EcoAmerica News Blog

The Presidents Climate Commitment Transforms Higher Education

Climate Leadership For America, the 2007 Annual Report for the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, has been released by supporting organizations ecoAmerica, AASHE (the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) and Second Nature.  The document showcases the most prominent successes of the program to date.

Download the Report here.

Changing The Landscape Of Eco Labeling - Who Consumers Trust

Ecopreneurist gives a good brief summary of the confusion of eco-labels.  The key to an effective eco-label is to separate it from a proprietary brand and to make sure the label has a broadly known brand of its own.

Mr. Clean, Meet Mr. Green

Brandweek talks to the VP of Sustainability at P&G about their green product efforts and how they relate to the wider world of green marketing.

Greendex: Survey of Sustainable Consumption

National Geographic just released the Greendex, a global tracking survey of consumers' environmental behaviors.  The study of 14,000 consumers from 14 different countries measured typical behaviors related to energy use, transportation, product choices and attitudes.  Because the Greendex will continue to be tracked over time, it will be a significant measure of green consumer behavior in the United States and worldwide.

After the jump, the summary of results.  For more, click here.

Not as green as they claim to be

This Boston.com article provides an excellent summary of some of the recent trends and concerns in green marketing.  There is a tension between consumers who want to buy green without sacrificing lifestyle or image and marketers who want to provide products that are more about lifestyle and the status quo than they are about green.

More Than $76M Spent on Energy Issues

Evan Tracey highlights this year's big spenders on energy ads including the two remaining Democratic presidential hopefuls and Big Oil.

As FTC Revisits 'Green' Definitions, Some Predict A Crackdown

The Federal Trade Commission is still in the midst of creating a new set of green marketing regulations and part of that is examining green packaging claims which haven't been revised since 1998.  It is hoped that new guidelines will lead to clearer claims while at the same time reminding advertisers that their packaging needs to be clear and not misleading.  Some are concerned that the Federal Trade Commission will be creating guidelines for environmental terminology that is constantly changing.

The coming backlash over green marketing

Seth Godin suggests a solution for all the confusion over "green" labeling - a number.  He argues that assigning a number to a product or service forces the consumer to compare/contrast and puts pressure on the producer to improve.

ecoAmerica Annual Report

We completed our first year of operations with some stunning successes and daunting challenges.  Get the details in our 2007 Annual Report.

Download the 2007 ecoAmerica Annual Report

Want An Eco Trademark? Stand in Line

Another reason for green fatigue?  It seems that the number of trademarks taken out with the words GREEN, ECO and ORGANIC all more than doubled in 2007.  Along with causing consumer fatigue, the terms are bound to lose all their value to marketers.