The global financial meltdown has hit the green movement hard, right here in our back yard. Everything that goes into your blue box for recycling is sold to mills, usually offshore, who process it and sell it to the factories that make the cheap consumer goods we love. This works well when commodity prices and [...]

[Read more →]

I have to come clean, dear Green Briefs Readers. There is someone else – that I write for, that is. SustainableMinds.com is a Massachusetts company that integrates product design, life cycle assessment and environmental systems design into a web-based software and information suite that answers the questions: “What is sustainable design?” and “How can we [...]

[Read more →]

I was down at the Cenotaph today, at Victory Square in downtown Vancouver, explaining to the 8-year old on my shoulders why we were watching at a sea of umbrellas in the cold November rain. As my mind grappled with imagining the sheer horror of the individuals involved in the dirty, brutish life of armed [...]

[Read more →]

Well it’s all over but the handoff. A planet collectively sighs with relief, and can now laugh a little less nervously at SNL’s Sarah Palin skits.
But with the economy disassembling itself, the environment has not been the stuff of big speeches in this election. So how will Obama’s ‘Change’ manifest itself for the green movement?
I [...]

[Read more →]

SNCF, France’s national railway, and their parking subsidiary, Effia, have announced a great new deal for electric car drivers. When they park to take the train, they can plug in and recharge for free.
This represents a level of cross-platform eco marketing we haven’t yet seen in North America, stuck as we are with Transport Canada [...]

[Read more →]

Green marketing isn’t just about products and services. People working to further the cause of sustainability become their own brands, and need to communicate their values, objectives and personality as effectively as any bricks and mortar company. Earlier this year, I was introduced to Adriane Carr, former leader of the Green Party of BC, and [...]

[Read more →]

June 25, 2008, Canada’s Federal Government announced new regulations for the labeling of goods making environmental or sustainability claims. As many products and companies are stampeding to the Green Frontier with nothing more eco-friendly than their slogans, we at Green Briefs took a closer look at the 63-page PDF document entitled ‘Environmental claims: A guide [...]

[Read more →]

Paul Polak, Founder, D-REV
In 2005, The luxury goods market was worth $455 billion.
$7 billion was spent on haircare products alone.
Corporations spent $140 Billion on advertising in the US alone.
Yet, median household net worth rose only 2% in 2 years. Ours is the very pinnacle of expenditure and wealth, yet this is a saturated and mature [...]

[Read more →]

Jeffrey Hollander, President 7th Generation
For me, this presentation was one of this show’s most powerful, yet I will have a challenge communicating it to you, Dear Readers, second-hand. If you’re not familiar with the Seventh Generation line of cleaning and household products, it is a paragon of environmental business. Three years ago their growth was [...]

[Read more →]

Julie Fasone Holder, Senior VP, Chief Marketing, Sales and Reputation Officer
The Dow Chemical Company
Fasone Holder was here, primarily to introduce the Human Elements Campaign recently launched by DOW. This is an ad creative guy’s wet dream. A concept so clear and compelling, so extendable and logical, yet emotional that it’s a wonder nobody thought of [...]

[Read more →]