Forget slashing prices. What picky shoppers want this holiday season are gifts with meaning.

So merchants are scouting for items that are environmentally or socially responsible, whether that means produced locally, often with recycled material, or made in accordance with fair trade standards, which require that workers are paid a living wage in safe conditions.

“We look at what the company is about. What’s their mission statement? Do they help the Earth? Do they help women?” said Jayne Ertel, co-owner of Team Blonde Jewelry in Forest Park.

At a time when many retailers are reporting sales declines, some green merchants are bucking the trend. Team Blonde projects sales of about $450,000 this year, up 8 percent from a year ago.

“I’m doubling my sales this year,” said Maureen Dunn, co-owner at Mata Traders, a Chicago-based wholesaler of fair trade goods that sells to 70 shops throughout the nation.

The hot seller this holiday season is a $12 scarf made from repurposed sari material. Dunn has added winter clothing and jewelry to her line while being careful to keep prices down.

“If something’s too expensive, I have to figure out how to change the design to make it cheaper so I can compete,” Dunn said, noting that she designs the products that are made by women’s cooperatives in India. Besides wholesale, Mata Traders has a retail booth at the Andersonville Galleria.

Sales of green products are climbing because consumers increasingly are considering where and how a product is made, said Aimee Heilbrunn, co-founder of EcosceneInc.com, a Web site that reviews green products.

“People automatically think if it’s organic or green, it’s going to be more expensive, but that’s not necessarily the case. You can find some good alternatives that aren’t going to break the bank,” Heilbrunn said.

Heilbrunn conceived Ecoscene a year ago, after searching for an environmentally friendly dog bed. “I thought, if I’m a normal consumer looking for these items, there must be other consumers out there who are trying to make better choices,” she said.

Nearly one in four Americans, representing more than $200 billion in annual sales, are environmentally and socially conscious consumers, Heilbrunn said, citing figures from the Natural Marketing Institute.

“Consumers are starting to make choices that are cognizant that we are part of a global marketplace,” said Cheryl Middaugh, president of Mora & Mahogany, a company that helps clients raise money by selling fair trade products.

Mora & Mahogany plans to launch a catalog of fair trade products next year for schools and non-profit groups to use for fundraising.

It was that type of fundraiser at a Unitarian Church two years ago that inspired Cindy Pardo and two friends to launch The Fair Trader, a store in Hyde Park that opened in September 2007. “So many people in the neighborhood said, ‘Gee, I wish we could shop this way all the time,’ ” she recalled.

The store stocks only certified fair trade merchandise, including home decor, jewelry, apparel, paper and bath and body products. Most items range from $25 to $75.

Pardo is convinced the growing awareness of where products come from and how they are made is making a difference. More foreign factories are adopting fair trade principles because they know it will help them sell their products, she said.

Shoppers also feel good supporting local artisans, said Nadeen Kieren, shopkeeper at GreenSky, an Andersonville boutique offering green and one-of-a-kind gifts and home decor. “If people can find something functional or decorative that has a story behind it, they enjoy spending their money.”

About three-quarters of the merchandise Kieren stocks is from the Midwest, she said, though she also carries some international fair trade products. Products range from frames created from pencils, birdhouses made from reclaimed barn wood, repurposed woolens made into hats and scarves and jewelry from Michigan stones, she said. Prices range from $2 for a fair trade chocolate bar from Divine Chocolate to $70 for a sea grass handbag.

To keep up with demand at Team Blonde Jewelry, the business recently expanded to a 3,200-square-foot location, where the owners took care to reuse two-by-fours, wood moldings and drywall screws, said co-owner Heidi Vance, who drives a car that runs on biofuel. The new space includes a jewelry-making studio, where Vance and Ertel make items from recycled material, leaded glass from vintage chandeliers, typewriter keys and Scrabble tiles. Customers also can use the studio to make jewelry.

Vance and Ertel, trained in law and accounting, respectively, gave up professional careers to grow Team Blonde. Initially, they made most of the jewelry the store carried. As they found distinct items at gift shows that appealed to their environmental consciousness, they broadened their merchandise mix.

Products range from Vy & Elle handbags made from recycled vinyl billboards to Zulu grass necklaces from the Kenya-based Leakey Collection, which creates employment opportunities for women. Perennial favorites also are soap and bath salts from the Enterprising Kitchen, a Chicago non-profit that employs disadvantaged women.

“We like things that are unpredictable,” Vance said. “There’s always something new to look at. It gives people a reason to come back.”

By Ann Meyer

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-minding-green-products-dec08,0,386691.story

With the holidays looming around the corner, eco-friendly consumers are on the lookout for companies selling sustainable and environmentally conscious products.

Featured in Good Housekeeping, Time and The Wall Street Journal, Eco-Artware.com’s unique products make cool gifts for environmentally conscious people. Earth911.com spoke with Reena Kazmann, founder and director, to learn more about how her company takes green art to the next level.

From Used to New

Eco-Artware was founded in 1999 with the notion of creating a place to showcase earth-friendly gifts made by artists who factor the environment into their work.

Products sold by Eco-Artware are created from recycled or natural materials. Funky items like sweaters or Scrabble tiles are used to make unique trinkets like children’s toys and cuff links, created by a diverse range of over 25 artists that believe in sustainable living and using eco-friendly mediums. They even feature high-back dining chairs made from retired traffic signs.

“We appreciate the imagination and creativity of our artists who take used or discarded (but perfectly good) materials and transform them into exciting, innovative designs,” said Kazmann.

She believes there is a greater shift toward eco-friendly products because companies are becoming more conscious of the “green” movement, and that consumers are now looking to buy environmentally friendly products.

Doing their best to leave a small carbon footprint, the company tries to limit its own waste by using packaging made of recycled materials, like their jewelry boxes composed of recycled paper.

Seeing the Light

For Kazmann, the best part of her job is “discovering a wonderful design that is eco-friendly and seeing the creativity of people who create eco-friendly designs. To these artists, it is not trash they are dealing with, but rather a work of art. As the saying goes, ‘one man’s trash is another’s treasure.’”Kazmann said she is “thrilled” to offer a unique selection of gifts that allow people to “live well, while lightly living on the earth.”

In the future, Kazmann plans on expanding Eco-Artware’s newsletter, the Recycling Rag, to include more on recycling and making products from trash. They also hope to create a series of videos on how you can make and use products from trash.

Favorite R

Kazmann’s favorite “R” is recycling. Due to the recycling industry, it has become much easier to find products that have been made from recycled material, creating more materials for the artists featured on Eco-Artware.com

If jewelry made from typewriter keys or tea lights from recycled bicycle freewheels and cassette cogs ring your bell, Eco-Artware.com has a host of perfect gifts for all the people on your “good” list.

by Brittany McNamara

http://earth911.com/blog/2008/12/08/new-choices-for-affordable-sustainable-gifts/

Want to give funky holiday gifts to your family and friends, but minimize the impact on the environment?

Andrea Fisher

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9477605

Barack Obama’s plan to pull the country out of recession has a strong green hue. Conventional wisdom says Washington won’t have the stomach or the dollars to tackle long-term issues like climate change or dependence on foreign oil when the economy is in the tank and oil prices have plunged. Wrong conclusion, Obama says. These problems, “left unaddressed, will continue to weaken the economy and threaten national security,” he said on Nov. 18 in a video message to a climate summit meeting in California.

His fix? Obama plans to set ambitious targets for reducing emissions that cause global warming—and to invest $15 billion or more per year in energy efficiency, renewables like wind and solar, biofuels, nuclear power, and “clean” coal. Beyond the environmental benefits, says the President-elect, the investment “will also help us transform our industries and steer our economy out of this economic crisis by generating 5 million new green jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.”

Whether or not a “green” stimulus will create millions of American jobs is hotly debated by economists. On the one hand, the seeds of the transformation have already been planted thanks to market forces, such as overall higher energy prices, and government policies like tax credits for renewable energy. But there are also major questions. Many executives and experts say the most effective policy to push America toward a clean, efficient energy future is putting a price on emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, thus raising the price of energy. That’s a tough sell now to Americans struggling to pay their bills. There’s also a danger that the government could steer investments to the wrong technologies. Remember synfuels, President Jimmy Carter’s experiment to reduce dependence on foreign oil? Most important, a green stimulus plan from Uncle Sam may end up sending billions of dollars to foreign companies instead of to Main Street, since the U.S. lags in such crucial industries as solar panels and wind turbines. Will green technologies become today’s VCRs and flat-panel TVs, invented in the U.S. and commercialized elsewhere?

But the fear of enriching overseas companies simply makes a green stimulus more necessary and urgent, proponents argue. Without a plan like Obama’s, which would expand U.S. markets for new technologies, American companies may fall even further behind. Michael R. Splinter, CEO of Applied Materials (AMAT) in Santa Clara, Calif., is a believer in the need for government support. Splinter has seen his business of supplying equipment for factories to make solar panels soar beyond his wildest projections. But 97% of the company’s equipment goes to foreign manufacturers, who then sell panels in the U.S. It seems like the U.S. has “given up on manufacturing,” Splinter laments. “Right now we are on a path to being a second-tier player in clean energy technology.”

A plan like Obama’s could turbocharge American industries, Splinter and other executives say. Why have European companies become world leaders in wind and solar power? Because a number of governments guarantee that anyone who supplies renewable power to the electric grid will get a premium price for that power. That cost is then passed along to customers.

POLITICAL LAND MINES

Similar incentives could work magic in the U.S., says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute. America already has a vibrant green-energy sector, so the transformation could be rapid. There are upward of 3 million Americans employed in green jobs, ranging from renewable-power startups to businesses with products that reduce waste and pollution or boost energy efficiency.

And even when goods come from foreign companies, some of the jobs will be in the U.S. One growing trend is for European and Asian manufacturers to build factories in America so they can be closer to what promises to be the world’s largest market.

Spanish wind company Gamesa is bringing 1,000 jobs to several factories in Pennsylvania and its North American headquarters in Philadelphia. In Memphis, Sharp opened its first plant outside of Japan for making solar panels.

Some green industries are homegrown by nature. Biofuel refineries need to be built near the crops that provide the feedstock. Even more jobs would be created by making U.S. houses and buildings more energy efficient, argues economist Robert Pollin of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “There is about $26 billion in retrofitting on public buildings that could be done the day after legislation is signed,” Pollin says. “The job impacts are very high. Each $1 million in spending would bring about 18 jobs.”

What could Washington do to grow the green economy? Limit emissions of greenhouse gases, thus raising the price of using fossil fuel and steering the industry toward more environmentally friendly alternatives. Continue or boost tax credits for biofuels, wind, and solar. Make infrastructure investments, such as building transmission lines needed to bring power from large solar power plants in the desert or from North Dakota’s windswept prairies. And increase federal dollars for energy research and development, aiding programs that have withered during years of declining funding. All of this, proponents say, would foster enough innovation to help American companies leapfrog their overseas rivals. “America’s future depends on our ability to spark an energy revolution,” argues Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Susan Hockfield.

Skeptics wonder, however, if such a sweeping transformation is possible. “The optimist in me wants to believe it,” says Matthew E. Kahn, an economist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The cynic in me asks, is this like FDR jobs creation in the guise of green jobs?” Kahn believes that rather than spending federal dollars, the best approach is simply increasing the price of carbon—which is politically difficult.

Passing Obama’s green stimulus package will be an uphill battle, and its success if implemented is far from certain. But the nation’s financial mess is so bad that the President-elect has a freer hand. He also needs to show action on climate change to help restore America’s reputation around the world—and to bring China and India on board. The surge earlier this year in oil prices (expected to rise again after the recession ends) even has brought traditional opponents of renewable energy and climate action to the bipartisan table, as long as they get expanded drilling rights. Says Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “Energy policy can create jobs, give an economic lift, and get us out of this ditch.”

By John Carey

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_49/b4111030857315.htm

Sometimes a gift is not just a gift.

It also might be a way to help someone in a developing country make a living wage, support AIDS orphans or fund a museum that transports people into history, art or space.

Gifts that give a portion of their proceeds to a charity, cause or a civic organization are a hot ticket at a time when conspicuous consumption appears to be waning.

Often, gifts with a conscience go beyond the feel-good, earth-friendly standards of sustainable, recycled or organic materials. By sustaining an entire community, for example, batik print textiles or jewelry operations can help keep workers out of sweatshops or sex trades and keep children out of the labor force.

The purchase of a magic kit from the store inside The History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, meanwhile, can help keep the local institution afloat.

“Sale proceeds account for about 6½ percent of our operational revenue,” spokeswoman Tiffany Niederwerfer said. “The income is important to the museum because the dollars are unrestricted. Essentially, it helps us keep the lights on.”

As a bonus, some museum shops have unusual gift ideas. Make that highly unusual.

The small store in front of The Building for Kids, an Appleton children’s museum, includes stocking stuffers such as cheddar-flavored crickets, kazoos shaped like lips and chicken chuckers, all of which are huge hits with small kids.

“We try to have things you’re not going to find at the big box stores,” executive director Dorrie Hipschman said.

Fair trade

The term fair trade indicates those who made, grew or created the object were paid a fair wage and work in livable conditions. The term is common in coffeehouses that serve fair-trade beans.

Now it’s spreading to gift and import stores that want to continue what the coffeehouses started, namely a conscientious way to shop.

“Every single product in our store has helped someone retain a job in the U.S. or has given someone an opportunity to make a fair and living wage in a developing country,” said Genelle Van Heuklon, co-owner at Globally Sound, an Appleton gift and imports shop. “‘Fair trade’ is a guarantee that all components are made not using children or slave labor.”

They’re taking the vetting process seriously.

“It’s a difficult process,” said Van Heuklon, who opened the downtown shop with her mother. They wanted all goods in their shop to have a clear conscience.

They check to see that the baskets, beads and ornaments have documentation.

“A lot of it is based on certifications of different fair trade organizations and nonprofit organizations working with developing countries,” she said.

“If they don’t have the documents, we don’t buy it,” her mother, Germaine Millard, said.

Downtown Designs is another shop in downtown Appleton that places an emphasis on fair-trade goods.

“We’re going through the Fair Trade Federation approved and stamped sources,” said Sara Mahn, shop owner with her mother, Laura Vartanian.

They’ve stocked batiks from Ghana, jewelry from sub-Saharan Africa and baskets woven from recycled telephone wire by Zulu tribe members. Women in New Delhi make mosaic bracelets to earn fair wages, work in safe conditions and have access to health care. In jewelry, many pieces are made from tagua nuts, an alternative to ivory and elephant slaughter.

“Everything has a story,” Mahn said.

Museum shops

The beauty of shopping in museum shops is that gifts are often unique, local or educational.

Gift shops are typically found at the entrances of museums so shoppers can come in without paying admission. In the case of Hearthstone, shoppers can ask to go downstairs for free to the small basement shop that carries logo merchandise and art.

Most important, museum shops funnel their profits back into their operating budgets.

After expenses, the shop at the front of The Building for Kids, for example, will add $35,000 to the museum’s funding.

“It directly benefits the operations of the museum,” Hipschman said.

While that might seem like a drop in the bucket in the museum’s nearly $1 million annual budget, the shop is not just there to generate funds.

“It’s important because it’s a part of our mission to promote imagination, creativity and confidence,” she said. “We keep a lot of lower-priced items because kids often have $1 or $2 to spend. It enables them to make their own decisions. Part of it is just fun.”

The cheddar-flavored crickets, which are edible, are also educational, she said. “It gives us an opportunity to tell people that in many parts of the world, this is a common food. It’s a teaching tool.”

Hispchman said the museum shop has items that relate to its current castle exhibition, like Schleich fairy, dragon and knight figurines. Kids wanted to play with them in the museum exhibit and take them home. The shop complied.

Likewise, the Stones & Stars shop next to the Weis Earth Science Museum and Barlow Planetarium “continues our educational mission,” museum director Joanne Kluessendorf said. “The items in the shop are curiosity-creating toys, posters, books on astronomy, dinosaur models, rocks, minerals and fossils.”

All profits from the volunteer-run glass shop at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in Neenah go into the operating fund, which is especially important given that the museum doesn’t charge admission. Besides the shop, it depends on endowments, memberships, grants and donations, manager Kathy Smits said. “We like to say it’s a shop with a purpose.”

Thrift

Another way to give a gift with a conscience, especially for collectors and fans of quirky or vintage finds, is to buy something from thrift shops that fund local social programs.

That includes Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul or any thrift shop that gives a portion of its proceeds to charity.

St. Vincent de Paul, for example, recently opened its seasonal Christmas store in the Northland Mall’s interior corridor. The shop offers holiday decorations, figurines and artificial trees. Merchandise has all been donated and volunteers staff the store. Proceeds go to provide assistance to needy people in the Fox Valley.

Maureen Wallenfang

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20081116/APC04/811160401/1029

Its the season for little black dresses, elegance and all that glitters with gold. Holidays also mean gifts, so this year why not give green? You can use your green backs to purchase green, clean, sustainable eco-gifts and fashions.The holidays are absolutely the time to get with the newest sustainable trends. Before you step into some trendy new style, lets talk sustainability. The philosophy of sustainable clothing goes quite nicely with the spirit of the season. Fair trade promotes good will towards men. Earth friendly raw materials and production create peace on Earth. These are consumer purchasing choices you can make to protect the planet, and that would make you a very good boy or girl.

In the not too distant past, seamstresses and tailors routinely took blouses or skirts apart at the seams, added bows or took off sleeves to update styles. This reconstructing of clothes is the most sustainable thing in fashion going.Its called upcycling. To upcycle clothes into second and third generation garments is a creative challenge but the fabrics are generally high quality, durable cottons, recycled polyesters, silks, wools, denims and leathers.  Sustainable designers use their creativity to make stunning new fashion statements.  These second generation designs’ new looks are achieved by changing buttons, collars, sleeves and hems, for instance. Environmentally, the energy used to produce an upcycled design is significantly lower because the designers are modifying a previously manufactured item so the production and energy used in the fabric, pattern and basic garment is already bought and paid for.

So when you shop for the perfect drop dead entrance maker, be on the prowl for eco-friendly fabrics and designs that are organic, Tencel, recycled, or vintage. For a great guide to green, sustainable and eco-conscious designers as well as for living and shopping in LA, look no further than The Urban Dwellers Guide to Green Living Los Angeles. Produced by Greenopia, this is the go-to green guide for Los Angeles. Green Living Los Angeles is not only  a guide book Angelinos can rely on, it also makes a super, eco-cool holiday gift in and of itself.

For our sustainable fashion shopping needs, Green Living guide nails it. Under the category, “Getting Goods,” browse the extensive “Clothing and Shoes,” list. When searching for the perfect holiday outfit, check out eco-designers like Stella McCartney who creates the perfect green jeans, and where you can also pick up gift sets of her organic skin products. Eco-shops like Tianello use Tencel fibers for their mens’ and womens’ clothing while VitalHemptations uses…well, hemp. Fred Segel Fun for men and women designs with organic cotton and bamboo. Menemsha specializes in sustainable accessories,clothing and shoes. Wolf designs men’s wear of organic cotton, hemp and recycled polyester. For darling children’s holiday wear or fun play clothes, shops like Ivy Greene for Kids offers sweet bamboo, organic cotton and hemp outfits as do Petit Ami and Papillon Baby. For holiday babies, many fine shops design gentle sustainable gifts and clothes for baby like Green for Baby and Green Cradle.For outdoor enthusiasts’ gifts, Patagonia and REI have some of the coolest gear in the outdoor recreation industry. For cute, green pet gifts,look in the Green Living guide under “Caring for Critters,” for green pet suppliers like Animal Crackers, or Bark Williams.

So this holiday season, in the spirit of the season, consume green. During this time of the year when we think about the future and make our resolutions, resolve to live lighter. Make earth intelligent consumer decisions and purchases. Make gift giving an exercise in eco-consciousness. Spread the word while you’re spreading the green.

For more Info: Greenopia.com,www.stellamccartney.com, www.Tianello.com, www.VitalHemp.com, www.FredSegelFun.com, www.Menemshastyle.com, Wolf:310-392-8551, Ivy Greene for Kids: 310-230-0301, Petit Ami: 310-459-0011, www.PapillionBaby.com, www.GreenforBaby, www.GreenCradle.com, www.Patagonia.com, www.REI.com, Animal Crackers: 310-658-1919, www.Bark-Williams.com.

  http://www.examiner.com/x-1440-Los-Angeles-Green-Life-Examiner~y2008m11d9-Make-your-holiday-entrance-in-drop-dead-gorgeous-green-style

The urgency to “go green” has permeated the retail industry on everything from store lighting to packaging.

For instance, Tesco and other retailers are already working on carbon labeling that will record the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the production, transport and consumption of the 70,000 products it sells.

But while the focus has been on energy conservation and recycling, retail’s elusive Holy Green Grail remains shipping. In the world of just-in-time delivery, the idea of offering green shipping options may seem to be anathema to a retailer’s traditional view of customer service. And it may even scare the wits out of inventory and transportation managers given the charge to make it happen.

But what if — instead of just offering overnight, 2-day or ground shipping — a retailer could offer green shipping that saves dozens or even hundreds of pounds of carbon emissions that won’t be released into the air? In today’s “Inconvenient Truth” world, can you imagine the impact on the eco-friendly shopper buying products online who gets a message that says:

“Your order is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. However, if you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100 pounds of CO2, click here and your package will arrive on Thursday instead.”

There are a lot of shoppers out there who would click on that option in a heartbeat. This is a great way for a retailer to integrate customers and partners into its green decision making. And it doesn’t only have to be for online shoppers — it can also be used for special orders done in-store.

In an ultra-competitive market like retail, the ability to leverage green shipping can help to not only gain the trust and loyalty of green-focused customers and partners — it can also significantly impact the P&L ledger. However, it also presents uncharted waters for inventory and transportation managers at companies that decide to take on a green shipping initiative.

The reality is that most customers and businesses have some flexibility when it comes to receiving shipments, such as First Thing in the Morning, 10 a.m., and 2nd-day deliver options. However, there also is a rapidly growing awareness of the need to minimize the environmental impact of shipping.

The first retailers who can incorporate environmentally conscious shipping choices — both to consumers, and upstream to their supplier base — will not only reduce the costs of bringing a product to market. They will differentiate themselves to consumers, strategic partners, and yes, even investors, in a way that could provide a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

So what should retailers do to shape an effective green shipping strategy? Here are six key factors that can make the difference in the success or failure of green shipping:

1. Metrics rule Both consumers and partners will want to understand the environmental impact of all available shipping options at the time an order is placed. That means that retailers will need to clearly calculate the carbon impact in the order entry process. Will a shipment save 90 pounds or 190 pounds of carbon using the green shipping option?

CEOs and CFOs are focused on metrics, and so the person responsible for driving a green shipping strategy will need to provide rigorous measurements for the carbon emissions. This data will also put a retailer far ahead of other companies who do not track carbon emissions by shipment.

2. Disciplined load planning Because green shipping options require a disciplined approach to load planning, retailers can significantly reduce capacity excess throughout your business. One of the biggest challenges facing retailers and their supply chain partners is getting the most out of their truckloads. That’s why an industry-wide goal has been to minimize or even eliminate un-utilized space within shipping containers.

The norm today is for trucks to hit the road with 50 percent or more capacity to meet projected delivery timeframes. In some cases, these half-full trucks are sent out because of customer or business delivery demands. But many times, those factors don’t come into play in the customer’s mind.

A balance needs to be struck on meeting service levels and on-time orders, but there is still room for order flexibility for environmentally conscious buyers. Sure, many businesses could not afford to run with broad delivery timeframes. But many other businesses would probably consider alternatives that extend delivery options by as little as several hours if presented with the cost benefits of doing so.

3. Visibility into idle waste Government regulations that aim to reduce engine idle time during the pickup and delivery process are all the rage across the country. One of the side benefits of taking a green approach that tracks carbon emissions throughout the entire shipping process is that retailers and their supply chain partners will have a better view of idling time.

Our research has found that companies that implement some form of anti-idling software, such as that found in fleet management software, can reduce idling time by up to 30 percent.

4. Making the Right Turns One of the biggest hidden costs in any supply chain comes from inefficient route planning that result in trucks sitting in traffic with profits leaking right out of the gas tank. Newth Morris, President of the Telogis’ GeoBase Group, which provides mapping, routing and geocoding software for transportation companies, points out that routes that are designed to avoid left turns can greatly reduce idling, and thus fuel costs. Right turns at intersections also are faster than left turns, due to “right on red” laws and the fact that drivers only have to turn into just one lane of traffic when making a right turn.

Here are a few other steps retailers and their supply chain partners can take that can reduce fuel consumption:

• Pre-load vehicles in the morning
• Route drivers according to volume
• Consider alternate pickup and delivery times to avoid congestion
• Use the communications tools available in fleet management solutions to immediately reroute drivers stuck in congested areas.

5. Alternate Modes Studies have shown that truck deliveries are the most expensive form of transportation and distribution, and that cost is only going to go up as the cost of fuel continues to spiral out of control. Companies that can consider alternative modes of transportation and distribution, such as rail or ocean, can substantially reduce their environmental impact, and incorporate those savings into the green shipping option for customers.

6. Flex Those Schedules As cited in the example given at the start of this story, it has already been proven by the likes of FedEx, UPS, Amazon and others that customers are willing to examine cost tradeoffs when it comes to delivery times. The visionary company that figures out the vast amount of brand capital it could generate by offering green tradeoffs for flexible delivery times will be hailed as a conquering hero by green shoppers around the world.

This may involve bundling deliveries in the same area at the same time, or making deliveries during off-peak traffic hours. Either way, the cost savings to the customer and the retailer, and the transportation company making the delivery will benefit everyone involved. The customer will feel she has done something for the environment. The retailer will benefit from the brand loyalty with that customer because of the green shipping approach. And the transportation company will save on fuel costs.

How to Get Started

Since the concept of Green Shipping is relatively new to the industry, here is some concluding advice on steps retailers and their supply chain partners can take to go green when it comes to shipping:

1. In order for Green Shipping to be successful, the transportation management system (TMS) should have load optimization capabilities that link directly with a fleet management system. Think of load optimization as the Rubik’s cube of TMS. It takes pieces of different shapes and sizes and fills them in a truck with no leftover space. In order to implement a green shipping option, this capability is critical because it helps maximize fuel usage and shipments.
2. The TMS has to be outfitted with a carbon emission dashboard that calculates carbon output by measuring a number of factors, including but not limited to the type of truck executing the delivery, the number of miles traveled, and the type of fuel used. Many retailers are also looking to give the consumer visibility into the carbon emitted to create the product. That means retailers need enterprise-wide visibility into the environmental cost of producing and transporting the goods, and they have to be able to segment those costs out on a per purchase basis.
3. Finally, it’s important for retailers to work with any delivery partners throughout the supply chain — whether it is a third party logistics (3PL) company or a parcel delivery service. These partners need to not only be able to measure carbon output, but also have to work hand-in-hand with the retailer to make the green shipping option viable and desirable for customers.

By Todd Mallett

Todd Mallett has been providing technology-based solutions for complex distribution networks for the past 10 years at RedPrairie. Previously, he worked in Operations Management with Caliber Systems and FedEx’s Supply Chain Solutions division.

http://www.greenbiz.com/feature/2008/11/10/six-steps-achieving-green-grail-shipping?page=0%2C0

President-Elect Barack Obama stands a better chance of advancing a green agenda in his first 100 days in office if he can continue mobilizing the country on a grassroots level around environmental issues and tie green initiatives to the economic stimulus package and recovery.That’s the consensus of a group of journalists and a business advisor that explored the future of the green economy in an Obama presidency during a panel discussion at the GreenBiz-Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Leadership Dinner held Thursday in New York.

The panel, which included Fortune’s Marc Gunther, Business Week’s Adam Aston, The New York Times’ Kate Galbraith and BSR’s vice president of advisory services, Eric Olson, was moderated by GreenBiz.com’s Executive Editor Joel Makower in what he described as his version of “Meet the Press.”

“I think we’ve all heard the superlatives about this week in terms of just how extraordinary it was whether your team won or not, but now the question is: What’s next?” Makower said.

The economy is clearly at the top of the heap, as President-Elect Obama made clear in his first press conference. The news is grim: Job losses are escalating and he warned that if Congress fails to pass another stimulus package, he’ll make the move as one of his first actions in office. Marrying the environmental agenda to the economic stimulus package presents one possibility of advancement, according to Gunther of Fortune.

“You have to come up with a way to say the purpose of this is do two things: do something about climate change but also to stimulate the new green economy,” Gunther said. “If it can be packaged that way, as opposed to something that will raise gasoline prices or raise electricity prices — which it absolutely will do — then it has a much better chance.”

It comes down to politics and tapping into the excitement and energy he generated during his campaign, Gunther said

“One of the really interesting questions to me about Obama is what does he do with to whatever degree it is a movement - - he sent out his thank you email at 12:30 or 1 a.m. Tuesday night — what does he do to keep that group of people engaged and alive?” Gunther said. “If he says I need your support now because energy is my priority and here are things you have to do, if he can do that, I think he can get his agenda done.”

Galbraith, of The New York Times, pointed out that the appeal of green jobs, for example, extends beyond Obama’s Democratic platform.

“It’s not just Obama that’s been talking about green jobs,” she said. “It’s virtually every Congressman or Senator running for office so in a sense, green jobs is the ultimate centrist issue.”

The outreach must extend to the business community, which is ideally positioned to help move the agenda forward, according to BSR’s Olson, who noted its strengths in technology, infrastructure, intellectual property and equipment. He suggested giving the business community an “assignment” to help find the solutions to solve the big problems facing the country.

“One of the amazing things about business and why I think it is about an assignment is if you think about what we’re up against, businesses, in terms of resource allocation … an important part of our job, more important than usual, is going to be figuring out how to do more with less,” Olson said.

People in the business community need to be at the negotiating table in greater numbers to build off the efforts already started, Olson said.

Companies are hungry for the dialogue that will offer clarity in various aspects of green business, such as labels, greenwashing and carbon, said Aston, of Business Week.

“All of these things are areas where I have business people come to me and say, ‘We need standards. We can’t continue to create 50-state code books for all of our operations.” Aston said.

Gunther reminded the audience of the dreariness facing the business community at the moment but doesn’t believe that businesses will simply abandon sustainability because of the economic downturn.

“Once these companies go down the sustainability path and start asking questions and start looking at the science and start engaging their employees, I think it’s really hard for them to turn back, even if there are some short-term losses, and even as grim as some of the other things are,” Gunther said. “I don’t know of any company that’s said, ‘you know, we tried the sustainability thing and it just didn’t pay off for us so we’re not going to do it anymore.’”

He noted a grassroots push toward sustainability coming from the bottom of companies: employees. Tying green corporate initiatives to energy security or patriotism resonates more powerfully that the general green agenda, Olson said.

“If the assignment is we have the opportunity to harness some of the activates that our companies desperately need anyway in the direction particularly in efficiency, and put that in the context of service to country, the broader economic agenda and community agenda, I don’t think that’s something we need to wait that long for,” Olson said.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/11/10/obama-must-tie-green-agenda-economy-panel

In the last month, Carsten Henningsen has concluded that even environmentally friendly stocks can fall to earth.

“Green stocks go down like the rest of the market,” said Henningsen, chairman of Portfolio 21 Investments, a Portland firm that invests in green companies. His company’s mutual fund, also named Portfolio 21, is down 32 percent this year.

But in tough economic times, as stock markets gyrate wildly and major Wall Street investment firms go under or are bought out, Henningsen has maintained his position that investing in green companies is wise because they are in an ideal position to prosper in the long term.

Speaking at an Oregon Natural Step Network meeting Tuesday titled “Beyond the Bailout,” Henningsen made a case that investing in companies such as Vestas Wind Systems is a logical long-term strategy. Oregon Natural Step Network works with businesses and governments to promote sustainable practices.

“The Earth does not have the bio-capacity to sustain unlimited growth,” said Henningsen. “Growth of real wealth is restrained by natural resources and the capacity of the planet to absorb Co2. We can’t have unlimited growth, unless we can borrow from another planet.”

In addition to investing in publicly-traded green companies from around the world, Henningsen is on the board of Upstream 21, a company that buys small, locally-owned private companies with products that  are designed to benefit and sustain their employees, their communities and the environment.

Mary C. King, a professor of economics at Portland State University, said at the meeting that states like Oregon should reclaim locally produced goods.

“In Italy, they have very old craftspeople who make purses sold in Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan,” she said. “Why is IKEA in Portland when we could do that level of craft and design?”

King said the recent failure of large banks and investment companies was created by a speculative bubble that federal regulatory agencies should have seen coming years ago. “I want to counter the impression that this was unforeseen and unprecedented and the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are in uncharted territory,” she said. “The common factor in booms and busts is the creation of debt that becomes out of scale with the underlying means of payment.”

A speculative housing bubble fueled by over-leveraged and under-regulated banks created a form of “casino capitalism,” King said.

On the bright side, she said “this moment provides us with an opportunity to change, to be environmentally and socially healthy.”

She called for more money to be poured into education and health care, and more taxes on companies that pollute.

Henningsen said his company’s investment approach is to find businesses that are important to their communities and then help them thrive. “We are an alternative to an investment banker or venture capitalists that want to flip a company,” he said, referring to buying a company and quickly selling it off.

His company’s approach is to invest long-term in companies, while staying diversified.

Over-investing in companies that deplete natural resources, he said, is a “dinosaur” approach.

“This is about adapting,” he said, referring to investing. “Waste and pollution cannot systematically increase and natural resources cannot systematically decrease.”

BY SAM BENNETT

http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2008/10/22/A-greener-method-of-investing-Local-firm-finds-that-social-investing-is-a-more-sustainable-approach