swiffer designer’s Businessweek editorial promoting Swiffer as a green product. Gianfranco Zaccai’s claim is that cleaning the floor with a mop and bucket is:

“a messy and unpleasant job that uses many gallons of water and great amounts of detergent…the water, the energy needed to heat that water and the environmental impact of dumping the detergent into the waste system are terribly costly…”

Fehrenbacher cleverly shoots back saying:

“…the Swiffer is a plastic contraption designed to replace the good old fashion mop. It is sold with a box of dispoable, plastic-wrapped, chemical-soaked pieces of paper that go straight from your floor to the landfill, where the chemicals leach into the ground.”

I’m with Fehrenbacher. Nothing designed to be convenient and disposable is designed with the earth in mind. Disposable means waste. And I don’t know about you, but I surely don’t use gallons beyond gallons of water to mop. Swiffer is a green poser. The bottom line here is to realize consumers will see through false claims.

Tip for future PR practitioners: Don’t make your client out to be something it’s not. It’ll damage crediblilty and image. I had no problem with Swiffer until now. I realize everyone wants a piece of the green pie but don’t stretch the truth. It’s really tacky.

Green Tip #2
Turn off your car’s engine if you’ll be waiting for more than 30 seconds. Idling longer than that uses more fuel than restarting.

Obama wants my vote
As a PR student analyzing the McCain and Obama camps, Obama blows him out of the water. Even tough college students tend to go blue and this county usually votes blue too, Barack’s still reaching out to me. Every day:

1. I get at least two emails daily from Joe, Barack, Michelle or someone else. Every email is solely first-name basis – showing informality, a relationship. The first thing I see in the morning for the past year is Obama.
2. When I sign on to Facebook, Barack’s smiling at me and telling me to vote in Ohio now. And on YouTube and on Pandora Radio. He never lets me forget him.
3. When I get home, he’s in my mailbox and on a flier slid under my front door.
4. And Obama messages are on TV while I chow down on my Lean Cuisine.

Even if I was an undecided voter, I’d be more inclined to vote Obama becuase I’ve heard, seen his message more. McCain has done nothing to gain my support. Nothing besides an ad here and there on YouTube and TV.  It’s as if MCCain just decided he had no chance in North East Ohio so he threw in the towel. He stopped caring about my vote. Obama, on the other hand communicates with me every day. And we all know public relations boils down to relationships. Obama’s gained my support not only through his issue stances but because he wants a relationship, he wants my vote.

Word to your mother…earth
Now let me switch gears to the environmental issue at hand. Both McCain and Obama have plans to steer us away from depending on the middle east to power our nation. McCain’s emphasis is to “drill baby drill” in Alaska. In the National Artic Wildlife Refuge no less. And Obama wants to invest upwards of $50 billion in new, clean energy and jobs. This may sound a little off, but I agree with Paris.
For a line by line stance on the environment from the candidates, it’s here.

On behalf of the environment and the democratic party, Senator Obama will get on vote on November 4. See you at the polls.

Last week, I spoke to Jim Zentmeyer, associate director of administrative operations and facilities, about green strides in the Residence Services department. This guy really knows his stuff. He was tossing statistics and quotes all over the place, a writer’s dream. Here’s a quick summary of some adjustments they’ve made to be kinder to mother earth:

1. Replaced 1,300 incandescent light bulbs in two resident halls this past summer to compact fluorescent bulbs. With the switch, Jim said they were able to “increase performance and decrease consumption.”
2. Switched cleaning products to natural ones. “Ninety-nine percent of our cleaning products have no negative impact on the environment.”
3. Swapped 190 top-loader washing machines this past summer for front-loader machines. Jim told me that front-loaders are more efficient because ”the water goes through the clothes instead of the clothes sitting in water; it reduces water by 60 percent. And the spinning strength is stronger so there’s less drying time required.”

But here’s the best part. Residence Services is making changes, communicating the changes and engaging it’s target audience through participation.
Music to my ears.

Resident Hall Rivalry
Last year the resident halls held energy conservation and recycling competitions. Although it was the first year, Jim said the turn out was surprising.

“During the competition, overall energy consumption reduced by 12 percent which is equivalent to $15,000 in electrical savings just in October. And there was an increase of 14.77 percent in recycling. That’s a nice one-month bump.”

It gets even better. Forgive me, I tend to get really excited about well-executed green campaigns. Once the competitions ended, Jim noticed that the Tri-Towers cluster had the least participation in recycling. Instead of accepting it, the department was proactive. He said surveys were conducted and found that recycling bins weren’t readily visible to students there.

“We beefed up the advertising for the disposals and made it as easy as possible for students to recycle. They used to be tucked away in the laundry rooms and now there’s bins in the hallways.”

 The beauty of it all is that the Residence Services administration is making changes to be greener. And it’s asking the students to care too through RA programs, bulletin boards, fliers promoting the competitions and the competitions themselves. It’s researching their target audience, communicating the importance of living greener, engaging its audience and evaluating the results.

Dining Greener
Yesterday, I spoke with Autumn Piller, marketing director of Dining Services about its efforts toward greendome. She made this public relations girl squirm with glee too. Not only are they:

1. Using all natural dishwashing products
2. Recycling more behind-the-scenes
3. Utilizing a pulper. It’s a contraption that chops all the food particles and sends it down a shoot. This keeps it out of the landfills and gives it back to the landscape as decomposed fertilizer. Appetizing, right?
4. Pushing real plates and silverware
5. Shipping cooking oil off to be converted into gasoline

Not only are they doing all that but Autumn said they’re looking at neighboring schools and schools in other states for more green ideas. Knowing that Dining Services is doing their research on best practices makes my heart happy.

And to top it off, Autumn said her approach on communicating to the students is “education and education.” Not persuasion, education. Yippee.

This is me on green cloud nine. Kent State’s Residence and Dining Services are moving in the right direction to reducing its environmental impact. And they’re doing it the right way – PR. OK, I’m a little partial but what can you do?

Weekend in the Kent parks
Sunday, I accidentally stumbled upon the highlight of my weekend – Franklin Mills Riveredge Park. It’s tucked under the Main Street bridge in the middle of downtown Kent with the Cuyahoga River running beside it . While walking around, I started reading the informational signs. When my eyes scanned the words “Clean Water Act” and “water pollution,” I became intrigued. As it turns out, Kent’s park is a little bit of a green public relations success story.

Cuyahoga River helped spur ’70s environmental movement
June 22, 1969, an oil slick and debris caught fire on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. The Ohio History Central site says that shortly after the fire, TIME reported:

“Some river!  Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows. . . The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration dryly notes: ‘The lower Cuyahoga has no visible signs of life, not even low forms such as leeches and sludge worms that usually thrive on wastes.’ It is also — literally — a fire hazard.”

The Cuyahoga fire helped boost concern for pollution and ultimately played a part in passing the Clean Water Act in 1972. But in 1998, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency proposed a dam restoration project for the Kent Dam to further improve the still under-par water quality. City Council could’ve said “sure, start bulldozing tomorrow.” But they didn’t. And it paid off.

Walking through RACE
If I take this Dam Restoration project through the infamous RACE process, it looks like this:
Research- Kent Dam Advisory Committee researched townspeople concerns and found a best-fitting solution.
Action - Tearing down the old dam and reconstructing the new dam and park.
Communication - Several Web sites highlight the dam restoration and the ground-breaking ceremony that kicked off its 2004 opening.
Evaluation - The park was hoppin’ on Sunday. In 20 minutes, I counted 18 people, 14 ducks and two dogs. Five of the 18 people had cameras.

Power to the people
City Council knew the dam restoration would be an emotional issue for taxpayers, for historical site gurus and for the treehuggers. The City of Kent Web site says that the Council created a 19-member Kent Dam Advisory Committee to uncover all concerns and construct a solution that most can agree on while complying with the Clean Water Act.

Seven meetings, two public forums and four years later, the KDAC proposed its alternative solution to the dam restoration.

Bravo. The restoration project could’ve easily caused an uproar. Instead, City Council took the grassroots approach and gave an arena to those who wanted to speak – the dam committee. City Council made all their key publics happy, gave them a voice. Smart move. 

Franklin Mills Riveredge Park has become a natural spectacle and recreation source in Kent for families, nature-lovers and everything in between - sustainable tourism in the purist sense. And the Cuyahoga’s come a long way from the lifeless, oozing river TIME described almost 40 years ago.

Lucky for me, I’m not the only one who battles with this skill.

Washington pressed for cleaner fuel
Politicians are really feeling the heat to support and mandate cleaner fuels, to take a stand on the energy crisis. As eco-friendlies, we know the clean fuel buzzword is ethanol. Yeah, it’s all gorgeously green in theory because it’s natural. Keyword being theory.

Both ethanol and soy are marketed as a green solution, but it’s down the path of causing more harm than good. David Swain, author of Clean PR highlights the TIME article “The Clean Energy Scam.”  The article uncovers the damage to the Amazon to make room for more soy and corn fields. One step forward and two steps back. Bummer.

I couldn’t agree more when Swain said:

“With any ‘green’ progress will be tradeoffs and articles like this bring them to light. When progress starts looking like the opposite, it gets scary.”

Ethanol quick fix
The Washington elite felt the pressure to create a clean solution, and instead they created a quick fix. Even if we cut off oil ties and went full throttle with ethanol, corn isn’t an endless resource. At some point, the corn will starve the soil of all nutrients and the crop will no longer thrive. Not only that, but the video said 

“Turning all of America’s corn into ethnol will only meet 12 percent of our gasoline demand.”

Ethanol isn’t the answer to the oil dependency, although I wish it were that simple.

We’re trained at PRKent to think through a proposal – to research best practices, to strategically and holistically think through the issue. But it’s so tempting to choose the easy button, the option that will fix things for now.

We’re all guilty. We live in a quick-fix culture. Even when it comes to illness, we pop a pill at the first sign of a sniffle. Fevers, for example are best left untreated says Dr. Greene (ironically appropriate name, huh?). Using ibuprofen and other fever reducers only prolong the fever. But we’d rather feel better now, now, now.

It’s hard to step back and see the whole picture when you’re submerged in a quick-fix culture. The TIME article helps bring to light that sometimes it’s best to step back, take a breath and go through the RACE process before chopping down trees and calling it green.

Green tip #1
At the end of every post, I will share a green tip from my 365 Days of Green pull-away calendar. And this week, I’ve chosen this one:

“Hair dryers, phone chargers, TVs use energy for display clocks and memory chips at all times. These energy drains account for five percent of total domestic energy consumption and send 18 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. Unplug them or connect them to a surge protector and just flip the switch.”