Progressive Insurance: this Company ‘Gets It’

Friday, January 30th, 2009

In a recent post by Jennifer Berry at Earth911.com, a couple of important, and under-reported facts were presented:

• Due to fires and other natural causes, over 1 million acres need to be replanted, according to the U.S. Forest Service
• According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 35 percent of the municipal solid waste stream (MSW) is made up of paper and paperboard products. Paper makes up the largest portion of the municipal waste stream and is also one of the most recovered materials.

Where does Progressive fit into this?  By encouraging their customers to move to paperless statements, tons of paper didn’t need to be printed.  As an incentive, they agreed to plant a tree for each customer who signed up.   How many took them up on the offer?  A million.

That’s a million new trees being planted. A million trees, once mature, will absorb about 48 million pounds of carbon dioxide each year.  And for every ton of paper NOT printed, 15 trees avoid the hatchet, so they can continue to store carbon. We call that win/win, and is something we can all understand.

Good job, Progressive Insurance.

Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, environment, green movement
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

UL combating Greenwashing

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Green Biz published an article describing the entrance of UL into the Green Certification area as a “key growth strategy” for their business intended to combat greenwashing.

I have many years of electronics industry experience in a previous life, so I offer my perspective on UL. You provide them with your test results with an exorbitant fee (because it is an electronics industry requirement) and you are Certified! Rubber stamped based upon their previously-defined qualification criteria.

How would that model translate to the dynamic and extremely diverse eco-business climate? Would standards be flexible enough for innovation?

Another model is to bring together interested and knowledgeable constituents, both public and private, without the bias of a profit motive, to develop standards using already-accepted methodologies.

An example of this is the process used by various committees of the CCX (Chicago Climate Exchange) to establish “protocols” for use by verifiers when an entity wants to sell carbon credits on the exchange. With significant investment sums at stake, they seek to establish a trustworthy valuation mechanism necessary for the proper functioning of markets.

In my opinion, a similar approach would be a more valuable, transparent, and flexible method to evaluate eco-friendly claims.  This is an important issue in the eco-business community, and I would like to hear from you whether you agree with my premise, or disagree, believing UL can provide a valuable contribution.  If not them, who?

Posted in Business, CCX, Certification, Greenwashing | 4 Comments »

Some interesting facts about carbon dioxide

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Consider:

• In 1850, atmospheric carbon dioxide was roughly 280 p.p.m.
• Today it is 385 p.p.m.
• By 2050? Predictions range from 450 to 600 p.p.m.
• CO2 contributes to half of global warming. Gases like chlorofluorocarbons and methane, along with soot and other pollutants, contribute to the rest.
• Carbon Dioxide, because of the way it interacts with the oceans and atmosphere is more persistent than the other causes of global warming, which dissipate more quickly when the sources decline.

What can we conclude? Reductions in emissions is only part of the equation. We must actively pursue methods to remove CO2 from the air. “Carbon capture and storage” (CCS) is a term used for the non-biological method of injecting carbon into storage sites, i.e., geologic formations.

Biological methods center around reducing deforestation and planting trees. On an individual level, planting trees is an activity where you can make a difference, and remains the cheapest way to remove CO2.

“Think Globally, Act Locally.” Healthy trees absorb 48 pounds of carbon each year, and produce enough oxygen to support two people. If a million people each planted a tree, 10,000,000 pounds of carbon would be removed from the atmosphere each year, according to the American Forestry Association.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, environment, green movement
Posted in Forestation | 1 Comment »

Trees are Dying Faster

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Just today, researchers writing in the journal Science announced that trees in the western United States and Canada are dying twice as quickly as they did just 30 years ago.

These thinner and weaker forests may soak up less carbon dioxide, in turn speeding up global warming.  There is no dispute that trees store carbon, and any reduction in our forests, means less available for storage.

Trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, removing carbon from the atmosphere. But when trees die or burn, this carbon is released back into the atmosphere.

So a dying forest adds to the carbon that in turn helps warm the planet’s surface.

The researchers said they found trees of various species, ages and sizes are dying faster at every elevation.

Mark Harmon, a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University, said: “Forest fires or major insect epidemics that kill a lot of trees all at once tend to get most of the headlines. What we’re studying here are changes that are much slower and difficult to identify, but in the long run extremely important.”

What do you think?  Is this “no big deal”, or “one more piece of evidence”?  Perhaps a call to action?

Posted in Forestation | No Comments »

Why write “Trees in the Forest”?

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Foundational concepts behind this blog

• Growing a profitable business
• Attracting the very best talent into a virtual organization
• Recycling paper for environmental benefit
• Securely shredding sensitive personal information
• Re-establishing forests with environmental sensitivity
• Engaging in dialogue to encourage thought leadership
• Become a center connecting point

The dynamic forest is ever-changing, made of individual trees

Posted in Business | No Comments »

The CEO’s guide to Social Media

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

While some early adopters (read:  your kids) have been involved with the social aspects of the internet for several years, when it comes to business, this has only recently become a topic and option.  As parents, our concern was what our teenagers were posting on their MySpace pages.  Now, as CEOs, we are trying to figure out what our companies need to be posting, and where.

CEOs have the role of establishing the vision for the organization.  As you would influence which “traditional” marketing channels best fit the organization, so too with social media.  Here are my suggestions on how to get up to speed so you can participate in defining your company’s approach.

Attitude.  This will likely need adjustment.  Embrace the new, take responsibility to understand it.  You learned how to navigate your cell phone (you may even have ventured into texting), you can e-mail, you can search the web, and you can become knowledgeable about social media.  This cannot be abdicated to someone else.  It is too real and too important.

Self-Directed MBA.  Here’s where those web searching skills are useful.  Because this space is changing so fast, you are not going to learn it through the traditional educational methods (forget about books, and consultants with powerpoints.)  Dig into the web, and you will find an amazing amount of information.  In particular, read blogs, and follow the hyperlinks they share.  Threads will become your personal course syllabus.

Get Started.  You learn by doing, not watching.  Go to www.LinkedIn.com and sign up.  This is a professional networking site.  Don’t worry, you are not exposing your personal life to the world, but it is a good place to start, and it will begin the networking process.  Once you are comfortable with that, go to www.facebook.com and post a personal page.

Facebook is evolving into a very important networking site, and your company will also want to create a presence, separately.  If you create your profile on the same computer you store your contacts (i.e., Outlook), facebook gives you the option to compare your contacts against their user database, and you will be amazed to see how many people in your circle have profiles posted.  You will be given the option to send “friend” invitations to anyone you want to add to your personal network.

Your company has many options in the social networking universe.  Here’s a useful map of those options, published by Overdrive Interactive.

Explore and have fun.  The benefits you receive will be proportional to the amount of effort you put into learning this phenomena.  I welcome your thoughts and any experiences you have had in your personal journey

Tags: CEO, Facebook, LinkedIn, Overdrive Interactive, Social Media
Posted in Business | 2 Comments »

Freefalling Recycled Paper Prices

Friday, January 16th, 2009

What a difference a few months make. The commodity price decline experienced during the second half of 2008 is well known. Oil prices are probably the most widely reported since each of us can easily translate $147 per barrel equals $4 gasoline while $38 per barrel six months later equals $1.35 gasoline. Copper, aluminum prices are at three year lows.

SOP prices have collapsed as well. What?

Sorted Office Paper is the most common grade of bulk, baled, shredded paper purchased by mills to be recycled into post consumer paper products. The September price of $235 per ton has fallen to $120 per ton.

Why is that important? Two reasons:

1.) its impact on the document destruction business economics, and
2.) how recycled paper prices affect the “green” movement

The document destruction industry relies upon “back end” revenue generated by the bulk sale of shredded paper. Companies charge their customers to pickup and shred confidential documents, and in a very competitive market, pricing and margins are influenced by an expectation of the price mills will pay for the shredded paper.

1300 pound bales of shredded paper ready for recycling

Margins will be squeezed, since contracts for service typically do not provide for adjustments based upon SOP prices. Companies prefer not to disclose that they get revenue coming and going. Sneaky? No. Transparent? Now it is.

More disturbing, is how recycling programs may be affected.

How many people would be willing to pay an additional service fee for their “free” curbside paper recycling usage? Will companies who jumped on the green bandwagon and began scrap paper recycling programs because recyclers would pay them $50-$100 a ton for non-confidential scrap paper drop their initiatives once those recyclers begin to charge for hauling it away?

Even more grim is the prospect that we are close to a price level where it is more economical to landfill paper than recycle it, and how will that affect corporate decisions when the bottom line conflicts with the desire to do the right thing for the environment?

What do you think? Will higher costs trump environmental impact? How sustainable is the sustainable movement when faced with this economic shift? I’d love to hear your comments.

Tags: document destruction, environment, green movement, landfill, paper recycling
Posted in Business | 7 Comments »