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Walking the talk—environmentally speaking
Marketing
By David L. Rawle
You don’t need to travel to the Arctic Circle to see vivid and disturbing evidence of global warming. Just look at this year’s devastating hurricane season. Scientists agree that this, too, is a result of global warming.
Our energy sources are in short supply. We only have to fill up our gas tanks, see more airlines cancel flights or pay new energy surcharges on bills to have that message imprinted in our brains.
The challenge, then, for every business is to be part of the solution.
We can all think of ways our businesses can be more energy efficient and environmentally sensitive. But if you want some good ideas, ask the people who work with you.
(I remember once during a particularly tight economic time, we asked our staff members for ideas on how we could reduce our overhead expenses. They came up with 79 great suggestions, all of which we successfully implemented.)
Coming up with good ideas is part of the solution. So is implementing them.
It is every bit as important to communicate what you are doing so that you catalyze others to follow suit and help create a culture that is committed to saving our environment and conserving our finite natural resources.
Out in the Grand Teton National Park this summer, I noticed that the Grand Teton Lodge Co. widely distributes a 32-page book on the company’s commitment to sustainability.
It is not a dry dissertation, but rather a colorful, inviting book with powerful philosophical statements and compelling hard facts.
Some of the steps that company has taken that could apply to almost any of us include expanding the use of office products made from biodegradable or recycled content, using environmentally friendly cleaning products, limiting use of printed materials—ensuring that all documents are printed with soy-based ink on a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled paper—using organic food products and recycling packing materials.
Of the 12,295 boxes received by the company last year, 11,130 were recycled and 760 were used again for shipping. (The remaining 405 were used to store materials.)
Wal-Mart got major attention for its new energy-saving initiatives, which include reducing energy use in its stores, doubling its trucks’ fuel efficiency, minimizing its use of packaging and encouraging the thousands of companies in its worldwide supply chain to follow its lead.
Even China is getting into the act. Thomas Friedman recently reported that the legendary polluter is enacting a wide range of environmental regulations. (Did you know that the number of disposable chopsticks used annually in China represents the equivalent of 25 million full-grown trees?)
What if we launched an initiative here called, “Charleston Cares?” Companies would sign Charleston Cares Pledges to use recyclable materials, reduce the use of shipping materials, use energy-saving devices and practices, etc. Then they would proudly display the Charleston Cares logo and encourage others to sign the pledge as well.
Governmental entities, major corporations and transport companies would convert vehicles to bio-diesel, use hybrid vehicles and adopt other major initiatives that they would display at their workplaces and on their vehicles.
Wouldn’t you feel a lot better about the 18-wheelers that roll by if you knew they were consciously conserving energy?
The culture of conservation is a three-legged stool: Knowing what to do, doing it and telling others about it.
Marketing and communications are essential components. And those of us in these fields should encourage our companies and other companies we deal with to adopt the culture of conservation and let us spread the word.
Our fragile world is waiting.
David L. Rawle is chairman of Charleston-based Rawle Murdy Associates Inc., a marketing, advertising and public relations firm. E-mail him at drawle@rawlemurdy.com or visit his blog at http://davidrawle.blogspot.com >
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