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How do we listen to the next generation?

Richard Lemmer | 02.05.12

Yesterday, the Guardian’s Leo Hickman posted about a group of young people who have travelled to Brussels to express their views on the environment to MEPs. The five young people won the trip as part of a video posting competition created by Eurostar and the Young People’s Trust for the Environment.

Liam’s video discussed electric vehicles; Tara’s dealt with fracking; Alana’s video shows her passion for the globalized food system; Abbie’s video makes great use of pictures to make her points about palm oil; and Simon’s video gives us a guided tour of the environmental problems in his village.

Leo Hickman provides coverage of the most contentious issue raised by the videos - fracking for shale gas. This is a complex issue, and Tara's video does a great job of presenting the ethical opposition untainted by the dominant groupthink that says we have to exploit every possible resource. In a debate that is constantly based around a narrow definition of energy security, Tara's view points are refreshing.

But there is an equally important point to be discussed: it is impressive to see a group of young people not only interested and engaged with environmental issues, but also motivated and passionate enough to voice their concerns. Whether or not their opinions create a green revolution in halls of the European Parliament, these young people show that there is the next generation of the green movement waiting in class rooms across the country.

Are green activists, politicians and businesses making the most of the younger generation? For this year’s mayoral election, the Green Party understood that their message should be conveyed not by adults, but by members of the next generation who will inherit our problems.

As comments on both the Green Party Youtube site and Leo Hickman’s post show, members of the public can have concerns about children appearing in campaigns. How well do these young people understand the issues they discuss? Have they been given the chance to develop a balanced viewpoint? Does their understanding simplify a complex situation?

We see a huge potential in allowing young people to express their views on the environment. Their message is more effective because of their age, not in spite of it. And anyone who doubts this should consider the case of “The Girl Who Silenced The World For Five Minutes” (an effective but erroneous title) and its viral status.

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The Greenest Or Most Arrogant Government Ever?

Richard Lemmer | 30.04.12

Last week saw David Cameron make a few “remarks” on the environment at the CEM3 (Clean Energy Ministerial conference). For a man who clearly understands the power of PR, his choice of words were somewhat poor; the green movement was waiting for a key note speech, not a mode of address you would associate with cocktail party chit-chat. Somehow, Cameron thought he could explain that his government is the greenest in the entirety of British history - in less than ten minutes.

By making the claim, Cameron has set himself a huge task. Understanding the power of the green movement and the pressing need to deal with climate change, the prime minister understood he could save several birds with one bird feeder: detoxifying the nasty party by hugging a husky and urging voters to Go Green, Vote Blue. See below for Channel Four's entertaining Tom Clark showing us what huskies are really meant for. But for sheer sticking power, Cameron’s rhetoric and spin on green issues has been good, with his choice of words and images being reiterated by the media over and over. Unfortunately for him, his words seem to haunt him like ghosts with no substance, as Cameron struggles to live up to the expectation he has created. Last year, a Friends of the Earth report marked the progress of Cameron’s green policies: most of them were rated as moribund or showing limited progress. Also, if Cameron wants his green rhetoric to be taken seriously, he needs to stop jumping on the debt and deficit band wagon every time he mentions renewable energy. We have enough austerity vs green thinking rhetoric from George Osborne. As the ever discerning Damian Carrington has pointed out, the green economy now employs more people than teaching. There's no need for Cameron to hedge his green ambitions with worries about the deficit; the green economy is working.

But Cameron’s remarks regarding the environment expose a potentially greater PR misstep. A recent Guardian comment piece suggested that the prime minister’s problem is that he is creating the image of himself as an "arrogant posh boy." Cameron’s green government claim fits this image perfectly: he’s part of, like, the totally greenest government ever, yah?  And, of course, he sees it as "a very simple ambition." Forget the previous government making commitments to uphold Kyoto Protocol targets - Cameron's government is going to best that, and make it look simple. Cameron’s belief in his statement and the public‘s disbelief in the very same statement compound the public‘s feeling that the prime minister is out of touch.

People want a strong and confident leader. No one likes a naive and arrogant young man.

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Future Money

Richard Lemmer | 25.04.12

“Financial markets are like the mirrors of mankind, revealing every hour of every working day the way we value ourselves and the resources of the world around us.”  So said financial expert Niall Ferguson at the end of his book The Ascent of Money. Today, it is safe to bet that George Osborne does not like what he sees in the mirror. As the UK slips into a double dip recession, it seems Osborne’s Age of Austerity to balance the Boom Years of Brown has yet to be proven as an valuable economic model.   Are there any valuable ideas Osborne would be well advised to borrow?

James Robertson, founder of the Other Economic Summit and the New Economic Foundation, thinks there are plenty.  His new book, Future Money, details his ideas for a financial system that 1) allows for more egalitarian distribution, and 2) doesn’t squander the planet’s finite resources. In short, Robertson is proposing a financial system that better reflects the value we place on ourselves, on our global society and on our environment.

Robertson argues in favour of three big ideas. On a local stage, alternative currencies similar to the scrip of 1930s Austria or the modern day bitcoin should be promoted. These special currencies have special properties (their value deflates over time, leading to faster money circulation) that would help local economies, which suffer at the hands of macro-economic policies fostered by big banks.

On the national stage, banks can avoid baroque regulation but will face one stiff policy: a governmental and centralised bank will control how much monetary value can be created and circulated within the financial system. In essense, this means that your credit balance shown by an ATM will be tied to a tangible figure set by a governing body, rather than a free-floating value that is being traded from Australia to Zambia. This will also allow the government to reign in a raging bull market (by stemming the creation of credit) and encourage investment during a cautious bear market.

Finally, on the international stage, the international community should create a parallel currency which allows for the taxation of the use of the global commons. In plain English, it means a UN-like body could tax a company for ruining something that is akin to a global village common - like fish stocks or the atmosphere.

Robertson’s book is a mixture of old and new ideas that are all worthwhile to anyone in involved in the green movement. E.F. Shumacher idea of hierarchy and small is beautiful certainly play a part. He touches on ethics and financial markets, but largely he takes it as given that the reader will agree egalitarianism and environmental protection are good values to foster. If you are an economics whizz who believes a page without a complex equation or an angry looking graph is a tragedy, then you will probably feel under-whelmed. But there is plenty of opportunity for a keen reader to develop these ideas further - to do the maths to prove how well it will work.

The book shows that if our financial markets are the mirrors of mankind, there is plenty of room for them to be moved, repositioned, and polished. Green thinking has an important part to play in this new movement.

Whether it is too late for George Osborne to see a better side of himself, has yet to be seen.  However, it is doubtful that his thinking will ever be Green.

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WWF Earth Hour

Richard Lemmer | 30.03.12

Tomorrow, you may notice a big difference down your street. With a little luck, this difference will occur between 20:30 and 21:30. That’s because it is the fifth annual Earth Hour, a project organised by the WWF that sees lights up and down the country being switched off to save C02 and remind people of the importance of saving energy. All you have to do is flick a switch to take part.

But you can always make a night of it. If you are in London, check out the band Guillemots performing a candle lit gig - unplugged, of course - in the old Victorian warehouse of the Village Underground. Also, take a stroll along the darkened south bank and watch as Waterloo Bridge, London Bridge, the London Eye, St Paul’s and the Shard stop flickering for an hour. If you’re not in the Big Smoke tomorrow, check out the WWF Earth Hour website to see what is happening in your area - there are candle lit acoustic gigs in Wales, darkened castles in Scotland and restaurants up and down the country are hosting sustainable dinner. But if you don’t feel like going out, WWF suggests you jumpy on the dinner party bandwagon and host a candlelit evening with good friends and good food.

Even though the project revolves around one dark hour on a Saturday evening, WWF hopes it will switch people on to the larger changes that are needed. Greenhouse PR spoke to Rachel Bloodworth, senior communications manager, about the need to find an easy and enjoyable way to engage people on the bigger issue of climate change. “The main misunderstanding is that Earth Hour is about saving energy for one hour - it’s so much more than that,” Rachel told us. “Some might feel that an hour is not going to make a difference - which is why we talk so much about going ‘beyond the hour.’ By having a symbolic moment in time to work up to, we are able to give the campaign momentum and attract media attention. We have taken the strategy of a positive topline message so the event feels like something you to be part of, but then we use our website, emails and Facebook to talk more in depth about the issues.”

It is a somewhat risky strategy. Could consumers switch off after Earth Hour? “The event is growing rapidly year on year but it is still relatively new to people in the UK,” Rachel says. “Earth Hour started as a message calling on world leaders for a global deal to tackle climate change. Now it's an ongoing and ever growing community of people across the world who care about the environment and sustainability.”

A cheap and easy way to take part in the green movement? Or a small stunt that enlightens people for a limited amount of time? It seems Earth Hour may need more than hour to prove itself.

Earth Hour - Our World Is Brilliant from WWF-UK on Vimeo.

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Greenhouse Morning News

Greta Jonyniate | 06.02.12

News stories – 6th February 2012

Top news stories

Chris Huhne: most greens 'think he has done well' – The Guardian
What are the key green policies in Ed Davey's in-tray? – The Guardian
Science behind the big freeze: is climate change bringing the Arctic to Europe? – The Independent
Updated: Business minister Ed Davey replaces Huhne as energy secretary – Business Green
MPs slam Treasury’s defence of its green taxes – Business Green

Solar

Solar power incentives lose their shine – The Telegraph
Community energy project has to hand back £60k after Feed-in Tariff cuts – Click Green
Solar panel tariff rethink demands - This is Staffordshire

Wind

‎Clegg to deliver stormy rebuff to Tories who demand wind farm cuts – The Independent
Chris Huhne's successor faces clash as Tories attack wind farms spending – The Guardian
Weatherwatch: Wind turbines may be opposed but windmills are attractions – The Guardian
US offshore wind leasing round to take off this year – Business Green

‎Food

Prince Charles presents proof of profit in sustainable fisheries – The Guardian
Bananas become ripe GM target - FT
Vegetarian diet would slash Britain's carbon footprint – The Independent
Meat trade emissions equal to half of all Britain's cars – The Independent
Race to biggest reusable McDonald’s in the world – The Sunday Times

Interesting news

Electric avenue – The Guardian
How green is your washing powder? – The Ecologist
Is there a future for carbon footprint labelling in the UK? – The Ecologist
Eco friendly jewelry to adorn you in an ethical way – Ecofriend 

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Tom Idle’s top tips for better communications on sustainability

Greta Jonyniate | 10.08.11

We loved Tom Idle’s top tips for better communications on sustainability in Sustainable Business magazine - amazingly simple, clear and compelling. A must read for businesses trying to tackle communications on sustainability issues. It is good to hear from an Editor's perspective and someone who sees first hand the claims and stories from all sorts of businesses across the UK.

Sustainable Business is a must read for anyone trying to tackle the risks and opportunities created by the sustainability agenda. It is always a good read and we can learn alot through the case studies, analyis and comment, examining how others are responding to the enormous challenges of Climate Change. So - thanks Tom - and feel free all who read it to pass it on: There's no art to green communications. It's just good communications.

See below the top tips from Tom Idle on Green Communications:

Be realistic. For every Marks & Spencer and Unilever (e.g. those that have fundamentally shifted their business model thinking and placed sustainability at the heart of what they're doing), there are hundreds of thousands of companies that are merely performing well (e.g. meeting their waste targets), and hundreds of thousands that are merely performing good housekeeping (e.g. keeping their energy as low as possible). The three groups of companies should not be confused with one another.

Be transparent. More and more companies are reluctant to communicate what they are doing for fear of being tripped up for failing to meet targets or not quite achieving what they set out to do. But there's no need to be cautious. Communicating sustainability and ethical and green issues is all about being open and honest. If companies are upfront about their failings, people are more willing to look past that in search of more positive stuff.

Be positive. Five or six years ago, communications around environmental issues was dominated by images of polar bears floating on sheets of melting ice. But fatigue has set in and people can't relate. It's time to be positive. The education piece is over, so it's time to concentrate on the positives - the solutions, the technologies, the standards, the products that are going to get us out of trouble. Leave the education and campaigning and doom and gloom to the activists and get on with promoting yourself as one of those that is going to lead us to a better planet.

Know your audience. There's really no point in promoting your sustainability credentials if the stakeholders you're talking to don't get it, or don't care. It's about what is important to them, making what you have achieved real and bringing it to life.

Don't over-egg it. Companies know that there is money to be made from green PR and more and more put pressure on their marketers and PRs to take advantage of it without really knowing whether their story stacks up. It's easy to fall into the trap of greenwashing for communications sake. Don't fall into it. Consumers are getting more savvy and they won't be taken for fools.

Get your story straight across the company. It's easy to see straight through a PR campaign that is a side, vanity project - as opposed to one that is core to what the business is trying to achieve. Promote what you are doing internally first, before attempting any form of external communication.

None of this is new. Communicating green messages isn't new, so let's not pretend it is. You need to keep things fresh, be creative, innovative and interesting - all the stuff you'd expect from good communications best practice. Because sustainability communications is no different from any form of communications - it's about being creative, honest and appealing. The difference is, if you get it right in this space, there is the added incentive that an emerging market will be hungry for your products.

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Top 10…environmentally friendly travel companies

Matilda Lee | 09.06.11

Next week marks the first ever Green Tourism Week; an initiative launched by the Green Tourism Business Scheme last October. But Green Tourism Week isn’t alone in its drive to promote a greener way to travel. Nominations are currently being gathered for the Responsible Tourism Awards, which will be presented on 9th November - World Responsible Tourism Day. Even the UN’s World Environment Day (5th June) is getting in on the act, with a host of initiatives aimed at boosting environmentally conscious travel scheduled in.

It’s not all awards and world days though. Ethical travel company, Gap Year for Grown Ups, estimates that more than 100,000 of us choose trips that involve volunteering or conservation each year. While it doesn’t compare to the numbers heading off on package trips to Magaluf and Faliraki, it’s a positive start. So what does eco-tourism really mean? The International Eco-tourism Society defines eco-tourism as being ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.’ Although it sounds straightforward, some less scrupulous companies call their activities eco-tourism when in reality, all they offer is a carbon offsetting scheme - even though this has become standard practice for many travel companies. If that’s left you unsure of where to look: read on for the 10 responsible travel companies that are putting Thomas Cook and co to shame.

Click here to continue reading this article from the Ecologist….

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Spring at Greenhouse: A new blog editor

Matilda Lee | 17.05.11

Dear Greenhouse Readers,

I'm pleased to let you know that as of today I'm joining the Greenhouse team as the editor of the blog. I was drawn to Greenhouse PR because of the way it chooses its clients and its positions -- that is, with the utmost care. In helping truly sustainable companies raise their profile, Greenhouse is contributing to the small but powerful transition away from consumerism and towards sustainability. I'm excited to be part of it. By the way, I also work as the Community Affairs Editor at the Ecologist, and am the author of 'Eco Chic: the savvy shopper’s guide to ethical fashion.'

In this blog space, I hope to spark the conversations from which social change emerges. We want to get the right people talking, and to have their voices be heard. The blog is further meant to motivate and encourage those already out there doing great things in sustainability. We see this as a place to reflect, question, comment and engage readers on various issues – from energy policy to advocacy tactics; from urban agriculture to ethical fashion.

On behalf of everyone at Greenhouse, we're looking forward to conversations with you about the issues we all care about.

-- Matilda, editor

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A Climate Week Conundrum

Sally Hill | 24.03.11

The Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco have been accused of green-washing over their sponsorship of the approaching Climate Week initiative. In many green and ethical circles these brands were difficult to like in the first place, but this is making them even harder to stomach.

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The Power of Communication

Anna Guyer | 24.01.11

Guest post by Gemma Bridgman

Photo credit: www.flickr.com/piblet

C4’s autumn documentary ‘Where the Green Movement went wrong’ is a striking example of the power of communication. It was particularly thought provoking as to the role of communication in relation to the ‘Green Movement.’

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