Comments makower has made

  • Why Americans Can't Go Green

    See my recent post on research on Americans' attitudes toward the environment. Among other things, it makes the case that a big, one-size-fits-all message campaign won't work.

    Joel Makower
    Two Steps Forward blogOn No, seriously posted 3 years, 1 month ago 13 Responses

  • Wait . . . there's more!

    In my story, I was remiss in not mentioning the Green Guide Institute's Green Hospitals report (an egregious error given that I sit on the Green Guide Institute's board of directors). The report names America's top 10 green hospitals, based on a range of factors, from building and maintenance practices to indoor air quality to "healthy hospital food." All told, it's a great reference for understanding the full range of green practices a hospital can take.On Hospitals and doctors' offices look to cure their environmental ills posted 3 years, 8 months ago 3 Responses

  • What Was GE Thinking?

    What do we make of the fact that NBC, which airs "West Wing", is owned by GE, one of the world's biggest makers of nuclear power plants? Was running this episode an exercise in editorial freedom or idiocy?On Sunday's West Wing was rather ham-handed with its nuclear critique posted 3 years, 10 months ago 11 Responses

  • Hypocrisy or Not, Akst's Got a Point

    I agree with your condemnation of Gotcha! journalism, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded from time to time that shopping -- or building -- our way to environmental salvation isn't an option. And a lot of well-heeled environmentalists think that building, or being, eco-chic is a political statement. It's not.

    And sometimes, the truth hurts. A few years ago, my wife and I were interviewing contractors to build our dream home -- replete with eco-friendly woods and efficiency up the wazoo. One environmentally savvy contractor took a look at the plans, heard my plea about being "environmentally responsible," and said: "To be frank, the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is to cut the size of the house in half."

    It was an ego-deflating punch in the gut, but he was right.

    In the end, we opted out of building, deciding to "recycle" our current house.On Hypocrisy again posted 3 years, 10 months ago 6 Responses

  • Too Cheap to Meter

    I'd have to go with this one:

    "Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter." -- Lewis L. Strauss, speech to the National Association of Science Writers, New York City, September 16th, 1954

     [Source: New York Times, September 17, 1954]On We've already collected nature quotes -- how about some quotes on energy posted 4 years, 3 months ago 8 Responses

  • Environmental Evangelicals

    Of course, Schlesinger doesn't mention the other side of the coin: the growing number of Christian evangelicals who are beginning to grok the threats of global warming to God's creation, as has been covered elsewhere (including my blog and Grist. How convenient to leave omit this!On What does the accusation mean and how should greens respond? posted 4 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

  • Green Is Good -- But So Is Saving Money

    Chris,

    I'm guessing that P&G sees the key marketing advantage of T.C. as the money-saving angle, not the green one. This is consistent with P&G's general disinterest in green marketing, even when they've had good stories to tell. In my mind, they represent the a lot of companies that go for that self-fulfilling prophesy that "green doesn't sell, so let's not push it." Not pushing it, of course, results in low consumer interest -- thereby proving their original hypothesis!

    On the other hand, I think that P&G may be *pretty much* on target. My experience is that environmentally preferable products don't sell unless they have some other advantages beyond their greenness. Saving money is definitely one such advantage -- and for P&G's middle-market audience, an advantage that waaay trumps the environment. So, I think they're playing right into their market.

    Still, it certainly would be nice if they could help the mass market connect the dots between hot water and energy use and climate change. Seems to be a squandered opportunity there.On Is P&G's Tide Coldwater just more greenwashing? posted 4 years, 3 months ago 6 Responses

  • Coldwater is Hot!

    Don't poo-poo Tide's cold-water play. You may not like the fact that Procter & Gamble -- a 900-pound gorilla if there ever was one -- is doing anything remotely green, but that's exactly what's going on.

    Case in point: A year or two ago, Seventh Generation, the Vermont-based producer of eco-friendly household products, assessed its climate footprint. It determined, much to its surprise, that in looking at the life-cycle impacts of all the products it makes and sells -- detergents, paper products, and all the rest -- its biggest climate impact was . . . the hot water use by its laundry customers. It set out to make a cold-water detergent to reduce its -- and its customers -- impacts.

    Which is exactly what P&G has done.On Is P&G's Tide Coldwater just more greenwashing? posted 4 years, 3 months ago 6 Responses

  • And more on Destiny . . .

    . . . please note my related blog piece at http://makower.typepad.com/joel_makower/2005/07/destiny_usas_hi.htmlOn Just a Little bit posted 4 years, 4 months ago 1 Response

  • CSR vs. Whatever

    (And okay, I give up. If they are "corporate responsibility reports," why is the acronym "CSR" always used?)

    The names for these reports are all over the map: CSR (corporate social responsibility), CR (corporate responsibility), SR (social responsibility), sustainability, corporate citizenship, and on and on.

    I long for the day when companies don't publish any of these -- when they integrate their social/sustainability/citizenship information into their annual shareholders report . . . a true convergence of the triple bottom line.On Joel Makower discusses. posted 4 years, 7 months ago 1 Response

  • Nature's Services

    The definitive work on the subject is Nature's Services, by Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison (Shearwater Books, 2002).

    From the book jacket:

    The New Economy of Nature brings together Gretchen Daily, one of the world's leading ecologists, with Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, to offer an engaging and informative look at a new "new economy" - a system recognizing the economic value of natural systems and the potential profits in protecting them.
    On Ecosystem services posted 4 years, 8 months ago 3 Responses

  • What about Poland!

    No, really: what about the presidential election -- as for long-term ecological impacts, THAT's the biggest environmental story of the year.On Top environmental events of 2004 posted 4 years, 10 months ago 3 Responses