Readers of graphic arts trade journals know Don Carli as an astute commentator on marketing and technology trends. These days, he's most visible as the senior research fellow for the Institute for Sustainable Communication, (ISC) a not-for-profit group that promotes environmentally responsible practices for the printing, publishing, and packaging industries. A few weeks ago, Carli brought his message of sustainability to the Advertising Production Club of New York in a program covered in an audio report by Advertising Age. Also downloadable as a podcast, the report neatly encapsulates an issue that's worthy of all of the attention that Carli is out to win for it.
In a presentation called "Marketing's Inconvenient Truth: How Carbon Footprints Stalk the Industry," he tells the ad club that "the overriding issue for the advertising industry is carbon emissions." Creating and producing print ads, Carli argues, leaves a trail of measurable environmental impacts that are now "being put on the scoreboard" by clients and others concerned about the damage that insensitivity to carbon emissions could do to their reputations. According to Carli, instantly communicated "brand disaster" is the price to be paid for failing to take environmental accountability seriously.
But what he says is the advertising industry's typical response"”crafting "save-the-bunny" public service announcements"”is no longer sufficient proof of good faith. According to Carli, buyers and producers of print ads have to face the fact that their press runs introduce carbon into the environment in quantities far greater than most of them can imagine.
At the request of one advertiser, the ISC calculated that the production of 161 ad pages running in 25 publications pumped a staggering 451 metric tons of greenhouse CO2 into an already overburdened atmosphere. According to Carli, only one of the magazines, Time, had made a reckoning of the carbon-generating effect of its print manufacturing: 2.9 pounds of CO2 per copy. Multiply that output by the hundreds of millions of copies comprised by all magazines, and the dimensions of Carli's "inconvenient truth" become alarmingly clear.
Remedies are available: Carli says the advertiser mentioned above could have offset all of that carbon production by spending $2,500 on a solution devised by the ISC and Carbonfund.org, another not-for-profit. He advises the ad club that with the right policies and practices, "the industry could eliminate at least 10 million tons of CO2 emissions within 10 years. We could become a net producer of carbon offsets. We could become carbon-negative."
Carli doesn't let non-print media off the hook. Computers and broadcast apparatus run on vast amounts of generated electricity, and "the electrons aren't free." It's up to responsible practitioners in every medium to insist that all sources of energy consumption be identified and that steps be taken to reduce or neutralize the consequences.
Carli's message is compelling, and the priorities of groups like the ISC are urgent. In the printing industry, "environmental awareness" usually exists only in the context of what must be done to avoid inspections and fines. Sustainability turns the spotlight on what ought to be done to deliver the rewards and benefits that environmentally responsible print manufacturing can bring. Who's listening?
Discussion
By Lloyd Carr on Mar 31, 2007
Thank you for emphasizing the importance of this topic. I am hopeful that we will not only see these issues become more institutionalized in the graphic communications industry but become part of the curriculae in our schools. I believe that an educated workforce may be better prepared to help with sustainable communications. Designers and producers can help create even more effective and efficient advertising that should include the sustainable indexes which Don Carli illustrated inhis presentation at the New York Advertising Production Club, documented by Advertising Age, and commented in an excellent manner by Patrick Henry in this blog.
By Dr Joe Webb on Mar 31, 2007
There is no doubt that carbon footprint calculations and other efforts are compelling to consumers and businesses who can then position themselves as being good citizens and corporately responsible. The science behind it, however, is still a matter of great conjecture and research. There is a discussion of carbon footprint calculation at a http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/carbon.html" rel="nofollow">science site. A recent UK video provides some interesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XttV2C6B8pU" rel="nofollow">ideas. Nonetheless, "environmental printing" has been an extraordinarily successful marketing niche and I highly recommend that all printers look hard at marketing the "green" aspects of their businesses because it can be a significant factor in vendor selection. Even if printers can't use it as a primary marketing strategy, any printer who cannot answer various environmental questions or offer characteristics about their operations will appear to be insensitive and out of touch. These issues are very important to designers and agencies who work for Fortune 2000 companies who have initiatives in these areas and are under intense scrutiny for them. When printers complain that "all buyers want is price," this is a case where this is a clear example that such thinking is not the case. Whether the science is good or bad, this is something the market, and laws, will demand for some time to come, and printers ignore it to their detriment.
By Patrick Berger on Apr 02, 2007
Fact or Fiction: Green Printing According to Mercer Color By Pat Berger In recent years, there’s been quite a bit of hype about green printing and with that hype comes many questions. What exactly is green printing? Could it be done at my printing facility? Does planting trees, using wind and alternative power sources, recycled paper and product labels with butterflies qualify us as a green printer? Doesn’t FSC and ISO certification mean we’re a green printing facility? While most of these are good environmental practices that contribute to an overall encompassing green program, they do not have any effect on the actual printing process. Here at Mercer Color we define green printing as a manufacturing process using renewable products and procedures that eliminate HAPS (Hazardous Air Pollutants), 313’s (Federal SARA List of community right to know substances), California proposition 65 chemicals (chemicals known to produce reproductive harm or carcinogens), and greatly reduce VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) (as defined by test method 24). At our present rate it will take us at least 30 years to get to 2000 pounds of VOC emissions. Thank you Pat Berger Mercer Color Corporation 419-678-8273 http://www.Mercercolor.com
By Don Carli on Apr 03, 2007
Dear Pat: Thank you for your comment, and congratulations to Mercer Color for taking steps to address some of the environmental impacts associated with its manufacturing processes. Business, government, and society at large depend on print to a far greater degree than most realize, and the graphic arts faces a "crisis of opportunity" in defining exactly what "green printing" is. Certainly it requires more than complying with the law, eliminating VOCs, planting trees, using wind and alternative power sources,using recycled paper or product labels with butterflies. While eliminating VOC emissions from manufacturing processes is a positive step, there are many other material "beyond compliance" environmental and social aspects of print supply chain practices that need to be identified, quantified, managed and improved if print is to be objectively defined as truly "green" or sustainable. Non-renewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, unsustainable materials sourcing and waste recovery, local sourcing practices as well as supply chain and workforce diversity are just a few of them. There has never been a greater need for advertisers, publishers and printers to show leadership in addressing climate change and adopting sustainable supply chain practices. The effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions are becoming increasingly visible. Heat waves, periods of extreme drought, catastrophic flooding and intensifying storms are just some of the weather phenomena that repeatedly remind us how our climate is changing. ISC's mission includes raising awareness of the need for transformation of print media supply chains and operational practices to ensure the economic, environmental and social sustainability of print media. To do so we encourage advertisers, publishers, members of their supply chains and their stakeholders to work together to grow the industry's resilience and capacity to meet the growing need human communication and packaging in a sustainable manner. Toward that end we are working with visionary brand leaders like the designer John Hardy (www.johnhardy.com) to address the climate change and sustainability impacts of advertising, publishing and printing supply chain practices. We also work with industry association like the Gravure Association of America to define new opportunities for print to address the sustainable generation of power and light as well as intelligent packaging through sustainable printed electronics. The ISC Sustainable Advertising Partnership envisions a world where all advertisers and their supply chain partners... • Publish sustainability policies that define goals, objectives, measures and accountability; • Identify, quantify, manage and continuously improve the environmental aspects and impacts of their supply chain practices; • Offset and ultimately reduce the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by advertising supply chain lifecycles; • Encourage manufacturers to publish voluntary standards-based lifecycle data for all paper, ink, coatings, other materials and energy inputs to advertising supply chains. • Engage in dialogue and collaborate with their stakeholders to eliminate the need for carbon offsets and to encourage the creation and funding of energy conservation and carbon sequestration projects specific to advertising supply chains; • Design and implement sourcing, production, distribution and resource recovery processes that are carbon negative and consistent with the sustainability. The immediate goal of the ISC Sustainable Advertising Partnership is to provide its members with a portfolio of resources and services tailored to address the challenges of sustainability and to quantify, offset and reduce at least 10 million of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from print media supply chain lifecycles within ten years. Long term, the goals of the ISC Sustainable Advertising Partnership are to foster systemic change eliminating the need for carbon offsets in advertising supply chains and to create systemic economic, environmental and social benefit in and through advertising in magazines, newspapers, free-standing inserts, point-of-purchase, catalogs and other advertising supported media. ISC looks forward to hearing from Mercer Color and other companies who would like to work with us to ensure that print meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Sincerely Don Carli For more information about how your brand can participate be part of the solution, please contact: Donald Carli Senior Research Fellow The Institute for Sustainable Communication, (a 501c3 corporation) 212-922-9899 [email protected]
By drjoewebb on May 21, 2007
The National Post (one of Canada's major newspapers) has an excellent series on global warming that I recommend to all.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=22003a0d-37cc-4399-8bcc-39cd20bed2f6&k=0