Green Options » digital

Can Print Marketing Be “Green”?

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:56:57 +0000

First off, I want to say that, as someone who has been an analyst in the commercial printing industry for fifteen years, I’m thrilled to be part of The Inspired Economist. For years, printing has been seen as part of the problem, so the ability to get in on the ground floor of a blog on environmental sustainability and talk about how printing can become part of the “greening” of corporate culture is quite a thrill.

Using print—a medium that contributes to solid waste and may appear to be part of the problem—to “green” a company’s document management and marketing culture seems nonintuitive. It is perhaps for this very reason that I hope readers will find my posts enjoyable.

There are two points that I want to open with.

First, in marketing, electronic alternatives are often framed as the green alternative to print because they don’t require paper, ink, packaging, and physical transportation. However, there is a lot more to one’s environmental footprint than this. Take, for example, one’s carbon footprint. On this issue, electronic alternatives with their massive, 24-hour energy drain start to look less appealing.

TV’s Go Digital, but Where Do Old TV’s Go?

Courtney Carlisle — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:50:55 +0000

On February 17, 2009 television stations will go digital, meaning that analog TV’s will not longer receive a signal, leaving millions of analog TV owners with a dark and useless TV set. As technology is rapidly advances, we are constantly ‘trading up’ to get a faster connection and sharper image - whether its a cell phone, MP3 player or television.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a comprehensive way to deal with E-waste. In fact, when the stations go ‘lights out’ on analog sets next year, there isn’t an e-waste program to handle the discarded TV’s. Currently, only Sony electronics has offered to take back and recycle old Sony sets. If old sets aren’t properly disposed of, we face cadmium, lead, beryllium seeping into the soil and contaminating our water supply.

According to the Take Back My TV campaign this is the largest government mandated obsolescence program in US history. The Sony announced their recycling campaign earlier this year in a release that noted the amount of e-waste is on the rise and the issue is becoming increasingly crucial as the FCC-mandated switch to all digital TV signals in February 2009 nears. The Consumer Electronics Association expects at least 30 million digital televisions to be sold in the U.S. this year alone.

Photo credit: Sony

Related Posts on E-Waste and Recycling Electronics:

Towards a Paperless Office

Megan Prusynski — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:33:21 +0000

The paperless office idea emerged along with the personal computer, its premise being that someday in the future, we will no longer need to use paper because everything will be in a digital format. While the truly paperless office may still be a myth and a seemingly impossible goal, it is still something we can move towards in our business operations. Paper and paperboard products constitute the largest portion of our waste stream, so reducing our paper use and recycling paper materials has a lot of potential to reduce the waste flowing into landfills and save trees at the same time.

While planning my business, I have been trying to find a few ways I can be a nearly paperless operation. I already send digital PDF files for invoices, agreements, and proofs rather than sending my clients paper documents. I use digital signatures for contracts, communicate via e-mail or phone, and avoid printing anything that I don’t absolutely need to. Still, my office is hardly paperless and there’s a lot more I plan to do as I formalize my practices and launch my business. Below are some suggestions for going paperless.

Cool Tech of the Week: Cordless 3D Sensor

Michelle Bennett — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:22:12 +0000

It looks like a child’s toy from the 70s, but this new high-tech camera can record more than a simple Polaroid. It can create a 3D image of almost anything, and you can take it almost anywhere.

Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany, the Kolibri CORDLESS is the size of a shoe box and it weighs a little over 2 lbs. No cables required, you just point and click. Several seconds later a detailed 3D image will appear on a laptop. From there you can analyze and use the digital model.

Learn about Biomimicry: At the 15th Digital Be-In

Sara Holt — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 12:46:27 +0000

“Turn on, Tune-in, drop out.” The words that defined a generation were uttered by Timothy Leary at the first Human Be-in 40 years ago in Golden Gate Park.

Initially planned to address the eminent issues of the decade, the original Be-In has evolved into an art/music/digital cyberculture exploration that now focuses on the latest in the GREEN movement. The 2007 theme of Biomimicry is designed to be “a launching pad for sustainability initiatives that matter.”

Happening “on Earth Day Weekend in San Francisco,” the program will include a Biomimicry Symposium, a Green Techné Exhibition, Live Performances, and DJs with Interactive Installations. All of this will be centered around the theme of Biomimicry, defined by the Biomimicry Institute as:

From bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate, a new science that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems.

An example of this happens when an eco paint-designer wanting to make water-repellent paint studies a lotus flower to copy its water-repelling qualities.

Sponsored by Cyberset Music and Media with Green Century Institute and Urban Alliance for Sustainability, this year’s Digital Be-In will be held at the Mezzanine in San Francisco on April 21st. Events start at 7 and music starts at 9. For more information, see http://www.be-in.com/