For Earth Week WhatTheyThink.com rolled out the green carpet! News announcements, special research and reports, videos, and webinars all carried a green theme and a new special interest section - Going Green – was launched.

Readers of WhatTheyThink’s Going Green – Environment and Sustainability section will find a wide range of articles and resources to assist them as they move ahead with strategies to become more environmentally friendly, to run more sustainable businesses, and to add products and services that will support their customers’ “green strategies.”

Articles and Commentary
Central to the section is a series of articles and commentary looking at how our industry and other industries are implementing programs and initiatives that increase recycling, improve energy efficiency, and eliminate waste and more.

Just a few of the topics on the site this week are:

  • Was the New York Times Magazine “Green Issue” one green issue too many? Advertisers loved it, the “eco-conscious” were likely to cringe.
  • How the green initiatives Macy’s and Wal-Mart have launched can provide an opportunity for their print service providers to open a dialog to market “green printing” services.
  • “Home-grown” programs to educate and motivate customers developed by Delta Printing Solutions, Valencia CA, a printer, and Phoenix Media Direct, Coquitlam, BC, a paper merchant. These “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” programs are intended to slow down the waste that ends up in landfills.
  • One of the original environmental certifications launched in 1997. The Printing Industries of Minnesota has offered the Great Printer Environmental Initiative for more than a decade.
  • An examination of HP’s 2007 Global Citizenship Report revealed that the company is on track to move 80% of its general office printing and copying to double-sided printing by the end of 2008, which is expected to save 726 tonnes (a tonne is 1000 kilogramss) of paper a year. And that’s just one of the initiatives.

Resources
Readers will find a special selection of resources including an Events list of upcoming “green” events, both inside the printing industry and across other industries.

Events outside the printing industry have been chosen for areas of “convergence.” For example, the upcoming Greener by Design 08 symposium announced a wide range of speakers including Patricia Calkins, VP Sustainability, Xerox; Jean Sweeney, VP Environmental, Health and Safety, 3M; and Anne Johnson, Director, Sustainable Packaging Coalition.

An ever-changing list of links to Useful Websites, provides links to a wide range of organizations providing education and support, and will be very helpful for companies looking at certifications or other environmental programs.

Under the heading of Resources one can find an offering of Reports, Papers, and Studies; some are free to be downloaded, some have a price tag attached. These documents also come from a wide net of sources, such as WhatTheyThink’s own staff, other research organizations, vendors, and subscribers.

Don’t miss the Reading List! There readers will find books of interest – and short “reviews” – chosen to support, educate, and challenge.