Green is about transparency, being authentic and being real. Without that, you really have nothing.

I recently spoke about authenticity—a great trait to have as a leader. The more transparent you are as an organization—making people aware of your environmental initiatives, products and services, the more likely you will avoid any greenwashing.

Greenwashing means you are claiming that your products, services, etc. are environmentally sound when they are not.

Some companies are getting caught with their pants down—way down—when they claim that there products are environmentally friendly and consumers call them on it. This means they ask them to prove it.

Prove it? Since when do I have to prove it?

You can tell times have changed. I remember back to when my company produced its research report looking at consumer attitudes toward the environment, health and wellness. The sales of hybrid vehicles in the state as well as the U.S. was so insignificant that we decided not to even mention it in the report.

A recent article in the Associated Press indicated:

While U.S. car sales are down, more hybrids are being driven off the lot.

According to new data, hybrid sales jumped 38 percent last year, even as overall vehicle sales dropped 3 percent. One analyst said the rising cost of gasoline may affect some buyers, but fuel prices aren't the main reason hybrid sales are going up.

Instead, he said, sales are probably higher because buyers have more options—many sedans and utility vehicles now have hybrid counterparts. The analyst also said hybrids have been around long enough for consumers to trust the technology.

While sales are going up, hybrids comprise only 2.2 percent of the market share. Keep-in-mind, even 2% market share is a significant increase. I would assume this would continue to rise each year as the market continues to shift its mindset toward helping the environment and prices continue to come down.

Earlier today I attended an excellent, local awards ceremony put on by SWACO (Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio). The events honored the most environmentally friendly businesses in our area. Ed Begley Jr, the environmental activist and well-known actor, was the keynote and delivered a powerful environmental message. He spoke about how each one of us has an opportunity to make an impact no matter how small it may be. He spoke about talking less and taking more action, something from which many of us could benefit (me included).

The reason I mention this event is that this particular company, SWACO, a company that finds new uses for trash, and creates recycling and reuse programs throughout the area, thought outside the box to create an amazing event. By creating this event, they managed to position themselves in the green leadership category within our area. They did this by thinking outside the box, being different, being innovators, and being catalysts for change.

If you read one of my earlier articles you’d remember me talking about Xerox’s new thought leadership approach. This is exactly what I am talking about here. SWACO positioned themselves as change agents and you can too by just thinking outside of your cubicle, office, charts, etc.

There are thousands of companies claiming their products are green, how can you rise above the clutter to make sure your green products and services are noticed?

In my last blog post, I discussed the trademark office becoming gridlocked by the surge of green trademarks.

Does this mean that there are greener products in the marketplace requiring these green trademarks or even more greener brands than ever before?

To consumers, this just means more confusion.

Not only are multiple companies’ trademarks quite similar, let’s face it, there are few truly original ideas today, there are similar green and LOHAS products in the marketplace. They all tout similar benefits.

Many companies spend plenty of time and resources developing “the best” green trademarks that they feel will make them one step closer to capturing more green consumers.

Unfortunately, this is not enough to attract and retain these green consumers. In fact, in my opinion, it might alienate them. Why?

I was just reading a recent article that businesses were getting ready for this year’s Earth Day by filing for green-themed trademarks.

Apparently, last year the trademark office saw a 10% spike in trademarks since 2006.

Here is a list of the words used most often in trademarks within the green branding arena*:

• Green — 2,400

• Energy — 1,200

• Clean — 900

• Earth — 900

• Eco — 900

• Organic — 700

• Environment — 450

• Planet — 400

• Friendly — 180

*Numbers are approximate

Apparently, this sudden green surge caused a gridlock in the trademark office. Many companies filed for almost-identical trademarks at the same time, according to a recent article in Adage. According to the article, these me-too filings will either not merit legal protection or will be very weak trademarks.

I find this quite interesting because consumers are already confused by the current terms, certifications, seals, etc.

It’s amazing how we’ve seen the green trends integrated into American Politics.

Just the other day, the Democratic National Convention announced 2008 was going to bring the most sustainably-produced Democratic Convention in American history.

Not only have they chosen an Energy Star office building, they’ve also put the entire housing selection process online, hired the first sustainability director, used a transportation consultant who committed to offsetting its carbon footprint, hired a construction manager that will use green building practices to prepare the Pepsi Center in Denver for the event, and they’ve required their Official Vehicle Provider to provide an entire fleet of fuel-efficient and alternative full vehicles.

The Republican convention is planning to go green as well.

In my last post, I talked about a zero-waste philosophy and campaign, if you missed that discussion, you may want to read it now.

Now that you’ve created this philosophy and started down the path, you need to realize this is a process and not an overnight thing. I am not even sure if it can be done 100%, but you can at least start reducing your waste.

So how can you get the word out and why would you want to do this?

This reminds me of a conversation I just had with the owner of a green facility. She told me that she spent years thinking that she shouldn’t talk about her facility being green, people would just know.

Today, she is quite disappointed that she didn’t get the word out as it has been a tough road. She’s one of the few, if only, green facilities in her state. This is a great example of why you need to talk about what you are doing.

Whether it is your zero-waste efforts, your green and health initiatives targeted to schools or ways to reduce energy usage and more.

How will people know you are doing these things unless you talk about them?

I just read an interesting piece on zero-waste in a magazine. One of the readers wrote in and mentioned their unique way of recycling this particular publication.

They created an Eco-Depot that sits at the end of their long driveway. It’s a mailbox of sorts that says on it, “please recycle this information to your neighbors.” In the mailbox is magazines they have already read. Apparently, quite a few people take the magazines and pass them along.

This got me thinking, couldn’t businesses do the same thing? Think about it. If you were a medical office or any facility that had magazines in your lobby, couldn’t you put a placard on the table that said, “Please take these magazines and pass them along to your family and friends. When you are done with them, please place them in a recycling bin?”

I bet you would get people to take them and it would create some buzz.

How else could start on the road to creating a zero-waste philosophy?

Often times when I speak, I mention my easy to use system for attracting and retaining green consumers: Get it, Do it, Prove it and Use it. I made it this simple so companies of all sizes could understand the steps it takes to understand green and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumers. I find the simpler, the better. That is why I want to talk about the Precautionary Principle.

The Precautionary Principle requires you to prove something is safe before it is introduced into products or practices. The idea is to err on the side of caution. It ties in nicely with the “Prove it,” step of my process and supports the theory that it is not enough to say something is environmentally friendly or healthy, you have to prove that it is too.

When I say the term, “greenwashing,” I’m still amazed at how many blank stares I get, especially from people and companies that have green products and services. Some believe that it doesn’t exist and others think it is not something about which they have to be concerned.

Recently, I spoke at an association luncheon. One of the attendees emailed me after the luncheon indicating that she volunteered to write an article on greenwashing within her industry and wanted me to help her put the article together. It was a great opportunity to set the record straight on greenwashing, if it is dangerous—I choose to use the terms, “irresponsible” and “unethical,” and how to avoid it happening. This article is for the promotional product industry. As you know, there has been a wave of green promotional products, so this is quite timely.

 I spent the last day shopping for a computer for my office.

I am looking for a more environmentally friendly laptop that offers the world and is green as well. I want it to be lightweight, yet offer a full-size keyboard, be powerful, yet, be energy-efficient, and so forth.

I’m amazed at how long it has taken me to find something with all of these things. What I am more amazed by is that there is really no site that rates the computers, educates me about my options, etc. There are quite a few sites with educational informational that offer me great advice, yet don’t tell me what to buy.

I would think there would be an opportunity for someone to step into this space and create this type of site. I am sure consumers and business people like me are looking for the same thing and not able to find it. And, they want the computer to be just as good as their less energy-efficient model, yet better on the environment.