The old saying, "birds of a feather..." applies to business groups as well as personal groups. In this month's Print magazine (besides some great articles on  topography), I found a little piece called "Greens-Keeper" that referred to the Designers Accord. And for direct marketing firms, if you haven't checked out the Green Marketing Coalition, there's more below.
The Designers Accord, a group with more than 22,000 members, is a global coalition of designers, educators, researchers, engineers, and corporate leaders, working together to create positive environmental and social impact. Design firms who want to be members are asked to do these things:
  • Initiate a dialogue about environmental impact and sustainable alternatives with each and every client.
  • Rework client contracts to favor environmentally responsible design and work processes.
  • Provide strategic and material alternatives for sustainable design.
  • Undertake a program to educate your teams about sustainability and sustainable design.
  • Measure the carbon/greenhouse gas footprint of your firm (includes operations and client engagements), and pledge to reduce your footprint annually.
  • Advance the understanding of environmental issues from a design perspective by contributing actively to the communal knowledge base for sustainable design.
To learn more about the Designers Accord, go here>> The Green Marketing Coalition - launched in my backyard (Seattle) - offers these recommended guidelines:
  • Marketers from any size company can incorporate green marketing into their existing marketing campaigns or initiatives.
  • Green marketing doesn't have to be cost prohibitive. By phasing in green marketing initiatives, companies can reduce their carbon footprint.
  • Companies can reduce their carbon footprint just by purchasing recycled paper.
  • Companies can have a positive environmental impact by choosing vendors and partners who also have internal environmental initiatives.
  • In addition to looking for production vendors who are committed to recycling, marketers should use UV printing presses and comply with hazardous waste disposal standards.
  • Just by improving list hygiene and data management, companies can target better and drastically cut down on advertising waste.
  • Proofing and editing materials using Adobe PDF files rather than hard copies cut back on wasted paper, printing ink and electricity.
  • Marketing materials created on chlorine-free recycled paper cut down on the environmental impact.
  • Companies can benefit from the tax savings associated with going green. (Cool!)
To learn more about the Green Marketing Coalition, go here>> Whether you join either of these groups or not, they both have some valuable resources on their websites.