|
...........................................................................................................................................................................................
For current click What's
New
For more archive Click Here
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
What's New Archive
June 6, 2008 The Honoured Reader (free) edition of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 13, No. 4 May 12, 2008 has been posted
click here.
CHARLES
CACCIA: HE TAUGHT ME FAR MORE THAN MOST CABINET MEMBERS
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: ELIMINATING
WASTE AS PART OF A LOW CARBON ECONOMY
Theme:
EARTH
DAY SPECIALS: MOSTLY PRINT MEDIA
THE PHOENIX
NEW TIMES IS SICK AND TIRED OF ECO-CHIC
OEKOTEST:
GREEN JEANS
Product
of Where?
CANADIAN
FACILITY MANAGEMENT: SEEING THE LIGHT
Fluorescent
Light Bulbs Recycling
In a FLAP
THE ADVOCATE:
WHEN GAY MEETS GREEN
U.S. NEWS:
WASTE LESS ENERGY
CORPORATE
KNIGHTS: CO2 POLLUTERS
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC GREEN GUIDE: PLASTICS
COTTAGE
MAGAZINE: OH, BUOY! SPEAK UP FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT
NEW YORK
TIMES MAGAZINE: PAY AS YOU DRIVE INSURANCE
MACLEAN'S:
IDEAS THAT WORK
RENEW
CANADA: FOR WHOM THE ROAD TOLLS
FOREST
HEALTH: MORE INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM APPROACH
GREEN
READING: WILL THAT BE PLASTIC OR PAPER?
DAN GOLOMB
GUEST
COLUMN: EMISSION REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GASES: EMISSION QUOTAS OR MANDATED
CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES by Dan
Golomb
THIRTY
SECOND SUMMARY
Forest Strategy Consultation
Andrew Benedek: Water Award
New CESD
ENVIRONMENTAL
PREEMPTION ON TRIAL
US Chamber
of Commerce Favours Preemption
California
Greenhouse-Gas Waiver Request
PROVINCE
PREEMPTS MUNICIPALITY PESTICIDE BY-LAWS
To Preempt
or Not to Preempt
A DON
CHANT MEMORIAL
CANADIAN
POLLUTION PREVENTION ROUNDTABLE: JUNE
11 & 12, 2008, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
UNEP/ILO/ITUC
GREEN JOBS INITIATIVE
BISPHENOL
A: TO BE DECLARED CEPA TOXIC
BIRD ATLAS:
BEST BET FOR GARDEN DESIGN
MIGRATING
BIRDS: NO TRAVEL BUDGET FOR CANADIAN WILDLIFE SERVICE
STATS
CAN: HUMAN ACTIVITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Imports
and Exports: Allocating Greenhouse Gas Emissions
GREEN
LIVING FOR DUMMIES
GET YOUR
BPA FIX FROM WORLD WILDLIFE FUND USA
****************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
Around Earth Day the commercial world,
including the media, goes crazy with green issues, green products, and
green reports. Once Earth Day is out of the way for another year the green
stuff is often put away for another year, providing at least some support
for those who have been less than enthusiastic about the Earth Day concept,
claiming instead that “every day should be Earth Day”.
The 2008 Earth Day brought something of
an advance with the popular media spending less time and space on pop
ideas like washing windows with vinegar. In place of the simplistic, GL
found more in depth reporting of important issues and challenging, though
necessary, solutions. Maybe the 38th Earth Day will turn out
to have been the one that changed from simple suggestions to concepts
for real societal change. In this issue we review some of the 2008 Earth
Day messages from North American magazines. Our range of topics goes from
plastic in the kitchen to car insurance as an environmental tool and some
sensible ideas about spruce budworm from the Canadian Forest Service.
We merge from magazine content to a discussion
of the lifecycle of paper books or e-books. Guest columnist Prof. Dan
Golomb presents his views on Emission Quotas or Mandated Control Technologies
for greenhouse gas emissions. In the US disputes between the federal and
state governments over jurisdiction are known as preemption. Preemption
can be an important issue for environmental jurisdiction - an upcoming
court case over CAFÉ standards may set new rules. There are indications
that preemption could become an issue in Canada as the federal government
attempts to restrict the role of provinces in environmental regulation
of industry and as provinces such as Ontario attempt to restrict the environmental
regulatory role of municipalities - see our article in this issue on Ontario’s
proposed cosmetic pesticide law. While the US jurisdictional framework
is quite different we know that Canadian regulators will be watching the
US litigation very closely.
This issue of GL also focusses attention
on birds. A new Ontario atlas of breeding birds should be in the library
of every gardener and landowner. Migratory birds are facing increasing
threats, not only from Alberta’s tar ponds, but federal officials who
have responsibility for tracking, monitoring and protecting migratory
birds are no longer allowed to go to a conference to discuss the status
of migratory birds. It seems ironic on two fronts: first, the birds can
travel but the officials cannot, and second, just as we finally get around
to cleaning up the Sydney Tar Ponds we allow the oil industry to start
up a new set of tar ponds in Northern Alberta. Ironic, or just plain stupid?
Other articles in this issue include a
book review, a review of the new Statistics Canada Human Activity and
the Environment tome, the UNEP/ILO Green Jobs Initiative, a couple of
upcoming events, and our Thirty Second Summary of lesser noticed but still
important environmental news. All in all a jam-packed issue. Next issue
we will conclude our two part overview on asbestos and continue to bring
you all the environmental commentary that is fit to print!
****************************************************
June 6, 2008 Events Posted click here
New additions are:
Ongoing Over Time 2008 ...to
September 2008. The Journal of Industrial Ecology has a Call for Papers
for a special issue on Applications of Material Flow Analysis (MFA).
June 2008 Greener
by Design. Alexandria, Virginia.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation. North America 2030 and other
meetings.Ottawa, Ontario.
September 2008 Feast
of Fields. Hillsburgh, Ontario
October 2008 International
Joint Commission Biennial Meeting. Windsor, Ontario
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
April 21, 2008 The Honoured Reader (free) edition of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 13, No. 3 April 7, 2008 has been posted
click here.
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: INDUSTRY
SHORT-TERM THINKING
Theme: ENVIRONMENTAL
MARKETING
CHINESE
VISITORS: NO CFLS IN THEIR CANADIAN HOTELS
DR, FRANK-MARTIN
BELZ: SUSTAINABILITY MARKETING
Conventional
and Sustainability Marketing
Concept
Focus
on Resources/Waste/Pollution
Consumer
Behaviour
Market
Segmentation
Market
Timing
Relative
Positioning of Sustainable Products
Distribution
NGOs Often
Opposed to Green Marketing
Credibility
GREEN
MARKETING - 1991
GREENWASH
BRIGADE
COMPETITION
BUREAU: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL LABELLING
STANDARDS
OF PROOF
Science
and the Q-ray
Chimney
Claims: Insufficient Proof
GREEN
PRODUCTS: WHICH BENCHMARKS?
UK: PITCHING
GREEN
UK ADVERTISING
STANDARDS AUTHORITY ADJUDICATIONS
UK ASA:
ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLAINTS
UK: NOT
AS MUCH PROGRESS ON GREENING AS NEEDED
ENVIRONMENT
CANADA: FUNDING FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION & PRODUCTION
UNEP:
ADVERTISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
UNEP:
CREATIVE GALLERY ON SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATIONS
OECD:
GOOD PRACTICES AND STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
Communication
Campaigns
Mandatory
Labels and Standards
Voluntary
Labels
Corporate
Reporting
Advertising
Understanding
Consumer Behaviour
INDIA:
ADVICE ON GREENING
ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUP REPORT: TOMORROW TODAY
BIOFUELS
AND BILL C-33
REAP:
Direct Heat from Pellets
CANADA:
CESD REPORT
Three
Categories of Toxic Substances
IMPERIAL
OIL: KEARL OIL SANDS PROJECT SET-BACK
The Environmental
Assessment Process
Areas
of Review Requested
Setback
for Project - Victory (For a Time) for Environmental Groups
CANADIAN
CLIMATE ADAPTATION REPORT
THE PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATES: NAFTA, WTO, AND CLIMATE CHANGE
****************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
For several years the Competition Bureau,
an arm’s length agency of Industry Canada responsible for enforcing Canada’s
truth in labelling and advertising laws, has been making noises about
cracking down on misleading green advertising. In March 2007, the
Bureau circulated a draft guidance document describing the new rules.
In some ways the new document was not too different from the old document,
Principles and Guidelines for Environmental Labelling and Advertising,
published in 1993, but in other ways it would tighten the rules so much
that they would become a major deterrent to environmental labelling and
marketing of green products. CIAL, the parent company of Canadian Institute
for Business and the Environment, does not see this as helpful and along
with other companies and several other industry groups submitted
comments to the Competition Bureau. Typically, there has been very little
subsequent consultation and rumours now suggest that the Competition Bureau
will come out with new rules by the end of this month. We summarize the
activity in this issue of GL and will report on the new rules when they
appear.
In anticipation of the government action,
Gallon Letter has decided to devote most of this issue to a review of
environmental marketing activity from Canada and some of the rest of the
world. Our approach contains advice and information from numerous sources
which we hope will be of interest to consumers as well as to green marketers.
Our review of Dr. Frank-Martin Belz’ commentary on Sustainability Marketing,
while longer than most GL articles, represents, in GL’s opinion, some
of the most leading edge analysis of environmental marketing. We also
bring you a section from the Canadian Green Marketing Handbook of 1991
- as valuable a read today for companies planning to introduce green products
as it was back then. Take a look at UNEP’s Creative Gallery on Sustainability
Communications - a real indication that some companies, few of them Canadian,
are learning how to market the “Buy Less” message.
Another good tool for consumer activists
and product marketers is the OECD review of Promoting Sustainable Consumption:
Good Practices in OECD Countries. We bring you a summary.
As usual we bring some news and commentary
on current events in the field of environment and sustainable development.
Some environmental groups have published a new report entitled Tomorrow
Today, not quite as visionary as one might have hoped; a very credible
group called Resource Efficient Agricultural Production has advised Parliament
of the environmental risks associated with biofuels; the Commissioner
of the Environment and Sustainable Development has prepared his annual
report, which is about as depressing as one might imagine; some groups
are claiming a huge victory over Imperial Oil’s proposed oil sands development,
and the federal government may not have wanted you to know about climate
change adaptation but fortunately the CBC received a leaked version of
the report. Thank heavens for brown envelopes and let’s applaud the bureaucrats
willing to provide them - after all, the work is being done with our tax
dollars. This issue concludes with a strange story brought forward (to
GL) by the Obama NAFTA controversy.
Earth Day always brings a glut of green
magazines and other environmental marketing initiatives. In our next issue
we plan to look at what the magazines and marketers are doing for Earth
Day 2008. In the near future we will also be updating our coverage of
climate change initiatives and concluding our feature on asbestos. We
continue to welcome your feedback and comments.
[Find News and Resources, Click; Find
Public Comment, Click; Find Environmental and then Responses, Click]
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
April 21, 2008 Events Posted click here
New additions are:
May 2008 7th Annual
Ontario Power Summit. Toronto, Ontario
National CSR Conference: Performance, Accountability and Engagement.
Toronto, Ontario.
Updated: Canadian Pollution Prevention Roundtable. Edmonton, Alberta.
October 2008 ExpoPlast2008.
Montreal, Quebeca
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
Please note: The Honoured Reader edition of the Gallon Environment
Letter does not contain most of the links of the paid subscription. However,
any urls listed, checked at the time of publication of each issue, may
no longer be current.
|
