And, as a semi-official blogger and Sustainable Brands alumni, I have been granted special dispensation to offer a 20% discount code to any of my legions of loyal followers. So if you want the ultimate green brand networking experience, let me know. It’s going to be an amazing week.

Here is the link to the official program so far. Speakers include representatives from:

• National Geographic
• Lush
• Ford
• Intel
• BASF
• World Wildlife Fund
• Safeway
• Patagonia
• Interface Floors
• Earth911
• Molson/Coors
• 1% for the Planet
• North Face
• REI
• Neutrogena
• Unilever
• 3M
• Volcom
• WalMart

Just as a reminder, here’s the Green Briefs Unofficial Road Trip Video from Sustainable Brands 2011.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

SFX: Dripping cave combined with factory noises and sounds of human torment. A phone rings.
Annoying Switchboard Operator: “Hell Fuels, how may I direct your call? Oil spills? Certainly. One moment. (click)
Good morning, Hell Fuels. Strip Mining Department? Would you like Coal or Tar Sands? One moment. (click)
Hell Fuels, how may I direct your call? Missing Species Department? I’m sorry, their line is still busy. Please Hold. (click)
Good morning, Hell Fuels. The Global Political Instability Department? One moment please. (click)
Hell Fuels, how may I direct your call? Global Warming Department? I’m sorry, that doesn’t exist. Yes, I know the liberal media is full of lots of cute stories, but I can assure you… You want to talk to my supervisor? The President of Hell Fuels? The Lord of Darkness? Why sir, who did you think you were speaking with? (voice changes to deep bellowing evil laugh, then back to annoying switchboard operator) Buh bye now. Good morning, Hell Fuels….”
Announcer: “There’s got to be a better way. Fuels from Heaven – wind, tidal, solar.”
SFX: Angelic music
Announcer: Let’s put our energy investment above the ground.

Okay, so it’s a 67-second radio spot with no client. But it’s a powerful metaphor that not only clearly points out the differences in fuel technology, it also has implications for our individual behaviour.
Every time you make an energy choice, who’s side are you on?

Well, Sustainable Brands 08 is over, and it was a great conference, (Click here for a list of sessions covered by Green Briefs), but as I digested all of the learning, I noticed a green marketing communication tactic that may be a ticking bomb. I call it ‘The Congreentulatory Statistic’. It goes like this.

In an example of logistical brilliance, UPS discovered that by eliminating left-hand turns from their route planning, they were able to save a significant amount of fuel. The statistic presented, as of 12/2007, was actually 3 Million gallons.

DOW Chemical, not to be outdone, claims they have reduced their solid waste production by 1.6 Billion pounds – enough to fill 415 athletic fields one meter deep!

Wow! Isn’t that GREAT! Millions of gallons of petrochemicals unburned! Hundreds of football-fields devoid of DOW’s discharge, whatever that may consist of. Back slapping all around, team! I feel positively green and fuzzy all over!!

But then a traitorous part of my mind goes to work. If UPS burns 3 million gallons of fuel just sitting in left turn bays, just how much of the stuff do their trucks cook through screaming through sidestreets? And how many athletic fields are filled one meter deep by DOW’s tasty solid waste every year? These must be staggering figures. Suddenly, for me, these hardworking corporate citizens have lost their green luster.

OK, I may be a bit greenier and possibly more cynical than the target market for the average Congreentulatory Statistic. For now. But it won’t be long before more and more people are doing the math on the other side of those equations.

So think about how you communicate your sustainability milestones. Be humble. Let people know you are always trying to do better. And remember: Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three rights do make a left. Just ask any UPS driver.

On my return Amtrak trip from Sustainable Brands 08 in Monterey, I elected to sample life in the sleeper car, with my own little booth and bed: car 1432, room 11. This was a significant up-charge, ($257) although that price includes all meals (worth about $50) and if traveling with another person (or two…?!)  that cost could be shared. The room contains two facing seats, which make into a bed, with a drop-down bunk above. There is AC power, reading lights, climate control, curtains and a door. In these rooms it is completely permissible to bring your own liquor, and a shower is also available further down the car. The staff is friendly and accommodating (as they were in coach) and you have the advantage of exclusive access to the parlour car. This is definitely the way to travel, with the only downside (upside?) being you don’t get the chance to meet as many people. I plug in my laptop and catch up on some work, as the sun sets on Northern California. Folding down the upper bunk I catch a solid 8 hours for the first time this week. Better do some invoicing.

The last in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.

Walking through the idyllic seaside burg of Capitola, California, my green sensibilities were assaulted by the flashing colours, gleaming steel, and deafening V-8 roar of the Capitola Hot Rod Show. These were muscle cars in their element, under a California sun, each the offspring of countless hours of hard work, mechanical ingenuity and late-night garage-creativity.

A nervous tic began behind my right eye, as my own high-octane engine-tweaking past struggled to the surface of my consciousness, and for a few hours all thoughts of carbon footprint were roughly shouldered aside by sparkling iron and blue-sky chrome. There is a visceral excitement and respect for the throaty sound of one of these finely-tuned eco-disasters that goes back to the proto-hominid who first witnessed the roar of a caged predator cat. The sheer mechanical overkill embodied in a chrome blower sticking out of a car that was designed before carbon was a crime is something to behold.

So do show cars have a place in a carbon-conscious world?
I would propose that they do. In fact, they may represent the very future of single-passenger automobiles, as over-powered, impractical, beautiful anachronisms. Carbon-spewing sculptures that remind us of the frightening roar and metallic tang of our own weakness for raw power and stark beauty. 

One in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.

Let the Sustainable Road Trip continue… at 57.2 mpg.
The first thing I had to do was consult the owners manual for starting instructions. (Hold brake, insert square plastic ‘key’ and press power button) From there it was a bit like driving an electric golf cart with a gas motor that would randomly fire up. As soon as I figured out the big central touch screen, (which features a selectable readout of everything from climate control to climate-saving mileage) I was hooked on exacting as much economy as I could out of this sleek future-mobile. Numerous pick-up trucks and BMW’s cursed me as I drifted along at 55mph, one eye glued to the mileage readout. I averaged 57.2 miles-per-US-gallon over an 82-mile, mostly highway trip.

SUV’s for sale cheap.
In Capitola, one of my associates told me that dealerships were only offering $2500 – $3000 for gas-guzzling SUV’s on trade-in. A harsh wake-up for those who paid $30 – $40K and still owe $15,000.

Hummmmmm……….

One in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.

Carmel Sustainable Restaurant Review: Grasings Coastal Cuisine. Chef/Proprietor Kurt Grasing. Although it doesn’t bill itself as an ‘organic’ restaurant, the menu does boast that they support local and organic farmers wherever possible. My waiter Cody also told me they serve only sustainable seafood, and that the catch of the day (Mahi-Mahi) was a farmed fish. Not having heard of a mahi-mahi farm, I asked him to find out where they were raised. A few minutes later, he told me it was a Hawaiian fish. Not sure about that one.

But, served on a bed of thick-cut heirloom tomatoes, couscous, feta and olives, it was delicious. I complemented it with a glass of local central coast wine, the Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir. Appropriate given the hill I had to climb going back from Carmel to Monterey.

One in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.

1. Coffee with all the right adjectives. It was nice to see a departure from the ubiquitous generic hotel swill. This selection by Thanksgiving Coffee had a nice rich flavour, and didn’t leave me with crack-jitters by the afternoon.

2. Innovative disposable dinnerware by Verterra. Pressed leaf plates and starch-based cutlery made an impression. Not to mention they styling look that will go well with your wood-paneled rumpus room.

3. The Usual Generic Hotel Buns. This could have been the most organic, free-range, vegan-victorious pastry in town. But even if it was, you’d never know it. It tasted like pure, high-fructose corn syrup sweetened lard lovin’ to me. Not that I’d know.

4. Individually-Wrapped Multinational Salt Chips. I guess there may have been some arteries going into withdrawal from their usual sodium fix. Maybe one day they’ll figure out how to make an edible starch bag. Then we could just eat them like meds. But seriously, guys. There must be a cracked-sea-salt-organic-spud-farmer version of chips to be had.

5. Free-Range Bike Racks. I didn’t see a real one while I was here. Fortunately, the Hyatt staff seemed content to let me lock up wherever. I live for the day I can pull up to the valet, toss him my helmet and stroll into the lobby, reeking of international intrigue.

6. Complimentary Post-Consumer Waste. I guess a free newspaper is a traditional hotel thing. But when they start to stack up, it just looks like blue-box fill waiting to happen.

7. My New Wind-Powered Phone. A company called CHOICEgadget had these peel-and-stick business cards that purported to provide a year of free carbon offsets for the manufacturing and use of a typical cel-phone. Funny, my battery doesn’t seem to last any longer…
 

8. Great Green SWAG from ECOimprints. Hemp, organic cotton, biodegradable pens, and a trade-show booth that ECO imprints Partner John Borg made himself from reclaimed materials. Share the love.

9. Lighting lightly on the earth. Pulse Staging and Events provided LED lighting systems for SB08 that looked great (subtle colour-changing towers provided soothing entertainment for the patient psychadelic tripper) and use 20% of the energy of traditional lighting systems. They also run cool, which can save even more on A/C energy. President Michael Karp says they also make sure their electronic equipment is as carefully sourced, and complies with ROHS guidelines wherever possible.

10. Having a conference at all. Wouldn’t it be better just to get together over webcams? Or hold local conferences wired together with big real-time videoconferencing video walls? Or plug ourselves in like The Matrix and meet in a freaky virtual world filled with chaos and mayhem? Perhaps. But there is something innately inspiring about sharing a room with over 500 other intelligent, committed, focused professionals who share a goal to make the world greener. I know I will return to my zone much more energized and prepared to take on the forces of inertia. Until next conference, Dear Readers, stay tuned for a day of Sustainable biking in Monterey, and a return  Amtrak Trek which will likely sport some sort of adventure.

One in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.