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Greening Ethnic Restaurants

Ritu Primlani, founder of Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, is on a remarkable mission. Through her brainchild, Greening Ethnic Restaurants (GER), Primlani reaches out to Indian and other Asian eateries with little environmental knowledge and transforms them into “green” enterprises. That’s no easy feat, considering that restaurants consume more energy per square foot than any other industry, gobbling water and producing huge amounts of solid waste. Add in the difficulty of approaching overworked restaurant owners who rarely speak fluent English, and the task seems nearly impossible. “Given that these are small, family-owned businesses, they really don’t have the money or time to make changes,” says Primlani. “They may want to help the environment, but it just doesn’t seem possible.” So Primlani focuses on fianncial benefits, demonstrating how environmental changes can increase efficiency and save dollars. Participating restaurants, mostly in the San Francisco area, spend a maximum of 24 hours a year improving in four areas: water and energy conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. Environmental experts assess the premises pro bono, accompanies by GER volunteers who translate for the owner. After the assessment, the restaurant chooses several environmental measures to enact. GER helps research and implement the reforms, often using […]

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Empower to the People

by Jacquelyn OttmanThe most successful brands connect with their customers emotionally in addition to logical facts and rational appeals. Effective green product marketers connect with concerned and aware consumers willing to pay a premium to buy green products by empowering them to clean the air, purify the water, or help save endangered forests and species.Product purchasing and consumption are the #1 ways in which Americans act upon their environmental worries. Ask an American adult what he/she is doing to save the planet and their responses most likely will center on product-related behaviors like turning off the lights when leaving a room, recycling products and packages (and more recycling), and looking for green labels when shopping. These activities are more prevalent than donating to environmental groups or voting for green candidates, for instance.So showing people how products will help them address environmental issues is a key quiver in a green marketers arsenal.EducateAccording to Ropers Green Gauge, 50% of American adults say they would do more for the environment if only they knew how. So, education is critical. Does your product save water or energy? Does it help cut down on waste that must be landfilled? Does it contain fewer toxics that […]

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Kraft Announces Product Realignment Towards Sustainability

Kraft Foods (KFT), a US-based food maker, told the audience at an investor conference that it is making major changes to its product lines and the way it markets products. As a result of shifting consumer demand, Kraft is increasingly focusing on health and wellness products. It has created four platforms for the sector, Weight Management, Nutrient Delivery, Performance Nutrition, and Natural and Organic, from which it will begin transforming its existing lines and launching new products. The company has eliminated trans-fatty acids from its key brands like Triscuit and Chips Ahoy, and will begin selling them in smaller 100-calories packs that contain less than 3g of fat. It will also follow the lead of many other food companies and launch a new line of low carbohydrate foods, beginning with the CarbWell salad dressings. In Nutrient Delivery, Kraft is reformulating its Kool-Aid lines to include 100% of the daily values of certain nutrients and will launch a line of smoothies with increased calcium fortification. The company is also launching a broad line of natural and organic foods through Back to Nature, a small natural cereal maker it acquired last year, beginning with cookies, crackers, pastas and cheeses. Management reaffirmed its […]

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Extension of Dual-Fuel Loophole to Increase Oil Consumption by 40-100 Million Barrels

Source: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, February 18, 2004 The Bush Administration today extended for four years a policy that increases U.S. oil consumption by allowing auto manufacturers to gain fuel economy credits for making vehicles that can run on ethanol, but rarely do. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) estimates that extension of the "dual-fueled vehicle" loophole in the federal fuel economy ("CAFE") program will cause the United States to consume an extra 40-110 million barrels of oil in 2005-2008. "It's like putting an extra half-million new cars on the road each year," said Transportation Program Director Therese Langer. "This move helps to ensure that our reliance on oil imports will continue to rise." The dual-fuel credit arose from efforts in the late 1980s to increase the use of alternative fuels by ensuring the existence of a vehicle population that could use these fuels. In 1999, production of vehicles that can run on either E85 (an 85% ethanol blend) or gasoline soared as automakers took advantage of the credit to meet their fuel economy targets. There are now over three million E85-capable vehicles on the road, but less than 1% of the fuel consumed by these […]

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