September 29, 2008
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Kermit the frog used to sing a song on Sesame Street that began, “It’s not easy being green!” While he was lamenting his color and worrying about his own identity, American consumers might be singing the same song in their reluctance to buy ecologically friendly products.
In the “Cultivating the Green Consumer” in the fall 2008 publication of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (HTTP://WWW.SSIREVIEW.ORG/ARTICLES/ENTRY/1030/), Sheila Bonini and Jeremy Oppenheim discuss the difficulty in getting individual consumers to “walk their talk” about their concerns for the environment. Their statistics show that 87 percent of consumers surveyed are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy, but much fewer consumers actually follow through.
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September 25, 2008
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The September 15, 2008 edition of NEWSWEEK magazine had a section of several articles under the heading “Project Green.” These articles showcased green architecture, green schools and a green curriculum. Caitlin McDevitt wrote one of the articles highlighting the Columbia Missouri school district and its “walking school bus” program. She made the point that with the rising costs of diesel fuel (up 34 percent in the past two years), this school district cut their transportation costs by redrawing its bus routes and eliminating some buses. With adults supervising groups of students who used to ride the bus, they now walk a half-mile to and from school each day.
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September 21, 2008
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I remember going to Disney World when I was young and playing in tree houses that were supposed to be like those from Swiss Family Robinson. It was so fun pretending to live in trees and use items from nature to help us “survive” in the wilderness. Our imaginations went wild! Someday we might actually be able to live in part of that fantasy.
September 14, 2008
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Jobs in American society have long been referred to as either white collar (“mental” work usually in offices) or blue collar (hands-on work usually in factories or fields). However, now it seems we are on the brink of the exploding need for “green collar” jobs. Tim Hemsath, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, wrote an opinion piece for the “Midlands Voices” section of the Omaha World-Herald on Sept. 10, 2008, emphasizing the growing need for “green education” for those who will be needed to fill future “green jobs.”
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September 5, 2008
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In hopes of winning over consumers who are tired of rising gas prices, a number of companies are advertising their “going green” philosophy. CITGO, a petroleum company formally known as Cities Service, kept the first syllable of their previous name and ended it with “GO” to “imply power, energy and progressiveness” (www.citgo.com).
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September 1, 2008
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One of the many Smart cars people drove around Berlin, Germany.
Spending a few weeks last summer in Germany for an International Media and Advertising class opened my eyes to a new way of life. Europeans drove Smart cars to conserve energy and fuel. It was nearly impossible to find plastic bottles of soda because glass bottles could be recycled and reused. Most public trash cans had three compartments holding glass, paper, or plastic waste. “Going green” was fascinating, and I soon wanted to do my part to help. Read the rest of this entry »
