Let me start by saying that I have worked with a lot of businesses over the years and I have yet to meet the CEO who is all about polluting the earth. Attitudes have changed. When the ecology movement began back in the 60’s, there was not a lot of regulation on industrial or consumer waste. Whatever you wanted to burn, put into the ground or dump into a local body of water was up to you. I remember visiting Toledo, Ohio as a child and seeing hundreds of dead fish floating on top of the Lake Erie shoreline. With the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, all of that began to turn around. In the past 40 years, government regulation has mandated compliance with pollution standards. Like it or not, this created a degree of accountability that has helped clean up the environment around us. And with that has come a level of green acceptance among our society, including business.

However, the latest rendition of the ecology movement moves beyond dead fish on Lake Erie. We are now concerned with the use of certain fuels deemed clean over the ones that are defined as dirty. We believe that paper is bad and electricity to power a computer is better, that is unless the electricity is produced by coal-fired turbines. It would be better if it were produced by water-driven turbines at a dam. That is, unless the dam has destroyed the natural habitat of the three-legged chirping cricket. In that case, just print the paper, but make sure it has a recycled post-consumer content of at least 25%. The new green push is to persuade every man, woman and child to value businesses who show themselves to be "green” and steer clear of businesses who are not. This is where I get the questions from business leaders. The last thing they want is to be left standing on the outside of the circle when green can be used to gain a marketing advantage. It is just that the line defining being "green” seems to be an ever-moving standard. Just when you thought you had been properly coronated as a "green” business, you find that your carpet was produced by a company over 500 miles away. The amount of fossil fuels burned to get that carpet under your feet has you black listed instead of green listed. 

So what is a business to do? If you want to take advantage of the greening of our society as a marketing tool, then you need to let your target market define the green line for you, not a group of idealists bouncing a giant inflatable globe on Earth Day. The two marketing questions you should be asking are how much do your customers expect and how far are you willing to go? My first suggestion is that you define who is in your target market and find out what they value. For instance, if you say that you are a green business because you recycle soda cans, plastic bottles and waste paper, but your target market expects you to use gas heat instead of heating oil, you are barking up the wrong green tree.

If you really want to make a statement about being "green,” you need something to back up your talk. Many companies have produced an environmental sustainability report to make their green efforts part of the public record. Most sustainability reports have a progression of business activities that can be broken up into the following categories. Note that each category is progressively more difficult to achieve.

1. Conserve resources. This includes reducing your power usage by turning off equipment and lights when not in use; purchasing energy efficient office equipment; and recycling common consumable products, such as paper, plastic, glass and aluminum cans.

2. Land, air and water ecology. This takes into consideration EPA regulations; giving consideration to ecological buffer zones around your business, such as woodland areas and wetland habitats; adaptable reuse of old properties into wildlife refuges, parks, reforestation, etc. It also includes giving employees time off to take part in clean up efforts in the communities in which you operate.

3. Energy use efficiency in manufacturing and delivery of your product. Are you using clean fuel to produce your product? Is there a way to reduce your use of fuel, possibly by upgrading your mechanical equipment and maintaining it properly? Are you delivering products in full loads or making multiple trips with partial loads?

4. Producing a green product. Is there a way to reduce waste in your production process? This may mean recycling your waste or limiting the amount of natural resources it takes to produce your products. Are you using recycled content instead of natural resources for your raw materials?

5.    Purchasing green alternatives to traditional materials. Examine your raw materials and see if there are replacement materials that are cleaner to produce than traditional materials.

6.    Take leadership in greening your industry. This includes giving guidance and support to the green efforts of the trade associations to which you belong.

7.    Committing to Green Audits by outside groups. This can be a slippery slope. Choose your group carefully. In many cases, there are such oversight groups within trade associations. 

Not all of these steps are required to make a sustainability report. However, they give you a place to begin the conversation with your clients to help define the green line.

Before you take a sip of the green goo, you should give your due diligence to a market survey to find out what your target really thinks is green and what is not. Then market yourself appropriately.