More Details on Greenwashing

While the Federal Trade Commission works to define legitimate green marketing claims, resources are becoming available to help consumers navigate this dicey issue. Recently, Joel Makower, guru of green and founder of GreenBiz.com, identified the six sins of greenwashing. But perhaps of even greater value to consumers is the Greenwashing Index, which bills itself as “the world’s first online interactive forum that allows consumers to evaluate real advertisements making environmental claims.” Hopefully this information can supplement my previous post on Best Practices for Communicating Your Sustainability Initiative.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Best Practices for Communicating Your Sustainability Initiative

Nearly 200 of the Fortune 250 businesses produced a sustainability report in 2006, a vast increase from previous years. As small- to mid-sized business and nonprofits increasingly initiate sustainability initiatives, they too may benefit from issuing this type of report. But is such a report the best way to go? While a sustainability report is one way to keep your stakeholders aware of your progress, some have called it too complicated and cumbersome when a simpler approach may suffice.

First, what is a sustainability report? These reports are similar to, but far more comprehensive than the traditional annual report, which generally considered only economics; a sustainability report also includes social and environmental metrics. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) produces the world’s standard in sustainability reporting guidelines. (See the Ceres website for examples of sustainability reports.)

Since the goal of this communication piece is usually to keep your stakeholders aware of the progress of your business on environmental and social goals, a solid communications plan may work just as well and could provide the added benefit of more regular updates.

Regardless of which approach an organization decides to take, there are some simple best practices to follow to ensure that their message is understood by a variety of stakeholders and to avoid claims of “greenwashing,” defined as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

Under promise, over deliver. By making any green claims, you will be positioning your company for greater scrutiny by customers, the public, the media, and non-governmental organizations. So be particularly careful about the claims you are making. If possible, have in place some type of quality assurance system by which all facts and figures are double-checked.

Be transparent. If you don’t include certain key facts or figures about your organization in areas where you might be having a large impact, it will look like you have something to hide. We all want to report the good news, and the successes, but you’ll need to release the cold hard facts.

Keep it visual. Don’t get too bogged down in the how. While the content is critical, strive to present it simply, using visuals as often as possible. Since much of what you will share includes data and company metrics that you are tracking, use good old charts, graphs to show trends in performance against past years.

Go Electronic. Online reports are a no-brainer in any type of sustainability communications. Set up a dedicated website, or portion of your website, just on your sustainability initiatives. InterafceFLOR provides an excellent example. By providing a web presence, your customers and followers will know quickly where to go when they want an update. With adequate electronic notification, a good marketing plan, and easy online access, you will keep your communications green. See a previous blog for more on green marketing.

Don’t forget your internal audience. Often, especially in larger companies, employees may not even be aware of their organization’s efforts on sustainability. So remember that all of your communications should also be directed toward you employees. This effort will not only help to keep them informed, but it sends a clear message regarding the company’s focus and intentions. It can also help get the creative juices flowing when looking for opportunities to improve sustainability in other areas of the company.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Communicating Environmental and Scientific Information

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I’ve gathered over my years spent communicating complex ideas into easy-to-understand language for a wider audience. Scientific and other technical data stands to lose a lot of value if it is not adequately translated into language that has meaning to audiences beyond specialists in that particular field. It’s the job of the writer to ensure that the value of that technical information is accessible to the largest audience possible.

There are two complimentary ways to approach this task. First, is to ensure that scientific and technical data and information is available in a variety of formats, each of which provides differing levels of technical details. Second is to write each piece in a way that presents the most critical information first, and then drills down into the details from there.

Producing Variety of Formats
Often scientists and/or researchers might label this effort as dumbing-down the information that they are presenting. I like to think that it’s more about reaching a wider audience, which could ultimately lead to greater exposure for the cause. Each technical report or piece of research should have several smaller documents, each descending in size and level of technical detail, and expanding in audience.

As an example, it might get broken down like this:
Technical Report – presents the full, gory details of the research, findings, and methodology. Audience limited to specialists in the particular area of that field.
Summary Report - presents enough technical details for a somewhat technical audience to understand. May be called a “White Paper.” Audience expands to include generalists in the field, specialists in other areas.
Fact Sheet – much shorter document with limited technical details. Audience may now include individuals outside of the particular field, science journalists, and others who have a basic understanding.
Industry Article – written for those in the know who may not be well-versed in the specific field. Some technical information, but not an overwhelming amount. Audience includes the widest definition of industry members.
General Article – written in layman’s language with the least amount of technical details that still allows for comprehension. Focus is on main points. Widest audience possible.

Of course this is just one example. There are infinite varieties of publications and formats that can be produced. The main point is that in addition to the original technical document, additional more general publications are produced.

Using the Traditional Approach
I still maintain that the traditional, journalistic, inverted-pyramid style of writing — in which you present the most important ideas first and then work to the least important in descending order — has high applicability in scientific and technical writing. By concisely presenting the most critical findings first, you prepare the reader to understand the more complex details that are presented later in the publication. And if the reader loses interest, and cannot get past the main point, you have at least reached them with the most important elements.

Here are some tips on getting this done:

Summarize the findings right up front. The reader should understand the most critical points within the first few paragraphs of any publication. In fact, the writer should include a single summary sentence of no more than 25 words.

Use good quality illustrations. Use charts, graphs and other illustrations to help reinforce the points being made. Be warned, however, that all graphics must be clearly labeled (axis, bars, lines, etc.) and include a simple, yet accurate title. A brief caption should clearly explain the meaning of the illustration. One test is: Can this illustration stand on its own? The answer should be “yes.”

Employ subheads to break up ideas. Subheads give the reader a break, and allow them to digest what they have just read. It also provides an opportunity for the author to logically structure the publication. The subhead should be accurate and active-voiced.

Summarize again. It’s always nice to send home those main points a second time near the end of a given publication. Doing this additional summary helps to drive the point home, and, hopefully, increase the odds of reader retention.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…