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Friday, December 14, 2007

CAFE Standard for TV Networks

A few weeks ago I was part of the Green Is Universal. The whole thing seems a little silly to me. I know that NBC is trying to raise the media visibility of being more green to people. They want to show us more ways to save energy and not be wasteful.

The reason I think this is silly is because NBC is going to still run ads for just about anything. Most of the car company ads they ran for Hybrids, but they still ran a Lincoln SUV ad. If NBC going to turn down ads for products because they are not green enough? Are they going to make judgements about their major advertisers? To be honest I am not expecting them to.

What is the standard for a Green television network. There are people who will say that TV networks can never be green. The art of adverting stands against the very idea of being green. Right now they are trying to cash in on being green. If that is the case, we should hold them to some standards.

My idea is that there should be a CAFE standard for television networks and automobile advertising. The CAFE standard is the rules for fleet fuel milage for cars. From the NHTSA website:

What is CAFE?

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) is the sales weighted average fuel economy, expressed in miles per gallon (mpg), of a manufacturer’s fleet of passenger cars or light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 lbs. or less, manufactured for sale in the United States, for any given model year. Fuel economy is defined as the average mileage traveled by an automobile per gallon of gasoline (or equivalent amount of other fuel) consumed as measured in accordance with the testing and evaluation protocol set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This standard should apply to Networks. There should be a one to one standard. This way the cars with the best MPG will get more ads. I think this would go a log way for what people drive.

Labels: cafe, environmental, green, media, NBC

- Rich, 1:36 PM |

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Green Consumer

I found a link on Terrapass to a New York Times article about Green Consumerism. It brings up a some interesting paradoxes.

“There is a very common mind-set right now which holds that all that we’re going to need to do to avert the large-scale planetary catastrophes upon us is make slightly different shopping decisions,” said Alex Steffen, the executive editor of Worldchanging.com, a Web site devoted to sustainability issues.

Right now I feel like I am getting this message. I feel that ads about many "green products" are telling me I do not need to change how I act to save the world, I just need to change what I buy. I think the whole compact fluorescent bulbs ads feel this way.

“We turn toward the consumption part because that’s where the money is,” Mr. Hawken said. “We tend not to look at the ‘less’ part. So you get these anomalies like 10,000-foot ‘green’ homes being built by a hedge fund manager in Aspen. Or ‘green’ fashion shows. Fashion is the deliberate inculcation of obsolescence.”

For many people I know, I feel that they want to be environmentalists, but they do not want to give up their luxury's. They still want to travel, have the big house, or work the job that gets them a lot of money. I think that they are being sold the idea that green shopping is enough for that to have that leeway.

I work for a consumer electronics company. I believe that you cannot work for a consumer electronics company and be an environmentalist. My job is to help sell desire. Selling that desire is bad for the environment. When I would bring this idea up at work it would ruffle a lot of people. They did not like my idea and they did not agree with it. It made them rethink how they saw them self in the world and that is never comfortable.

In the end consuming less can only be a good thing. It is not enough to just consume better. We have to be mindful of where our money is going and where it is coming from. I know that this is very hard for me and most the people I know.

Labels: consumerism, environmental, green, New York Times

- Rich, 5:15 PM |

Sunday, February 25, 2007

What does it mean to Go Green?

I was watching the Oscars tonight and they said that they have gone green this year. They said that they have incorporated green practices in all stages of the production. This statement says nothing. We know nothing about how much energy they are saving. We no nothing about what they are doing to reduce carbon emissions. The web site says nothing about what they are doing. It only describes what the public can do.

To be honest, telling me you are green now, means nothing to me. You can pat yourself on the back all your want. You still are selling cars during the commercials and some of them are SUVs. You are selling makeup, candy, credit cards, soda, and soap. I am not sure these ads for the the greenest products in the world. It means very little for your broadcast to be green and the products you are selling are not green.

I do not want to hear that you are green. I want to hear that the broadcast is carbon neutral. Hey Oscars, call me when you get there. After that call me when all movies are carbon neutral. That is the only way we will get where Al Gore wants us to go.

Labels: Al Gore, environmental, green, movie, Oscars

- Rich, 7:49 PM |

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