GreenYes Digest V97 #188

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GreenYes Digest Tue, 5 Aug 97 Volume 97 : Issue 188

Today's Topics:
GreenYes Digest V97 #187 (2 msgs)
Marketing/Environmental Issues
What's New? Nothing. Zero.

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Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 11:45:05 -0500
From: RecycleWorlds <anderson@msn.fullfeed.com>
Subject: GreenYes Digest V97 #187

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On August 4th, Rick Anthony responded to Roger Guttentag's query in this =
exchange:

"ROGER GUTTENTAG ASKED:

<< "Is robust economic growth and declining resource utilization a =
compatible
set of goals that are achievable?" I think all the list members will =
say
"of course!" Then what are the right arguments to use for convincing =
the
non-believers? =20
>>

RICK ANTHONY REPLIES:

Zero waste systems work and are efficient;=20
Jobs and revenue will be created from the discards;=20
End subsidies for waste and the free market system will work!

Organize Zero Waste Committees in every community! =20
Take the pledge!

PETER ANDERSON REACTS TO THE REPLY:

When Crest's advertising agency is trying to convince Colgate users to =
switch to Crest, they don't lead with the naked statement "Crest is =
better" or, for that matter with a documented claim, "Crest has 16.2% =
more fluoride", rather they show a guy snaring a sexy gal with his =
pearly whites.

If we're going to convince the unconverted, it's going to take finding =
ways to reach people which the political process recognizes with a =
message that wrenches their gut. An illustrative example might be =
highlighting landfills in suburban areas that are leaking and =
contaminating drinking water of little middle class kids.

After we rationally develop wise policies, we then need to switch gears =
and think like sharp advertising agencies not true believers.
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Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 11:45:05 -0500
From: RecycleWorlds <anderson@msn.fullfeed.com>
Subject: GreenYes Digest V97 #187

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On August 4th, Rick Anthony responded to Roger Guttentag's query in this =
exchange:

"ROGER GUTTENTAG ASKED:

RICK ANTHONY REPLIES:

Zero waste systems work and are efficient;=20
Jobs and revenue will be created from the discards;=20
End subsidies for waste and the free market system will work!

Organize Zero Waste Committees in every community! =20
Take the pledge!

PETER ANDERSON REACTS TO THE REPLY:

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 23:46:26, -0500
From: david_reynolds@prodigy.com ( DAVID B REYNOLDS)
Subject: Marketing/Environmental Issues

RecycleWorlds wrote:
>
> "ROGER GUTTENTAG ASKED:
>
> << "Is robust economic growth and declining resource utilization a
compatible
> set of goals that are achievable?" I think all the list members
will say
> "of course!" Then what are the right arguments to use for
convincing the
> non-believers?
> >>
>
> RICK ANTHONY REPLIES:
>
> Zero waste systems work and are efficient;
> Jobs and revenue will be created from the discards;
> End subsidies for waste and the free market system will work!
>
> Organize Zero Waste Committees in every community!
> Take the pledge!
>
> PETER ANDERSON REACTS TO THE REPLY:
>
> When Crest's advertising agency is trying to convince Colgate users
to switch to Crest, they don't lead with the naked statement "Crest
is better" or, for that matter with a documented claim, "Crest has 16.
2% more fluoride", rather they show a guy snaring a sexy gal with his
pearly whites.
>
> If we're going to convince the unconverted, it's going to take
finding ways to reach people which the political process recognizes
with a message that wrenches their gut. An illustrative example
might be highlighting landfills in suburban areas that are leaking
and contaminating drinking water of little middle class kids.
>
> After we rationally develop wise policies, we then need to switch
gears and think like sharp advertising agencies not true believers.

------------------------------------------
Sex appeal may work for Crest, but in the environmental arena, an
emotional appeal (i.e., "a message that wrenches their gut") has led
to
backlash on many occasions. My recent experience has revealed that
people are more responsive to fundamental environmental realities
than
scare tactics (whether the scare tactics are backed up with facts or
not). Scare tactics tend to underestimate the general public's
capability for rational thought, and can lead to the following
unintended results: (1) Alienation due to a condescending premise,
and
(2) Mistrust of the message bearer.

The illustrative example submitted by Peter Anderson represents an
effective message if there is a specific example and the problem
process
is revealed. However, if this is made too general, backlash can
occur
(whether or not we ourselves have a good feel for the extent of the
problem). Lately, I have been communicating the importance of "less
stuff," reusing, and recycling as critical resource conservation and
economic issues. The communication of the waste end, with all the
emotional entanglement it creates, is treated with care, knowing
that
less waste will be a natural consequence of resource conservation
anyway
(or to coin a new popular phrase "don't even go there" :-) )

Something to think about in our efforts to communicate.

Regards,
Dave Reynolds

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 04 Aug 97 12:09:21 PST
From: jennie.alvernaz@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
Subject: What's New? Nothing. Zero.

The New Bottom Line
Strategic perspectives on business and environment
v 6 n 15 July 17, 1997

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's New? Nothing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's New? Nothing. Or more precisely: Zero.

The discussion of "zero waste" and "zero emissions" systems is emerging as
one of the most important concepts in business today.

To some it's outlandish folly. You can't have perpetual motion machines and
you can't have zero waste. Yet a growing accretion of forces seem to be
taking the idea seriously enough. The "Third Annual World Congress on Zero
Emissions" is taking place this month (July 1997) (this year in Indonesia).
The Zero Emissions Research Institute (at United Nations University in
Tokyo) continues its research and training work, much of it focused on
developing countries. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, the world's largest
carpet manufacturer, has publicly committed his billion dollar company to a
goal of zero emissions, and has challenged his employees to invent
factories that have "no smokestacks and no sewer pipes." A coalition of US
recycling professionals has embraced the "zero waste" goal as core to their
activist agenda. And the provocatively titled book "Factor Four"--exploring
the feasibility of four-fold efficiency increases using off-the-shelf
technologies--is being rewritten with a focus on the goal of "factor
_ten_", the next way station on the road to zero, since "factor four" just
wasn't seeming challenging enough.

This space has talked periodically about the notion of zero waste
industries, which is compelling for both business and ecological reasons.
>From a business perspective, wastes are products that companies
"manufacture" that incur costs, yet add no value; prudent management would
work to eliminate such economically irrational outputs. From an ecological
perspective, zero waste strategies would bring the human economy into
closer alignment with the multi-gigayears experience of natural systems,
where "waste" is a concept without meaning.

It's partly a question of boundaries. It may never be possible to have a
zero waste company--any more than a zero waste rabbit--since each and every
transformation of energy and matter will inevitably yield degraded energy
and matter. But it may be possible to have a zero waste "ecosystem" of
companies, just as it is possible--in fact it is so--to have a zero waste
ecosystem of plant and animal species in which the "waste" outputs of one
organism become the food of the next. And it is certainly possible to aim a
company toward that distinctive target, rather than the honorable but
relatively ho-hum goals of compliance or 10% improvements.

Those who consider zero emissions an impossible goal tend to forget that
the planet carrying us around the sun--Spaceship Earth, as Buckminster
Fuller called it--_is_ a zero waste system, closed to matter and open to
the flows of [largely solar] energy that power the endless cycles of
matter. The secret has been hidden forever in plain sight.

How do we get there? No one knows the definitive answer; at least no one
has gotten there yet in industrial systems, though one could argue that
many traditional agricultural systems come close. But we can make some
observations that might help point the way:

Essentially there are two main strategies to staunch the flow of
"Non-Product Output": Stop making it. Turn it into product. How? Here, in
no particular order, is a collection of strategies.

Reduce waste: Process efficiency
Whether through pollution prevention, waste minimization, business process
re-engineering, design for environment, or any of a dozen other terms and
approaches, most businesses can discover significant-to-vast opportunities
to improve production efficiencies--through redesign and re-specification
of products, processes, and equipment--and produce less waste and use less
resource per unit of product.

Waste as feedstock: Internal and external cascades
Internal cascades include steps as simple as paper or fabric mills cycling
scraps back into a lesser grade product, or cogeneration systems cascading
waste heat from electrical generation into lower grade heat requirements,
such as water heating. Thoughtful design can substantial increase the net
useful harvest--of energy and materials--from a given resource flow.
External cascades may start as simple recycling efforts and mature into
regional waste exchanges, regional industrial clusters with symbiotic
material and energy needs, and even eco-industrial parks.

Make it tasty: Shift waste chemistry
It may not be possible to completely eliminate wastes, but perhaps changes
in process or materials can produce waste that is more "digestible" by the
next company down the food chain.

Break the addiction to "stuff": dematerialize and deproductize
Though it goes against the economistic tradition of "more stuff means more
money," the value equation of the future is in fact "produce more value
with less physical throughput." Redesign products to get more done with
less stuff--dematerialization (just look at the electronics and
telecommunications industries if you need inspiration). Redesign business
transactions to deliver value with less stuff (electric utilities profiting
from conservation services is just one of many examples).

Pay attention: measure what matters
Use business performance metrics to aim toward the right goal; track
resource efficiency (resource use or waste generation per unit of product),
and throughput efficiency (the ratio of product to total output, including
all non-product output).

Go from ISO to zero
Environmental management systems (such as those specified by the ISO 14000
standards) may help your company get where it wants to go, but can't tell
you where you want to go. ISO certification may improve practices, but is
an insufficient target for business leadership.

# # #

Archived on the World Wide Web at http://www.eco-ops.com/eco-ops
For subscription information, send email to: nbl-info@eco-ops.com

May be cross-posted intact--including this notice--
via email as long as no fees are charged.
Publishing--whether on a Web site or in print--
and commercial distribution in any form
require our advance permission. Thank you.

Gil Friend, systems ecologist and business strategist, is president of
Gil Friend and Associates, a consulting group specializing in strategic
environmental management, including Integrated EcoAuditing, Industrial
Ecology and ecological re-engineering.

*****************************************************************
* Gil Friend * Tel: 1-510-548-7904 *
* Gil Friend & Associates * Fax: 1-510-849-2341 *
* 48 Shattuck Square #103 * Net: gfriend@eco-ops.com *
* Berkeley CA 94704 * http://www.eco-ops.com/eco-ops *
*****************************************************************
* "Nature's ecosystems have 3.5 billion years experience of *
* in evolving efficient, complex, adaptive, resilient systems. *
* Why should companies reinvent the wheel, when the R&D has *
* already been done?" *
*****************************************************************

------------------------------

End of GreenYes Digest V97 #188
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