1. Be Authentic: Don’t say you are doing something if you’re not or if you have no plans of doing it. Avoid at all costs the “green washing” tag by making false or misleading claims to that make your product or business look more sustainable than it is. Refrain from “fluff” like “all natural,” “eco-friendly”, and “environmentally sound”.
2. Be Transparent: Consumers will reward honesty. It isn’t necessary to paint a bogus picture of roses and blue skies when the reality is that you are struggling on the road to sustainability. Be honest about the challenges of achieving your company’s environmental, financial and social responsibility goals.
3. Be Consistent and committed: Show consistency and commitment by sticking to both internal and external sustainability initiatives and practices you’ve made public. Long-term dedication to your practices shows consumers that they can rely on your company.
4. Target your Message: Marketing requires a clear picture of your audience is if you’re going to create a focused strategy. Determine your audience’s demographic. Or in other words, “What motivates your buyer?” Is it energy savings, cost, health, social concerns, environmental issues or a combination of factors?
5. Follow through: Consumers, as well as strategic partners, investors, and staff, won’t continue to patronize and/or support your business if they can’t trust that you’ll do what you have promised to do. This is especially true when it comes to stated sustainability benchmarks.

In short, you can’t simply start recycling or switch to LED light bulbs and claim you’re now a sustainable business. Always be pushing the edge of the marketing sustainability envelope.

During the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in new golf courses; and it shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. The United States is now home to approximately 18,000 golf courses, more than half the world’s total number of golf courses. They cover more than 1.7 million acres and soak up nearly 4 billion gallons of water per day. They also use pesticides and fertilizers that contribute to water pollution.

The golf industry is aware of the statistics and is trying to lessen its environmental impact.

• Building new courses with more advanced irrigation systems that prevent overwatering.
• Using a variety of grasses that require less water.  
• Increasingly using treated liquid waste to water grass.
• Replacing older pesticides that might in the environment with newer pesticides that breakdown more quickly.

Nevertheless, the gains by individual courses have been more than offset by sport’s rapid growth. And some current practices remain controversial. For example, it’s not clear that newer pesticides are safer since it can take years of use before a chemical’s health effects become apparent. In fact, golf courses continue to be the land area with one of the most highly concentrated per acre use of pesticides.

Golf is big business that has both a positive and negative impact.  

• Contributes $76 billion per year in direct economic impact to the American economy.
• Well-designed courses can house a variety flora and fauna and can become areas of great biodiversity.
• Golf industry has raised substantial sums for charities. (Estimated to be around $4 billion annually.)

The negative effects on the environment persist. They include:

• Carbon dioxide emissions generated by people travelling to and from the golf course.
• Use of fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus that works its way into the ground water.
• High energy consumption to maintain the course.
• Generation of significant quantities of waste.

But these environmental problems can be reduced, if environmental sustainability is considered at the planning stage of the golf course. All new golf courses, through design, construction and management, should consider the full range of environmental issues. The goal is to protect and enhance the environment while maximizing the enjoyment of playing golf.

1. Unplug your appliances and electronic items when not in use.
2. Use chemical-free cleaning products and clean with old rags.
3. Fix all leaky faucets. 
4. Install window treatments to conserve heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
5. Decorate with furnishings that are used or hand-me-downs. 
6. Purchase wardrobe item at thrift shops, garage sales and clothing swaps.
7. Stocks bathroom with toilet tissue made from recycled paper.
8. Place a 2-liter soda bottle filled with water or a brick in your toilet tank to displace some of the water used in each flush-refill cycle.
9. Install shower monitors that set off an alarm when you reach a pre-set limit or install faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads.
10. Replace burned-out incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.

Often quoting Scripture, they feel that humans have been made stewards and must protect all that God has made, including the Earth. They feel that as part of that covenant with God they must safeguard what God has created for future generations and not stand by while the mountains are being devastated.

Mountaintop removal is the strip mining practice of blasting off the tops of mountains so that huge machines can mine thin seams of coal. First, the mountaintops are razed of trees and all other plants. Explosive charges are then set and a layer of the mountain is blown apart. Then the coal is separated out. All debris is shoved into nearby valleys and streams burying the waterways forever. The practice of mountaintop removal is prevalent in parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.

Coal companies began experimenting with mountaintop removal mining in the1970’s as they searched for the cheapest and easiest way of extracting coal. Often citing the need for employment in the region, coal companies criticized mountaintop removal opponents for placing the environment over jobs. Yet the use of mountaintop removal has been accompanied by a sharp decrease in the number of coal mining jobs available in the region. Facts show that miners have been replaced with heavy machinery.  For example, in 1950 there were 125,000 miners in West Virginia; today there are 15,000. Other issues facing the people of Appalachia include:

• More than 1000 square miles of mountains have been destroyed in the region.
• Hundreds of miles of streams have been polluted with heavy metals and acid mine damage.
• Flooding due to runoff from mountaintop removal sites is causing widespread property damage and loss of life.
• In West Virginia alone, 3 million pounds of explosives are routinely used against the mountains every working day; more than any place in the United States.
• Property values have decreased as much as 90% due to damage from blasting and coal dust.

The destruction caused by mountain top removal mining is permanent. With the support of local residents in the region (many of whom have lived there for generations), religious organizations are fighting the practice of mountaintop removal in the courts, state legislatures and the court of public opinion with lobbying for new laws, lawsuits and issuing statements and resolutions that call for ecological and social justice in the region.

1.       Wardrobe

• Upgrade the look of a family heirloom dress with tailoring, modern shoes and accessories.
• Pick clothes made from hemp and organic cotton or silk.
• Find a dressmaker who will make a one-of-a-kind dress out of sustainable fabrics.
• Select men’s suits and shirts made with organic cotton or wool. 
• Select bridesmaids’ dresses that are re-wearable. 
• Donate the dresses to charity after the wedding.

 2.    Ceremony

• Find a florist will source locally raised flowers.
• Throw organic rose petals after the ceremony.
• Donate flowers to a hospital or retirement home after the ceremony.
• Use a photographer who takes digital photos.

 3.    Reception

• Look for caterers that can do your event organically and/or will pick the best seasonal selections.  
• Serve organic wine, beer and spirits.
• Serve free-trade coffee and tea.
• Make sure the venue offers comprehensive recycling facilities and composting.
• Make arrangements to have any leftover food donated to a local food bank or homeless shelter.

 4.    Gifts

• Ask your guests to donate to a favorite green cause or charity instead of material goods. The list might include:
  • park and museum passes
  • gift certificates to organic restaurants
  • subscriptions to green publications
  • donations to green causes

 5.    Favors

• Gourmet organic chocolates.
• Reusable cloth tote bags.
• Natural soaps and/or candles.
• A small charitable donation in each guest’s name.
• Gift baskets of organic skin-care products.
• Selections of organic coffees and teas.
• A bottle of organic wine.

 6.    Honeymoon

• Pick a location that is local.
• Take an eco-tourism trip. 
• Stay at a family-run B&B or inn or a green hotel.

Rings

Weddings begin with the ring and a green wedding is no different. There are many alternatives you can choose when selecting the rings. Here are a few:

• Vintage rings: family heirlooms or antique rings. Old gold can even be recycled by melting it down and refashioned into rings. 
• Avoid diamonds mined in war zones, so-called “blood diamonds”. They help fund conflicts and oppression all over the world.

Venue

The choice of wedding venue sets the tone for entire wedding. Some things you might want to consider:

• To minimize travel impact, choose a location that is convenient to the greatest number of guests.
• Hold the wedding ceremony and the reception at the same location.
• Select a local spot which supports the same green causes that you do, such as an art gallery, nonprofit space, organic restaurant, or green hotel.  

Invitations

Your invitation is the first impression guests will get of your green wedding. Things you should consider:

• Recycled and/or handmade paper that is processed chlorine-free.
• Have them printed with vegetable-based or soy-based inks.
• Create a wedding blog to inform guests about the bachelor/bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinner and gift registry to reduce the use of paper.
• Let your guests know about green hotels and transportation options in the area, such as where they can rent a hybrid car.  

Bachelor and bachelorette parties

Your bachelor and bachelorette parties can keep the green theme going:

• Stay local, it will allow you to spend more time with your friends and less time dealing with travel stress.
• Indulge in organic wine or beer tasting or an organic spa treatment.
• Do something low-impact and outdoorsy like a camping, surfing, sailing.

That takes us to your green wedding. Next post: suggestions on how to continue the green theme through the ceremony and beyond.

If you’re looking to reduce your carbon footprint, one of the simplest things you can do is drink tap water rather than bottled water. If you don’t like the taste, buy a filter. And if helping the environment is not enough to get you to change your water drinking habits, consider this: bottled water costs about 1,000 times more than tap water. Even after spending the nominal costs incurred buying a filter.

Here are some of the facts and figures:

• Bottled water is a $60 billion a year business worldwide.
• Per-capita consumption is 28 gallons, up from 5.7 gallons in 1987.
• Americans discard 30 to 40 billion water bottles a year.
• Producing the plastic bottles used burns 1.5 million gallons of oil per year – enough to run 100,000 cars per year.
• Less than 15% of the bottles are recycled.
• Transportation of bottled water takes over 500,000 gallons of oil per year – enough to heat 80,000 homes per year.
• Making the plastic bottle requires twice as much water as is in the bottle.
• Manufacturing that much plastic releases more than 800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.
• 30 million single-serve non-returnable containers end up in landfills lls or as litter every day.
• The United States spends millions annually to clean up plastic bottles that litter our highways, parks and open spaces.

 And here are a few things you can do:

•  Recycle or return all of your beverage containers.
• Pick up bottles along the road or sidewalk and recycle them.
• Drink tap water—it’s better for the environment, even using a filter is cheaper than buying bottles.
• Get involved—help start a recycling program at school, work and sporting events.
• If you still feel the need to purchase bottled water, buy and refill reusable bottles.

Pepsi recently announced it is cutting the use of petroleum (and the company’s carbon footprint) by introducing the world’s first plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources.  Pepsi’s new beverage is bottle made entirely of plant material including switch grass, pine bark, and corn husk.  Ultimately, the company plans to also use orange peels, oat hulls, potato scraps and other leftovers from its food business.   Traditional soda bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource.

Coca-Cola’s “PlantBottle” is now available in nine countries and is expected to reach more than a dozen other markets by the end of this year.  In fact, more than 2.5 billion “PlantBottles” have already reached the marketplace, saving approxitemately 3 million gallons of gasoline according to Coca-Cola.

Both Coke and Pepsi are positioning themselves to make money from the bottles themselves.  Coca-Cola recently announced a deal with HJ Heinz Company allowing the ketchup maker to use its “PlantBottle” in 120 million bottles of ketchup. Industry analysts expect Pepsi to negotiate similar deals in the near future.

The rising cost of packaging and other many other commodities is a constant concern for both Coke and Pepsi.  It is hoped that using bottles made of plant materials could partially insulate both companies from volatile swings in the price of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.

Under REDD, the U.S. government would auction emission allowances to American companies facing carbon controls to meet part of their obligations to cap greenhouse gases. This could be as much as $3 billion annually into rain forest protection. That figure could rise to as much as $13 billion per year by 2020.

Forests worldwide have been disappearing at the rate of about 34 million acres a year for the last two decades. Additionally the slash-and-burn method of deforestation commonly used accounts for about 15% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, Brazil is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China, the United States, and Indonesia, primarily because of their breakneck pace of forest destruction.

Today, the Amazon basin, which also covers parts of eight other nations, harbors 45% of Earth’s remaining rain forest. In the last 35 years, about 17% of it has been razed, more than twice the size of California.

The Amazon rain forest stores between 80 billion and 130 billion metric tons of carbon in its leaves and trunks. If burned it would emit about 50 times more carbon dioxide than the United States’ annual output.

The fact is, saving the Amazon jungle and other tropical forests can be a cheaper and faster way to avoid greenhouse gas emissions than replacing coal-fired power plants with renewable energy or switching to electric cars – combined.

Today, the Amazon basin, which also covers parts of eight other nations, harbors 45% of Earth’s remaining rain forest. In the last 35 years, about 17% of it has been razed.

In Brazil, consciousness of the Amazon’s worth is mounting and as a result, it’s began to enact tough measures such as:

• Tracking destruction by satellite in real time allowing for speedy a to halt illegal logging.
• Creating 193,000 square miles of forest reserves.
• Stopped building settlements in virgin forest.
• Passed a law allowing for 20% of an individual’s land to be deforested.
• Enforced price supports for Brazil nuts and rubber as an incentive not to cut trees.
• Cleared up titles to land to make it easier for farmers to get loans to boost productivity.  

New figures show that in recent years, the extent of burning in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped to 2,705 square miles a year after peaking at 10,588 square miles annually.

Fortunately, Forbes Magazine did the grunt work for us and just released their annual Top 10 Most Toxic Cities list.

Here are the cities that made the unfortunate list and why:

10. Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 16; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 1.3 million pounds; unhealthy amounts of haloacetic acids and nitratesperchlorate found in top water.

9. Salt Lake City, UT

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 15; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 130.4 million pounds; unhealthy amounts of haloacetic acids found in top water.

8. St. Louis, MO

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 1; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 22.3 million pounds; unhealthy amounts of haloacetic acids found in top water.

7. Houston, TX

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 1; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 54.8 million pounds; amount of alpha particle activity found in top water.

6. Los Angeles, CA

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 14; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 3.8 million pounds; unhealthy amounts of arsenic, total trihalomethanes, nitrate, and total haloacetic acids perchlorate found in top water.

5. Baton Rouge, LA

Even thought they had no unhealthy air quality days in 2009, included because of the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 33.6 million pounds; top water report Not Available.

4. New York, NY

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 26; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 4.1 million pounds; unhealthy amounts of total haloacetic acids; dieldrin; total trihalomethanes found in top water.

3. Fresno, CA

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 16; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 338,000 pounds; unhealthy amounts of nitrates found in top water.

2. Bakersfield, CA

Included because of the number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 43; the amount of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 2.2 million pounds; top water report Not Available.

1. Philadelphia, PA

The sprawling Philadelphia MSA, which includes parts of four states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland), is home to more than 50 Superfund sites. That number of Superfund sites pushed the City of Brotherly Love into the number one toxic spot in the country.