June 30th, 2009
by Sandra Stewart
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communications strategy, sustainability, universities |
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Universities are not generally known as hotbeds of modesty, but you’d never guess that by looking at university sustainability websites.
One of the most common flaws is a lack of focus on what the university is doing, and how its institutional values and educational commitments influence its approach to sustainability. Instead, many sites speak in generalities about what sustainability is (I’ve lost count of the number of sites that quote the U.N. definition on their home page or in another prominent position), why it’s important, and what people can do about it.
The problem is, there are countless resources online for that kind of information, and generalities on why it matters don’t engage people in sustainability initiatives. When key audiences come to a university site they want to know what actions the university is taking, how those actions relate to the university’s mission and community responsibilities, and how people on campus can participate. That’s why, as I said in a previous post, the best sites put school policies, goals, and strategy front and center.
If you’re going to define sustainability, do it in terms of what it means to Whatever U. Describe why efforts in each sustainability area are important in Whatever U’s context (cold winters, water shortages, etc.). Tailor tips to campus goals and your specific audiences (there’s little point in telling students who live in dorm rooms how much carbon they can cut by weatherizing their home). And cite your achievements—they tell people that your sustainability message is more than talk.
June 18th, 2009
by Carolyn McMaster
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resources |
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I just learned about Randy Olson’s forthcoming book, Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style, due out in September from Island Press. (Thanks to Andrew Revkin’s excellent NY Times DotEarth post on communicating climate change.)
Olson wants scientists to be able to tell their stories to the rest of us. I can’t wait to see what he has to say. Here are the chapter titles:
- Don’t Be So Cerebral
- Don’t Be So Literal Minded
- Don’t Be Such a Poor Storyteller
- Don’t Be So Unlikeable
- Be the Voice of Science!
You can find out more on the book’s website. Olson is a filmmaker with a Ph.D. in marine biology and a master’s in filmmaking from the USC film school. He co-founded The Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project, a partnership between scientists and Hollywood to communicate the crisis facing our oceans. His films include Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus (2006; seen at the Tribeca Film Festival) and Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (2008).
While we’re on the subject, scientists (and anyone else in a technical field) could also take a lesson from Elizabeth Kolbert, who writes eloquently and plainly about matters environmental for the New Yorker. Her latest book (highly recommended), Field Notes from a Catastrophe (2006), is about global warming.
Finally, please patronize your local independent bookstore or public library.
June 8th, 2009
by Carolyn McMaster
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communications strategy, marketing, sustainability |
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In an article from Environmental Leader, IBM Global Business Services’ Corporate Sustainability leader, Jeff Hittner, likens companies’ approach to CSR to the early days of the Internet, when “People would come to us and say, ‘Wow. We need a Web site.’ We’d ask what their customers wanted in a Web site and they’d say ‘We don’t know. We only know we need a Web site.’ ”
Hittner and his colleague Eric Riddleberger talked to leaders at 224 companies around the world about CSR efforts, publishing their findings in a white paper, “Leading a Sustainable Enterprise.” Their surveys show that while two-thirds of companies focus on CSR as an integrated business strategy, most of them don’t know what their customers or partners expect when it comes to sustainability information. Thirty-seven percent of companies had done no research on customers’ CSR concerns, and 35 percent of them had done research for less than three years.
Most of them are in the dark when it comes to communicating about what the company is doing and engaging stakeholders, be they customers, partners, or anybody else. Hittner and Riddleberger found that a little over half (fewer than you’d think) are even trying to communicate with investors, business partners, government, and the community. It’s a bit better for employees, with 63 percent of companies engaging with them.
Not surprisingly, Hittner recommends that companies do customer research, find out who is most interested in sustainability, and develop programs that education and engage customers about sustainability.
That way, when you say, “We need a website for sustainability,” you’ll know not only what you need to communicate, but who you need to reach and what they want to hear from you.
June 4th, 2009
by Carolyn McMaster
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branding, green marketing, sustainability |
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Underwriters Laboratory’s UL Environment, which is certifying green products and verifying green product claims, has just announced the first product to be rated: Serious Materials’ EcoRock drywall. The product appears genuine, based on the excellent information on the company website, and it’s also got Cradle to Cradle certification.
While the UL assessment has UL’s brand clout behind it, they could add assurance and help alleviate consumer confusion over what’s truly friendly for the environment by providing complete disclosure about what their certifications mean on their website. Right now, there’s nothing on the UL Environment website that makes the label credible (except for the aforementioned brand power). By comparison, the Cradle to Cradle site has full disclosure.
Some questions they can answer: How and what are they testing? What is the process? What are the benchmarks and standards? Are they only looking at claims made or are they also comparing the product to similar ones? Do they consider what’s possible, so that if a company is only doing the bare minimum, it counts less?
Eco-labels are proliferating at a pretty fast clip. If they’re going to clear up confusion and help consumers sort out conflicting environmental claims and know what makes one thing greener than another, certifiers (and product marketers) need to help educate.
For more on the UL rollout, see Sustainable Industries’ excellent article. It was also covered at GreenBiz.com.
June 1st, 2009
by Carolyn McMaster
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green marketing |
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VCs take note: Metropolis probably had no idea what it might get when it sounded a call for designers to “fix our energy addiction” in the magazine’s 2009 Next Generation contest. The top entries, profiled in the May issue, are refreshing and creative—and they seem doable. The prize winner: wind turbines that become a part of the transmission grid, mounted on transmission towers. Eight runners-up include general stores suburbanites can walk to, saving car trips while creating a better neighborhood; valves designed to enable buildings to breathe, automatically controlling air flow for heating and cooling; and a bike designed for rental use, using a system like Zipcar’s.
What struck me most wasn’t the creativity so much as the “humaness” of the solutions. They are approachable, and it’s easy to envision them in the world. I’d like to see more contests that similarly produce ideas for things people will want to use. These contests can be a great way to let folks know about environmentally sound choices and behavior. (Okay, I just added that because felt I had to have a communications hook. But I also believe it.)