What is the Secret Green Sauce? An interview with author Bill Roth

Last November we announced here on a new collaboration with Bill Roth on his new book - THE SECRET GREEN SAUCE™ : Best Practices being used by actual businesses to grow green profits. Eco-Libris is planting one tree for every copy sold! Readers will also receive with their copy our "One tree planted for this book" sticker they can put on the book (except when the purchase is made via Amazon).

This is a very interesting and recommended read for anyone who wants to get a better understanding of what is the green economy all about. Roth's book is even more important nowadays when companies begin to think of the challenges they will face in post-recession era. Therefore we decided to interview Bill Roth and learn more about his Secret Green Sauce.

Hello Bill. What is the Secret Green Sauce and what makes your recipe unique?

The “secret” is that there are actual companies growing green revenues even in this economy.

The Secret Green Sauce is the best practices (“secret sauce”) on how they grow revenues providing customers with “cost less, mean more” solutions.

The key ingredients of The Secret Green Sauce are:

1. Align value with values.

So many wonderful green companies begin with values as their focus. What market research says is price is still king in terms of consumer decision making. The successful businesses I profile have both eyes focused upon competitively pricing their sustainable products.

2. Prove it, Conclusively:

Consumers are totally confused on what to buy and who to buy from. This is a tremendous opportunity for companies that can “Prove It, Conclusively” to the customer’s satisfaction that their product is beneficial to the customer and the environment.

3. Know it, Embrace it.

Consumers are using the internet to figure out what to buy and who to buy from rather than relying upon advertising claims. They are engaged in a learning, experimentation and then procurement process. The companies I profile are marketing in a manner that aligns with, and enables, this customer process.

What brought you to write this book?

In the summer of 2009 I was attending a major national conference where I kept hearing attendees wishing there were speakers talking about how to grow green revenues. I had this “a ha!” moment where I realized that my national network of companies developed while serving as the Green Business Coach for Entrepreneur.com had the answers to this question.

From this insight I founded Earth 2017 (http://www.earth2017.com) to host free blogs and tweets cutting-edge research/results, I wrote The Secret Green Sauce to provide “how to” case study examples, I am designing a training seminar that will provide instruction on how to price, brand and market sustainability to grow revenues and, of course, I continue to provide strategic green business coaching to businesses and entrepreneurs.

In your book you write that "As early as 2017, a tipping point will occur where going green no longer means paying more." Is it still true with the failures in Copenhagen and DC to regulate carbon emissions?

Green is emerging as the least cost solution even without the needed action of governments.

Peak Everything is a great term that, while not correct in terms of classic economics, conveys the salient point that with world consumption growing faster than world supply, the prices for carbon-centric goods and services will increase dramatically.

As sustainable alternatives gain manufacturing economies of scale their price to the consumer will drop. The “tipping point” is when “unsustainability’s” price increases reach price parity with sustainability’s declining prices. My current economic analysis projects that by 2017 the price competitiveness of sustainability will support a $10 trillion annual global revenue economy!

If the U.S. government were to reflect the true cost of “unsustainability” at the pump, meter and cash register then this will accelerate things. But the key point is that the economics of supply and demand will eventually do what governments can’t seem to achieve in advancing the adoption of sustainability.

Your book is full with examples of companies that make money due to the adoption of green strategy and practices. What is your favorite one?

Amanda’s. It is maybe the first healthy fast food restaurant. But the value of Amanda’s story is that it encapsulates the entire potential of what is happening. The company’s founder is Amanda West. She has an MBA from Stanford and worked in Silicon Valley. But her passion is human health. She is a great example of the type of business pioneers that are growing green revenues. Super smart and very motivated with a strong vision that she can make a lot of money producing a positive difference.

Her restaurant has two key product characteristics critical to growing green revenues. She is price competitive and her food is truly healthy for people and the environment. I strongly encourage every business person to read Chapter Eight of The Secret Green Sauce on Amanda’s best practices. Even in these economically challenging times for restaurants, Amanda’s is achieving year over year sales increases!

You're talking in your book about the Awareness Customer that is leading the Green Economic Revolution - why do we see so many of those in surveys and so few (relatively) in reality?

One of the great misconceptions in business is that consumers are not buying green. There are two reasons for this. The first is that consumers really don’t talk about buying green. That’s why I coined the term Awareness Customer. The Millennial Generation talks about cool, interactive and their future. They buy iTunes because it is cool, interactive and it doesn’t have the emission/waste stream of CDs that includes manufacturing plastic disks, plastic/paper packaging, and truck deliveries to stores requiring heating/cooling with lots of electric lighting.

Their moms, Concerned Caregivers, talk about wellness for their loved ones. And the Sustainable CEOs (over half of the Fortune 500 companies now track their CO2 emissions) express “green” by talking about compliance along with some vague marketing appreciation that going green aligns with their customers’ values.

The second major reason is price. Except for The Millennial Generation, consumers won’t pay more for “green.” But, market research says if the price of a more sustainable product is at least equal to the price of the less sustainable product almost very consumer will buy the more sustainable product.

If going green is such a great business opportunity, why don't we see a critical mass of companies going green? What's the main obstacle here?

Price, price, price. What I started seeing this past summer was green company after green company focused upon price. Before this summer so many green companies thought their product was so valuable to the environment that customers would pay more. The maturation of green business understanding on the requirement to be price competitive is a huge step in the mass marketing of sustainability.

Do you think that the principle of "Cost Less, Mean More" can apply to every company, no matter what it sector it belongs to?

Absolutely. My favorite example is my small town (Moraga California) and one of our local Chinese restaurants. We have this little group called Sustainable Moraga that helped pioneer community use of CFLs and tote bags to carry groceries. Some of the members reached out to this wonderful restaurant owner who really wanted to grow his business and do right. They educated him on organic food.

Long story made short, last night when I picked up a to-go order he kept saying, “Too busy, too busy.” There is much more depth to this story than this brief paragraph but one key point is that if a first-generation American starting his first business can apply these best practices to the point where he is “too busy” then that says every business has a similar path toward being “too busy.”

In the book you discuss the question "Is sustainability a path for building stockholder value?" - What is your answer?

YES. Financial research is now documenting that more sustainable companies are outperforming less sustainable companies on their stock valuations by over 400 basis points (100 basis points equals 1%, so if a mortgage is 5% then it is 500 basis points).

The business principal for this result is pretty obvious based upon the best practices in The Secret Green Sauce: Sell More At Lower Costs. Chapter 7 on Increasing Stock Value explains why more sustainable companies are achieving this competitive advantage. It is a must read for every CEO and CFO.

What do you tell a company that asks your advice on how to go green? What is the first step?

Design a sustainable strategy that prices through aligning value with values, helps your customers figure out you are really green through Prove It, Conclusively branding and that reaches-out/aligns with your customer through a Know it, Embrace it marketing plan. A key tool for developing/executing such a strategy is what one of my profiled entrepreneurs calls “Getting To First Base.” It is a process that answers these two questions, “Which way to first base?” and “How do I get to first base?” This is one of the major elements of my consulting practice.

Are you still optimistic?

110%! America is in pain right now. When Americans are in pain we become highly motivated and our freedom allows us to develop innovative solutions. Laws and tax policies that support doing right would really help. But the bottom line is that America’s entrepreneurs and pioneering businesses are figuring out how to deliver “cost less, mean more” solutions that will restore our jobs, economy and environment. It’s all in The Secret Green Sauce.

Thank you, Bill!

Bill Roth, Green Business Coach for Entrepreneur.com and the founder of Earth 2017, partnered with Eco-Libris in the past to green up his important book, "On Empty (Out of Time)".He is offering a FREE 1st chapter on Earth 2017 website. The book is available for sale both in a paper and electronic versions on the website at www.earth2017.com/free-the-secret-green-sauce

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

How green is the iPad - Part 2: Is the iPad greener than the Kindle and the Nook?

Last week we started our 3-part series following the launch of the iPad. Our quest is simple - to explore how eco-friendly is the iPad.

Today we compare it to other eReaders and find out if it's really a green knockout to both Amazon's Kindle and B&N's Nook.

As you can see in the table below, we focused on the specifications that are most relevant to the device's footprint. When you look for such information, the first thing you notice is that all companies are far from providing transparent information when it comes to their device's environmental impact. Even Apple, which is by far better than both Amazon and B&N in providing such information, hasn't provided yet all the information.

Nevertheless, we believe there's still enough available information to determine that the iPad is greener than both the Kindle and the Nook. Again, it doesn't make it "eco-friendly", but it is still important to notice that it's better for the environment than other popular eReaders currently available.

This conclusion, though, is under the assumption that the iPad will be added to Apple's recycling program. We believe that it's on the way and I hope we're not wrong. Maybe they can even go further and actually incentivize customers to recycle, because unfortunately it seems that it's not just enough to offer a recycling plan to move customers to do the right thing - on USATODAY.com today, Martin LaMonica, who writes for CNET's Green Tech is quoted saying that "only about 10% of U.S. electronics get recycled, and Greenpeace's Guide to Electronics shows they don't always get recycled properly."

Our conclusion is also based on the lack of information concerning the environmental impacts of the Kindle and the Nook. We wish both Amazon and B&N will provide further information on their websites and maybe even prove us to be wrong about their eReaders. We'll be happy to correct ourselves if necessary!

In the meantime, this is the comparison, based on all the information we found available (double click on the table to view full size):






















If you got more details or observations to contribute, please feel free to comment.

Tomorrow we'll bring you the third part on this series with our final analysis.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Happy Tu B'Shevat!

Tomorrow is Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish "New Year for Trees", and it's a great celebration not only for the trees, but also for tree lovers (not to say treehuggers..) everywhere.

Tu B'Shevat is a transliteration of 'the fifteenth of Shevat', the Hebrew date specified as the new year for trees. It is the date used to calculate the age of trees for tithing/taxing. Fruit from trees may not be eaten during the first three years of its life according to the Thora. The fourth year's fruit was to be tithed to the Temple (for god), and after that, anyone can eat its fruit.

The fifteenth of the Hebrew month Shevat was the cutoff date for determining when the fruit of the tree was to be tithed. If the tree was planted prior to Tu B'Shevat, it would be considered to have aged one year. If it was planted afterward, it would become one year old at the following year's Tu B'Shevat. Thus, 'Tu' (the alpha-numeric for the number 15) denotes that the holiday is on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shevat.

Tu B'Shevat gradually gained religious significance, with a Kabalistic fruit-eating ceremony (like the Passover Seder) being introduced during the 1600s.

Customs associated with Tu B'Shevat include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, and almonds. Over the years Tu B’Shevat has taken on the theme of planting trees in Israel, but because this is a shmita year (the seventh year of the agricultural cycle during which time the Torah prohibits Jews from planting the land), there won't be any plantings celebrations this year in Israel.

Here's another greeting for Tu B'Shevat:



For more information on Tu B'Shevat please check these websites:

http://www.shalomctr.org/taxonomy/term/118

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/tubshvat/

I love Tu B'Shevat very much. It's one of my favorite holidays and as a kid in Israel I planted trees every year to celebrate Tu B'Shevat. Today I'm happy to be part of Eco-Libris, where with your support, every day is a Tu B'Shevat.

Happy Tu B'Shevat,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

How green is the iPad - Part 1: What was said so far about the green side of the iPad?

It looks like everything to be said about the the iPad and the ways it will change our life was said in the last couple of days. The buzz is amazing and it's no surprising given the fact that Apple are the masters of marketing. But what about the environment? Is the iPad eco-friendly? Is it greener than other eReaders? And of course, the ultimate question: does it bring to an end the debate of what is more environmental friendly - eBooks or paper books?

We are going to explore these questions in a 3-part series. On the first part, we check today what others think about the green side of the iPad, bringing you a summary of the articles published about it in the last couple of days. Tomorrow, we'll bring you part two with a comparison of the iPad's green features to those of the Kindle and the Nook, and on the last part we'll give you our final analysis.

So, here's part one: What was said so far about the green side of the iPad?

1. Is there an eco-angle to an Apple tablet?, Martin LaMonica, CNET News.
Bottom Line: "From an environmental point of view, that shift is a mixed bag, depending as much on user behavior as on technology...Overall, an Apple tablet, or the host of electronic readers expected this year, can bring many benefits of digitized content and even change how we read, day to day. Whether it brings a net environmental benefit, though, has more to do with the owner than the device."

2. Apple’s new iPad is deep green, but a planet saver? Nope., Matthew Wheeland, GreenerComputing.com
Bottome Line: "In a nutshell, the iPad is a nifty little gadget, I'm sure it will do wonders for how people engage with technology, and hopefully will give a boost to the flagging newspaper- and book-publishing industries, but it is still another resource-intensive gadget that will be an add-on rather than a replacement."

3. The Apple Tablet: Better for the Environment?, The Daily Green Staff, thedailygreen.com
Bottom Line: "..there is some real potential for the Apple Tablet (or whatever it might be called, or whatever tablet manufacturer wins the hearts of the most users) to reduce the strain on the environment caused by both our print and electronic habits ... if, that is, it is built smartly and responsibly and we change our existing habits."

4. Green Features We Love in Apple's New iPad, Jaymi Heimbuch, Treehugger
Bottom Line: "All in all it's a game-changing device and while far from perfect when it comes to sustainable design - or even pushing into new areas of sustainability in its features like using recycled aluminum or glass for the casing - it still hits a few sweet spots. We're hoping new versions will only be more and more eco-friendly."

5. iPad "green" but not sustainable, Lisa Poisso, Super Eco
Bottom Line: "Yes, the iPad is green—but it's not sustainable. It offers nothing that actually replaces existing electronic tools...the iPad is another toy in the endless parade of electronic consumerism. We'll take a pass until a truly greener apple worth picking comes along."

6. The Apple iPad’s Green Grade: B, Pedro Hernandez, earth2tech.
Bottom Line: "All things considered, and given the laundry list of things it can do, the iPad is a pretty green little machine. Maybe even green enough to impress Al Gore (who was in attendance at the launch today)."

Tomorrow we'll bring you part two: Is the iPad greener than the Kindle or the Nook?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 31: How to produce the greenest hang tags?

We are back with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg is talking about a piece of paper that is important to manufacturers of eco-fashion who want to make sure their garments are completely green, even when it comes to the hang tag.

How to produce the greenest hang tags?

Tip #31

This question comes up a lot and I like to suggest several options.

Diesel Jeans once asked me if I could get hang tags made out of
Rock & minerals for their new Organic Jeans lines. This paper, as you recall, is made from Limestone and Calcium Carbonate,
is water proof and tear resistant.

It prints like a dull coated cover and the tactile feel of the paper is really cool. But, I needed 12 weeks to produce the hang tag order. They were using a coated sheet with film lamination and I said I had an alternative.

My recommendation was to switch to Double Thick 100% Post-Consumer Waste recycled cover. That meant two 100# covers, glued together to create a 200# hangtag. The thickness became 26 point, and there was no need for film lamination, as at that thickness, the hangtags would not rip.

The environmental advantage was enormous. They switched from a non recycled stock, with film lamination, to a 100% recycled grade, that is 100% chlorine free and is Green E certified. We punched the hole, and strung their hangtags with Hemp string.

And the price? Our 100% PCW cover is under 90 cents per pound, which is half the price of most 100% post-consumer grades of paper. We kept the price low and made Diesel look terrific to their environmental client base on their organic jeans.

This is definitely a win win. So, switch your hangtags to 100% recycled, and save our environment.

For additional information on green printing, please call Greg Barber at (973) 224-1132, or email greg@gregbarberco.com.

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #30 - How do you become Carbon Neutral in your next print job?

Green Printing Tip #29 - Why environmental views are not always in the core of business?

Green Printing Tip #28 - Green printing resolutions for the New Year!

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

Looking for an affordable green birthday gift?

What's the connection between musician Alicia Keys, Virginia Woolf actresses China Kantner and blues singer Etta James?

They were all born on January 25! If you're also celebrating your birthday today - happy birthday to you too!

We love birthdays and therefore we're happy to remind you of the option to celebrate a birthday of friends, family members, colleagues and anyone you care about with Eco-Libris!

Eco-Libris is offering you now to plant trees to balance out the books of your loved ones who celebrate their birthday. Not only that new trees will be planted to balance out their books, but they will also receive our stickers with a beautiful birthday card made of recycled paper. And we also try to keep it affordable - the added charge for the birthday card is only $1.5.

All you need to do is to choose how many of the birthday person's books you want to balance out on our special birthday gift page (http://www.ecolibris.net/birthday.asp), change the shipping address on the payment page to the address of the gift receiver and we will take care of the rest!

This is also a great green add-on if you're buying a book as a gift for the birthday person, especially if you're buying her or him a green book.

The birthday cards we send are made by Doodle Greetings (see picture above of one of their cards). Not only these cards come with a beautiful design, but they are also eco-friendly - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and are made chlorine-free and acid free. Sounds like a good fit with Eco-Libris stickers!

And of course, if it's your birthday and you want to give yourself a green gift - get yourself a nice green book and plant a tree for it with us!

Happy Birthday!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

POKEN is the new cool social business card, but is it also the greenest alternative to paper cards?

I read about POKEN at Treehugger and this cute gadget can definitely become an alternative to business cards, but is it a greener alternative as well?

Firstly, what is POKEN? as their website explains, it's "a new social business card. Not a flat, white piece of plastic that you stick in a wallet. But one that uses the latest RFID technology to keep people connected in a fun way. POKEN helps people to spark up conversations and keep them going, in all kinds of ways and in their own personal style.Founded in December 2007 and headquartered in Lausanne (Switzerland) with partners around the globe, the mission of Poken, its products, employees, fans and users is to bring people together in their own way and on their own terms"

But you've got to see - check out this video:



So is it greener? Jaymi Heimbuch explains at Treehugger "While the POKEN seems like a great alternative to paper business cards, especially for those heavily involved in online social networking as it links up with Facebook, Twitter and 45 other networking sites. However, it doesn't seem to be a much greener alternative than what services we already have available. It seems much more appropriate that if you're taking your business info digital, you use services that are digital on the devices you already own, like your cell phone, to transfer the information. We'd rather see an app for that, than a whole new electronic device."

Heimbuch is right, but we can't ignore the "coolness factor", which makes the POKEN an attractive alternative to the traditional paper biz cards. I guess no app will be as cool and memorable as the Obama POKEN for example..

Is the POKEN greener for example than business cards printed on recycled paper? it's hard to tell. I guess we'll need to wait for a life cycle assessment to determine it. In the meantime, if you want to purchase a cute POKEN, the price is $19.95 and there's a minimum order of 12.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!