Which source offers the community information on how to be green?

The print Yellow Pages of course. Channel 2 News in Reno, NV (link) offers this insight:

If you are looking for ways to go green, look no further than your phone book.

In all the yellow pages, you will find a 32 page guide with tips on how to become more environmentally friendly.

They include everything from where to recycle things like paper and plastic to information on the Lockwood Landfill. “Whether you want your phone books or not, everyone gets one so they are good information and you can also find information on illegal dumping,” said Maia Dickerson with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful.

Consumers Will Be Green — IF it Saves Them Money

With worries about jobs and the economy most on their minds, there has been a noticeable shift in consumer behavior regarding going “green”.  Consumers are willing to buy things like energy-efficient products and services, but only if they see immediate savings.

The Shelton Group has just released one of their four annual surveys which indicated 71% of consumers required saving money as a reason to buy energy-efficient products. In a notable change from pre-recession surveys conducted by Shelton (2006 and 2007) when consumers often cited “to protect the environment” as the primary reason, now far fewer chose that reason (55%) or “to protect the quality of life for future generations” (49%).

“Americans are concerned about their jobs, their homes, and their bank accounts. They’re now more focused on saving money than saving the Amazon,” said Suzanne Shelton, president of The Shelton Group, which conducted the study. “Yes, conserving energy is the greenest thing anybody can do, but consumers are not buying more efficient products because they want to save the world. They want products that can save them money in the long run.”

The survey also indicated that consumers indicate they are more likely to take a number of energy-efficient measures after learning they would save over the long term. For example 44% are likely to buy a programmable thermostat (32% already have).

Green Not A Consumer Hot Button

According to a recent Yankelovich survey of 2,763 consumers about their environmental attitudes titled “Going Green”, a mere 34% of consumers indicated they feel much more concerned about environmental issues today than just a year ago.

J. Walker Smith, the president of Yankelovich noted in the company’s press release that “…while consumers are highly aware of environmental issues due to the glut of media attention… ‘going green’ in their everyday life is simply not a big concern or a high priority.”

Mr. Smith also indicated that consumers are far more knowledgeable about green than they’re generally given credit for.  According to the Survey:

• Only 7% of consumers believe Al Gore’s “10 Myths” in his heralded “An Inconvenient Truth.” and that it’s already too late to do something about climate change
• Only 8% agree that the warming that scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat rather than anything to do with greenhouse gases

Applying these results to print Yellow Pages, the true inconvenient truth is that the advertising placed in these products results in nearly $500 billion in commerce each year. That’s business which is critical to the existence of many small businesses, generates jobs, and is truly a local boost in communities of all sizes.

Psychologists Now Want to Help You Think Green

As reported in USA Today, a four-day meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston had some 16,000 people attend to explore how people think about environmental protection.

Among the most interesting findings:

• Walking outside rather than inside (even just 15 minutes) tends to make people feel “happier, more energetic and more protective of the environment” – unless of course you are walking around downtown Los Angeles
• Negative feedback about their ecological footprint undermines their environmental behavior – I assume the approach of the beatings will continue until you get it right don’t work?
• Psychologists report that people are conscious that they should be doing more to protect the environment, yet they are confused about what to actually do. What a surprise – see prior post on this
• News stories that include global warming skeptics seriously undermine the public’s concern over climate change. Say what? Guess people really don’t want to hear the facts?

The relevance of this item to the Yellow Pages industry is that the printed books delivered to the doorsteps of every household are an easy target because people are not informed, numerous erroneous facts have proliferated the Internet, and their perceptions are different than the reality of how this consume and use information.

The industry has a lot more educating to do.

Do As I Say Not As I Do

I’m happy to see that Al Gore has finally found some real meaning in his life as the new poster boy for the environmental movement. It had to be a crushing personal blow to know he lost the election for President to George Bush (yes, Al you did lose, no matter how many times they count the votes). To then bounce back to focus on issues that are arguably more important is wonderful, but somehow I still smell something that’s not right in this whole discussion.

So it was not really surprising to receive the following info from a now disappointed very eco-oriented buddy. It is a comparison between two homes:

House #1: In one month this fine residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. It is a 20 room mansion (not including the 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas as well as a pool, pool house, and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in the colder areas up North or in the Midwestern‘s snow belt area. It’s in the South.

House # 2: This home was also designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house is still a good sized one — 4,000 square feet with 4 bedrooms. I sits on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels (e.g. oil or natural gas) and it consumes one-quarter of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from shwes, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

Want to guess who owns which houses?

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of the environmental evangelist himself — Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United States — George W. Bush, the man whom many insist has done nothing to further environmental efforts.

As the old saying goes – “Do as I say, not as I do.”

That truly is the inconvenient truth in this case.

“Green.” What’s the Problem?

Sure, everything you see, read, and hear is about “going green”, being “eco-friendly”, “environmental consensus”, etc. etc. etc. But the bad news is that the average consumer doesn’t have a clue what that really means.

The Shelton Group, a Knoxville, TN based ad agency that is suppose to specialize in energy efficiency and sustainability (now there’s a new twist), recently conducted a national study, the “Eco Pulse”, which asked consumers open-ended and multiple-choice questions about green issues. The findings suggest there is a whole lot of confusion out there.

Some of the major findings:

• Name which features a home would need to have before they would consider it green? 42% said they didn’t know.
• While 49% of respondents said a company’s environmental record is important in their purchasing decisions, only 21% used that information when making a product decision. Even worse, only 7% could name the product they purchased.
• “Given a choice between your comfort, your convenience or the environment, which do you most often choose?” Surprise (NOT). Most Americans put their personal comfort ahead of the environment – 46% chose comfort and 31% chose the environment.
• We love the media — 40% admitted to negative or ambivalent responses (“skeptical,” “irritated,” “guilty” or “unaffected”) to increased media attention regarding our impact on the environment
• We only do it to make us look better — when asked why most companies that adopt environmentally friendly practices do so, the most common response (47%) was “to make their company look better to the public.”

The message from this study is it is still early in the development of what “green” is or should be. It does offer all Yellow Page publishers an opportunity to make their print and IYP products a source for the valuable information consumers will need.

Pepsi Cutting Plastic in Bottles

In today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required), was an interesting story that Pepsi has moved to reducing the amount of plastic it uses in its non-soda drink bottles.  For example, the new half-liter (16.9 oz.) bottle will actually contain 20% less plastics than the one it is replacing.  The thickness of the bottle will be reduced from 23.5 grams to 18.6 grams.  The drinks affected are some of the Lipton ice teas, Tropicana juice, flavored Aquafina FlavorSpalsh and Aquafina Alive.

We bring this to the attention of Yellow Pages publishers because we mentioned in a recent post (A Bag is More Than a Bag) that Discovery Packaging was open to working with publishers on a reduced thickness delivery bag.  Sounds like a real opportunity to be an innovative market leader and more environmental oriented.

Consumers Giving Up ‘Convenience Packaging’ to Help Environment

Some new research from The Nielsen Company just caught my attention — more than half of U.S. consumers would give up all forms of packaging provided for convenience purposes if it would benefit the environment.

• 58% feel that packaging designed for easy stacking/storing at home is dispensable
• 55% would give up packaging that can be used for cooking, or doubling as a re-sealable container
• 53% don’t need packaging designed for easy transport

Another interesting finding in the research was the range of attitudes toward packaging in different parts of the world.  For example:

• Almost 60% of Europeans and North Americans are willing to give up packaging designed for stacking and storing at home — but only 42% of Asians would be willing to give up these types of convenience packaging
• New Zealanders are the nation most prepared to give up all packaging aspects for the sake of the environment

Specific observations from U.S. households that Yellow Page publishers need to take note of:

• Nearly 80% of consumers make a point of combining shopping trips to save gas most, if not all of the time – hello Yellow Pages.  Sounds like a marketing opportunity to me
• More than half of U.S. consumers claim (I added the emphasis on “claim”) to recycle cans, bottles and/or newspapers all the time  – hello Yellow Pages.  Sounds like some recycling information in the front of the book is a requirement to make the print product even more valuable
• About 40% of consumers will sometimes think to look for products with less packaging –  hello Yellow Pages.  Sounds like an opportunity to highlight more eco-friendly businesses in both print and online products

“Hollywood Goes Green at the Oscars” — You Are Kidding Me, Right?

Maybe you saw this little gem from thedailygreen newsletter:

Hollywood’s Hot Oscar Week: Celebrities Go Green

So I guess that line of idling limo’s I saw outside the receiving line didn’t count?

Sure, we all want to be more eco-friendly, but let’s make the efforts real and not just an attempt to be hip. Check our your local PRINT Yellow Pages for more green tips or to find those truly environmental consensus businesses.

Eco-friendly Undies for Valentine’s Day??

Everything seems to a “green” twist now.  Why not romantic undies.

Just in time for Valentines Day an eco-friendly British company called “Green Knickers” offers panties made from 60% hemp and 40% silk.  And if you order now they will arrive in “fair trade recycled gift box”.   The link to their site:  Greenknickers.org.

Smashing.

What heading would you find these under in a print Yellow Pages, “environmental” or “womens lingerie”???