Maybe It Is Easy Being Green

It’s no surprise that environmentally friendly products are beginning to find more “shelf-space” across the web.  The number of blogs and web sites dedicated to this cause seems to be growing at an exponential rate.  Even some of the larger retailers are getting into the act.

   

   

GreenBiz.com reports that the Retailer Industry Leaders Association (RILA), a group of 55 retailers that account for over $1.5 trillion in sales, “aims to develop cleaner and greener business practices while making sure customers and policymakers recognize the progress made by the group.”

   

   

Wal-mart, which is a member of the RILA, has taken steps to have their vendors develop greener packaging.  Not only is this good for the environment, but it’s also good for Wal-mart’s bottom line. 

 

   

In fact, as I write this blog post, the bottle of water I’m drinking is promoting their reduction in packaging and its’ related environmental benefit.    Ice Mountain’s new bottle “looks and feels different because it is purposely designed with an average of 30% less plastic to be easier on the environment.”

   

   

While more and more people are showing that they are eco-conscience by using canvas grocery bags and switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), many are asking what impact they can make on helping the environment.  InterCall offers a Green Quiz that will help you “test your knowledge and learn simple ways to be green at work.”  Through GreenConferencing.com, InterCall is using this quiz as a means of identifying prospective customers by offering to plant a tree for each quiz taken.  Although the promotional period has ended (12/31/07), you will find the quiz informative and fun to take.

   

   

GreenLights offers an interesting way to calculate the benefits (environmental and financial) of switching to CFLs.  “If every American home replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a CFL, we’d save enough energy to light 2.5 million homes a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”  Check out their savings calculator by clicking on the image below.

   

   

With the additional information on the web helping consumers learn more about how they can make a positive impact, and the business community realizing that reducing their carbon footprint can be profitable, I think we will begin to discover that only Kermit will find it difficult being green.

    

    

Until next time,

   

   

Dan   

    

    

Comments

[Abby Clubb]

Dan

Good post. I am in the InterCall Marketing department and we've actually extended our green quiz. We currently don't have an end date for it so we encourage people to go out and take the quiz!