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SMM Web Academy – Greener Products – Progress and Challenges
Everybody’s doing it – the biggest names in industry and environmental innovation are trying to figure out how to make products greener and more socially responsible. At the same time, consumer, retailers and institutional buyers are struggling to distinguish what is truly greener in the marketplace from products that are just riding a marketing wave of greenwash. Experts from varied backgrounds in the greener products space will provide updates on the advances being made and the challenges still to be overcome.
Speaker Bios:
- Dr. Anastasia O’Rourke, Co-Founder, Big Room Inc. Anastasia is co-founder of Big Room Inc, the creators of www.ecolabelindex.com
and .ECO, a proposed new internet extension offering a new option to choose a domain name that ends with .ECO instead of .COM, see www.doteco.org . Anastasia is a leading author and researcher on cleantech, green business, and environmental metrics, having written over 20 reports, articles and whitepapers. She has twelve years experience in environmental research and consulting having worked in Australia, Sweden, France and the US – previously working at INSEAD Business School, Sydkraft Energy, The Institute for Sustainable Futures, and the EcoDesign Foundation. She has worked as a consultant with Yale University, The Cleantech Group, Silicon Valley Bank, The City of Sydney, UN Environment Program, and The Carbon Trust. Anastasia has a Ph.D. at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on cleantech investments (2009), an M.Sc. (Environmental Management & Policy) from the IIIEE at Lund University, Sweden; and B.A. Hons (1st Class and University Medal) from Sydney University, Australia.
The Use of Ecolabels in Purchasing (PDF) (21 pp, 310K, About PDF)
- Scot Case, Director, Markets Development, UL Environment, Inc. Scot Case is an internationally recognized expert with more than 17 years of professional experience in sustainable business strategy development, responsible purchasing, green supply chains, and environmental marketing. As Director of Markets Development for UL Environment and Vice President of TerraChoice, Scot helps connect retailers and consumers seeking environmentally and socially responsible products with the manufacturers supplying them. Scot recently testified before the US Congress on green marketing issues and has consulted with a variety of organizations around the world including the White House Office of the Federal Environmental Executive; Wal-Mart and its suppliers; the World Bank; the US Environmental Protection Agency; the Japanese Green Purchasing Network; government agencies in the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Australia; the National Institute of Governmental Purchasers; National Association of State Purchasing Officials; and dozens of US Federal agencies and state and local governments. Scot has delivered more than 400 keynote speeches, full-day trainings, and presentations throughout the United States and abroad to audiences of up to 1,000 people. He has published more than four dozen articles, case studies, and book chapters. As a consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency, he wrote an extensive series of reports documenting the growing environmental purchasing movement. Scot is a key contributor to the Sins of Greenwashing studies, which continue to receive considerable media attention including interviews with him on NPR, Good Morning America, CNN, The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Business Week, and many others. He was also featured in a recent Emmy-award winning documentary on green purchasing.
Looking Beyond the Label (PDF) (15 pp, 393.63K, About PDF)
- Alicia Culver, Director, Responsible Purchasing Network. Alicia’s experience working on sustainability issues spans more than two decades. She has provided technical support to procurement agents and environmental program staff in many states and municipalities. She has helped develop model “green” purchasing policies and specifications for a wide-range of environmentally preferable goods and services such as low-mercury/energy-efficient fluorescent lamps, asthma-safe cleaning products, and compostable food service ware. Alicia formerly worked as the Deputy Director of the New Jersey Office of Sustainability and founded the Green Purchasing Institute. She currently chairs San Francisco’s Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group and has served as an advisor to many other organizations, including the National Healthy Schools Network, Green Guide for Health Care, GoodGuide, the Product Policy Institute, Environmental Working Group, and the European Environmental Bureau. Among the publications Alicia has co-authored includes Cleaning for Health: Products and Practices for a Safer Indoor Environment, RPN’s Responsible Purchasing Guides to Fluorescent Lighting and LEDs, and Buying Smart: Experiences of Municipal Green Purchasing Pioneers. The Green Purchasing Institute’s Buying Smart report details how states and municipalities across the US have found that their environmentally preferable purchasing initiatives often yield economic as well as environmental rewards.
Sustainable Purchasing Best Practices (PDF) (37 pp, 1.52MB, About PDF)