Tag Archives: Sustainability

Direct from Copenhagen: Don Carli Reporting on Sustainability

Posted on by

Don Carli, Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Sustainable Communications and EVP, SustainCommWorld, is reporting and blogging live from Copenhagen this week on areas not generally covered by the media.  Below is a major piece for your review on deforestation.

COPENHAGEN ON MY MIND – REDUCING DIGITAL MEDIA TREE-WASH

Most people will tell you that they care about saving our forests, but they tend to be uninformed or misinformed when it comes to knowing the causes of deforestation or some of the places being affected most significantly by land use change that kills trees, pollutes rivers and contributes to climate change. Until recently the conventional wisdom has been to demonize paper and print media as the major culprit behind “killing trees” and to idealize digital media as “green and groovy” alternative without consideration for the full backstory or life cycle footprint of either.

Pixels Don’t Grow on Trees

Paper and print media supply chains are far from being sustainable, but may be far less of a threat to forests than the “Tree-Wash” claims about how digital media saves trees or how pixels are greener than pages. “Tree-Wash” is my term for a special class of “greenwash” making false, misleading or unsupported marketing claims that ignore the causes of deforestation associated with digital media, or that fail to identify the actual trees and forests allegedly being saved or planted.

However, the Copenhagen Climate Summit and technologies developed to verify land use are likely to play a major role in changing the status quo with regard to foot-printing forests, identifying trees and the calculating the climate impacts of coal-powered IT. Continue reading →

Columbia Journalism School Event – Forging an International Consensus on Development and Climate Change

Posted on by

South Asian Journalists Association
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
The John Oakes Prize for Environmental Journalism

present a conversation with one of the world’s leading experts on the environment and climate change…

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri
- received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which he leads)

- in July 2009 becomes director of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute

TALK & Q&A: “Saving the World: Forging an International Consensus on Development and Climate Change”

Tuesday, May 19
6:45-8 pm
Columbia Journalism School
Stabile Student Center (lobby floor)
116th St & Broadway (#1 train to 116th St stop)

Free and open to the public; no RSVP required
Free open wifi available

NOTE: A recording of the conversation will be webcast later in the week. Feel free to send questions for Dr. Pachauri to saja@columbia.edu (subject = Questions for Dr. Pachauri)

BIO: Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007 Continue reading →

Irwin Hodson Press Announces Their Climate Neutral Printing Certification

Posted on by

For immediate release

Portland, 1st of May, 2009

Irwin Hodson Press Announces Their Climate Neutral Printing Certification.
How does it feel to print climate neutrally? Innovative and responsible

Irwin Hodson Press can now offer its clients climate neutral print products. Hereby, all CO2-emissions evolving in the course of a print job will be calculated and neutralized by emission certificates from acknowledged climate protection projects. For Irwin Hodson Press, the possibility to print climate neutrally was yet another step in a broad sustainability strategy. Thereby the focus will continue to be on additional long-term development of the company’s internal environment philosophy and the diminution of the impacts on the climate.

From the carbon footprint to a climate neutral print product
Due to a large sense of responsibility, it is important for Irwin Hodson Press to keep the entry of environmentally relevant greenhouse gases as low as possible. In a printing plant CO2-emissions evolve in the course of the usage of energy, transports, paper, inks, coatings and other factors. The ClimatePartner California Inc. has calculated all the emerging CO2-emissions for the whole company [carbon footprint] and presents guidance for the reduction of emissions by means of the results. With an individualized emission calculator Irwin Hodson Press can report to their client the amount of emissions produced per print project. As an additional service, the emissions can be neutralized by investing in high quality emission-reduction-certificates from acknowledged climate protection projects.  Therefore every brochure, catalog, poster, etc can be printed climate neutrally. Continue reading →

PRINT OR DIGITAL MEDIA – WHICH IS MORE SUSTAINABLE?

Posted on by

THE BIG DEBATE: PRINT OR DIGITAL MEDIA – WHICH IS MORE SUSTAINABLE?

Strategic Business Leaders with answers to address The Green Media Conference

MERCER ISLAND, WA – April 29, 2009 – Which is more sustainable, physical mail or email, a magazine page or a web page, a book or an ebook? Which has the larger carbon footprint and what is the risk to a brand if their messaging says one thing and their media supply chain choices say another? Publishers, advertisers, marketers and supply chain professionals are increasingly being challenged to make decisions that address climate change and that are consistent with the principles of sustainability.

Carbon Dioxide has been ruled a pollutant dangerous to human life by the EPA, climate change legislation is pending in congress, and the leaders of 192 nations, including the US, China and India, will meet in Copenhagen this December to agree on a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. With an eye to the future, what efforts can be taken to measure the carbon footprints and otherwise qualify and quantify arguments for the sustainability of print and/or digital media? Continue reading →

PricewaterhouseCoopers Releases Newspaper Outlook 2009 Report

Posted on by

Outlook for newspaper publishing in the digital age | 2009 report -from PWC.com (pdf)

56 page report on the outlook of the industry ask lots of great questions the industry should be asking itself like “What does your audience want from you – and do you
know what they will pay for?”, many newspapers have not honestly asked themselves this question because if they did they would be the largest creators of business websites in their DMA.

Newspaper Outlook 2009 Related Video (sorry PWC doesn’t allow embeds at this point).

JOHN C. DERNBACH, LAW PROFESSOR AND DISTINQUISHED AUTHOR ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO KEYNOTE GREEN MEDIA CONFERENCE

Posted on by

Dernbach to Address the Government’s Role in Sustainability

Highlights:

1. The size of the United States’ GDP requires a more active involvement in sustainability by its citizens and its corporations along with the federal government.
2. Dernbach’s work within both state and federal government has given him a unique expertise in creating environmental law and sustainable practices.
3. Dernbach to discuss ways and means to accomplish sustainability goals in his keynote address at The Green Media Conference, June 9 in Washington, DC.

MERCER ISLAND, WA – April 15, 2009 –John C. Dernbach, Distinquished Professor of Law at Widener University Law School and editor of Agenda for a Sustainable America, will be the afternoon keynote speaker for The Green Media Conference, June 9 in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Professor. Dernbach will be discussing the role of the government and the United States in general in creating a sustainable world.

QUOTE: DON CARLI, CONFERENCE CHAIR AND SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNICATION Continue reading →

ROBERT C. TAPELLA, PUBLIC PRINTER OF THE UNITED STATES, TO KEYNOTE THE GREEN MEDIA CONFERENCE JUNE 9 IN WASHINGTON, DC

Posted on by

ROBERT C. TAPELLA, PUBLIC PRINTER OF THE UNITED STATES, TO KEYNOTE
THE GREEN MEDIA CONFERENCE JUNE 9 IN WASHINGTON, DC

Tapella to Address the Government Printing Office’s Efforts Towards Green, Sustainable Media

Highlights:

1. The impact of the GPO’s efforts – and their 2000 affiliate printers – will set a new agenda for the printing industry.
2. Government agencies & independent printers will report their carbon footprint of their business and their products
3. Tapella will outline GPO’s plans in his keynote address at The Green Media Conference, June 9 in Washington, DC.

MERCER ISLAND, WA – April 9, 2009 – Lisa Wellman, CEO of SustainCommWorld announced today that Robert C. Tapella, Public Printer of the United States, will keynote their event, The Green Media Conference, June 9 in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Mr. Tapella will be discussing the role of the Government Printing Office (GPO) in greening the communications of the federal government, both print and digital. The keynote speaker for the June 23 Chicago conference will be announced shortly. Continue reading →

Metaprinter to Report from The Green Media Conference June 9th in DC

Posted on by

I’m proud to announce that Metaprinter has been named a media partner reporting SustainCommWorld’s Green Media Conference on June 9th in Washington DC.   Metaprinter founder and senior writer Robert Ivan (hey, that’s me) will be on location, live blogging via twitter and updating daily at this blog.  Email Robert to set up an interview or to showcase your innovative new product or service.  Readers are also encouraged to send me questions, comments, and suggestions: Robert at metaprinter dot com OR twitter.com/metaprinter.  Follow the #GreenMedia hashtag for event updates on Twitter.

Learn…

How Sustainability can save you money. What Sustainable products and services are available now. Why Sustainability gets you new business and helps retain current customers.  Check out Conference Program and Pre-Conference Workshop. Continue reading →

News Media Innovation, Convergence and Sustainability – Interview with Don Carli

Posted on by

Interview with Don Carli Executive Vice President of SustainCommWorld LLC, and Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Sustainable Communication.

Don has been a leading researcher, author, educator and speaker addressing the sustainability of media supply chains for the last decade, and for over 25 years has been a respected media technology and marketing strategy consultant to major advertisers, agencies and publishers.

RI- Why are newspapers and other traditional publishers pushing the issue of eReaders as a communications medium when something like less than one third of one percent of the reading population of the United States owns these products? Is it a paper sustainability issue? Is it a cost issue? What’s the justification?

DC- Other than pushing the “cool” factor, one of the main selling points being made by marketers of eReaders is that they are greener than print. It is little surprise that the common view held by consumers who don’t know the backstory is that going digital means going green and saving trees. Many are in for a rude awakening. When subjected to “cradle-to-cradle ” Lifecycle Analysis eReading is not nearly as green as many naively assume it is.

There is no question that print media could do a better job of managing the sustainability of its supply chains and waste streams, but it’s a misguided notion to assume that digital media is categorically greener. Computers, eReaders and cell phones don’t grow on trees and their spiraling requirement for energy is unsustainable. Continue reading →