Green Daily reports today on the really distressing news that more than two thirds of retail furniture tested in the San Francisco area contained halogenated fire retardants, which “have been linked to cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, reproductive dysfunction and several learning disabilities.” The site then goes on to list eco-friendly furniture alternatives, and I thought I’d do my part and add a few office furniture options here.

• Snyder contemporary two-seater sofa
• Penguin lounge chair
• Hosta lounge chair
• Teknion wood tables

Note that fire retardants are also an issue in the plastic casing found on some office machines.

This post is Part Four in a series of posts based on discussions with John Polak, chair of the Global Ecolabelling Network. Click for Part One, Part Two or Part Three.

Government interest in the environment and green procurement stems from more than just a desire to save the planet. John Polak brought up the good point that the convergence of environmental and health concerns is driving changes in government policies. In a relatively new development, governments have begun to look at the environment and health from a chemical perspective. A lot of chemicals that are bad for the environment tend to be bad for people too, and politically, “Save the people!” can be a more compelling call to arms than “Save the planet!”

For example, nothing galvanizes consumers/voters more than a health risk discovered in a mass-produced product. Think of the recent lead scare around toys manufactured in China. According to John, that debacle simply exacerbated the issue of not having appropriate safeguards in place to minimize the risks of exposure to hazardous materials. It wasn’t an environmental issue to start, but it certainly has environmental implications.

John also pointed out, along those lines, that the best way to get traction on chemical issues is to focus on the very young. Apparently in Norway new mothers leave the hospital with their new babies and ecolabel gift bags. Maybe there’s a role for healthcare and health insurance providers in promoting the green movement. Should there be EcoLogo-certified products in your doctor’s office? Should government-based health initiatives and organizations more closely link themselves to ecolabelling efforts?

Green Biz reports in a recent article that small businesses make up 99.9% of all businesses in the US and employ half the private sector workforce. Put together that represents a lot of clout - whether you’re talking about lobbying Congress or influencing an environmental movement.

Of course, each small business is its own entity, which means that individuals in these companies have to take on the challenge of making big changes. It’s fun, however, to play the “What if?” game. What if every small business in the US instituted a green procurement policy? Replaced incandescent light bulbs with CFLs? Reduced waste? Increased energy efficiency? Imagine the impact.

Fortunately, there are a number of resources for small companies looking to do their part. The Green Biz article points to the Small Business Environmental Home Page, for example, which links to a phenomenal number of local resources across the country. And EcoLogo can help with your green shopping list for office purchases. Find green products in the categories of:

• Office furniture
• Office paneling
• Office machines and printing cartridges
• Paper products including forms and envelopes
• Pens and pencils

Small business. Big impact.

A recent report on Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Communications (PDF link) has some interesting findings. When asked to select the three most important activities for a socially responsible company to engage in, survey respondents for the report listed “ensuring that products meet accepted environmental/social standards” at number two. Only “fair treatment of employees” came in higher.

Meeting environmental standards is certainly important, but which ones? And where do they come from? Are they reliable? Do they cover the most important environmental attributes?

It becomes clearer and clearer to me that greater regulation or at least transparency is needed in the setting and promotion of environmental standards.

Information on the report via Buyer Analytics and Environmental Leader. Click thumbnail right for larger picture.

This post is third in a series based on discussions with John Polak, chair of the Global Ecolabelling Network. Part One is available here, and Part Two is available here.

The ecolabel trend is growing because companies are increasingly looking for environmental credentials, but as John Polak pointed out to me, ecolabels really serve two functions. On the one hand they’re marketing tools, and clearly effective at that. On the other hand they’re market-based policy tools.

As national and international organizations have realized, ecolabels can affect market change by swaying global purchasing behaviors. For example, if a government mandates that all government-funded purchases meet certain environmental standards, an auditable ecolabel is a good way to ensure compliance. Government purchasing in turn impacts private-sector business purchasing, and the two continue to feed off each other.

Interestingly, most of our government-based ecolabels in the US are not based on true eco-certification programs. Energy Star, for example, is probably the most well-known ecolabel here, but it’s a registration program, not a certification program like EcoLogo and others accredited by GEN. Companies register their products as meeting Energy Star criteria, but the claims are many times unproven.

As GEN continues to meet and talk with organizations like the WTO, ecolabels and certification programs are likely to play an increasingly important role in global commerce. Even if you’re not a fan of globalization, there are certainly benefits when the positive policy tools of one country or multinational organization have the power to impact behavior worldwide.

According to The New York Times, EcoMom parties are the new thing. Instead of drinking wine over jewelry, home goods or Tupperware products, moms are getting together to strategize on greener living. Not wanting to miss out on a trend, we thought we’d put together our own EcoLogo guide to hosting an EcoMom party.

How to Prepare
Planning to do a little cleaning before company arrives? Bring out a green cleaner to do the job. Both Bed, Bath and Beyond and Linens N’ Things carry Greening the Cleaning’s (GTC) Citrus Sage All-Purpose Cleaner. Among the many criteria it meets for EcoLogo certification, the GTC cleaner has less than 1% by weight of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and low aquatic toxicity.

What to Serve
Since moms are often tired by the time they get to an evening party (I know this first-hand), why not have coffee available for those that could use a little caffeine pick-me-up? Merchants of Green coffee is available online and produced under sustainable conditions, with careful consideration given to everything from where the coffee beans are grown to fertilizing and drying methods.

Taking Notes
The most environmentally-friendly way to keep track of green strategies is to commit them to memory. However, if your guests don’t have photographic recall, think about providing them with writing materials for note-taking. Office Depot carries Zebra® Jimnie® Clip Recycled Retractable Ballpoint Pens. The EcoLogo-certified pens contain 75% postconsumer recycled content including material from car headlights, CDs and recycled cell phones!

New Product Sample
Typical mom parties do revolve around shopping, so it can’t help to have a green product or two on hand to show off. Consider Nature Clean shampoo and conditioner. In addition to being EcoLogo-certified, Nature Clean products can be ordered online and delivered with carbon-offset shipping. Lather, rinse, repeat!

Breaking up with a supplier is no easy matter, but companies are increasingly putting out “Dear John” letters to long-time vendors in an effort to green their supply chains. Most recently, Staples very publicly fired its paper supplier over concerns of deforestation practices. Among other problems, Greenpeace had charged the vendor of illegal logging in Chinese forests, and Staples stated that remaining with the supplier would be a “great peril to [its] brand.”

Staples is not alone. When New York State put in place a mandate that all cleaning materials used in schools must be EcoLogo or Green Seal certified, several suppliers were shown the door. Also in New York, Crown Vic cabs were given the old heave-ho when taxi companies had to upgrade their fleets to fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. And most recently, a major restaurant supplier (not to be named at the moment) fired its long-standing paper-goods supplier in favor of one with EcoLogo certification.

All in all, green credentials are becoming more and more important for suppliers looking to secure and retain big customers. Want to avoid a break-up this Valentine’s Day? Be able to prove your business is on the right side of green

Canon is creating its own green label, “Generation Green”. On the one hand, Canon should be applauded for its environmental efforts: making printers with biodegradable and recyclable parts, decreasing product packaging and cutting down on the use of toxic materials. On the other hand, why are companies increasingly introducing their own, non-regulated green labels into the market?

There are several problems with manufacturer-generated ecolabels. First, manufacturers do not have to set specific criteria and stick to them. They can decide on a case by case basis whether a product should be labeled green, giving consumers no indication of the range that an ecolabel might encompass. Second, there is no independent auditing. That’s like getting to grade your own SAT exam. Third, a company-specific ecolabel doesn’t give consumers an effective way to compare products since no company other than its creator is going to use the label.

Interestingly, Canon has several EcoLogo-certified products, which, in conjunction with the Generation Green label , does provide credibility for the company’s environmental claims.

Not surprisingly, green marketing works in the housing market as well as anywhere else. The Daily Green has a feature piece up on green renovations consumers can do to help sell a home in a down market. Among the recommendations:

• Upgrade to energy-efficient appliances and replace light bulbs throughout the house with compact fluorescents. According to one builder in North Carolina’s Triangle Park, energy-efficient homes are selling faster than their non-green counterparts.
• Give the house a fresh coat of low-VOC paint. Good for the environment, good for your health.
• Get eco-friendly flooring. In addition to the green marketing benefits, green flooring is a health improvement over old carpets which can emit allergens and toxins.

I try to catch up with Scot Case as often as possible for his insights on the state of green marketing. Scot is on the road constantly, talking to people on the front lines of green commerce and observing trends in the promotion of green products. When I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, Scot mentioned something he’s noticed in the very early days of 2008. After three conferences (in something like ten days), Scot noticed that event planners have put serious effort into creating special green sections of their shows to promote environmentally-friendly products. That’s great news, right?

Well…

The thing about these new green exhibit areas is conference organizers seem to be unclear about who to allow in and who to screen out. Put a shiny green label on your product and you’ll probably be ushered in. Greenwashing alert.

This is not to say that conference planners aren’t making a move in the right direction. It’s great to bring recognition to environmental efforts and the companies behind them. With a little tweaking to the process, these shows can be frontrunners in the green marketing space. Here are three recommendations for improving the system in the future:

1. Publish and promote specific criteria for exhibiting in a designated green area
2. Use the Six Sins of Greenwashing as a guide for screening products and share it with conference attendees
3. Review tips and tools for events on the EPA’s Green Meetings site