It has been a busy month for TerraChoice staff, especially our President and CEO Scott McDougall and Vice President Scot Case, as they travel across the U.S. and Canada on a conference circuit.

The message both Scot(t)s have been spreading far and wide has been about greenwashing, the recent action by governments in both countries around the false or misleading use of “green” marketing claims and the solutions companies can use to keep the greenwash off of their products and services.

Here is a snapshot of the events:

Oct. 5 and 6 – New York, NY, National Advertising Division

Oct. 7 to 9 – Chicago, IL, International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA)

Oct. 13 - Boston, MA, The Conference Board

Oct. 15 – New York, NY, Unilever Sustainability Foundation

Oct. 15 and 16 – Winnipeg, MB, Canadian Marketing Association

Oct. 16 – Washington, DC, Keystone Group’s Green Products Council Meeting

Oct. 20 - Montreal, QC, Eco Enterprise Quebec’s Producing and Consuming in a New Way’s conference

Oct. 21 - St. John’s, NL, Memorial University

Oct. 23 – Langhorne, PA, NIGP Regional Conference

“Our role [at these conferences and events] has been both inspirational and educational,” explains McDougall. Whether TerraChoice members are applying the Seven Sins of Greenwashing to industry-specific examples or imparting the value of third-party certifications such as EcoLogo and Green Seal, the wide range of companies represented are eager to learn what they can about “green” solutions.

Both McDougall and Case have noted a level of sophistication in the types of questions attendees are asking about greenwashing. The diversity of companies attending these conferences has been another key observation over the past several weeks. From electronics distributors to ad agencies, interest in developing a “green” value proposition seems to have caught on.

TerraChoice is also showing leadership when it comes to the future of environmental labeling by participating in ISSA’s Information Based Environmental Label (IBEL) meetings in Chicago at the beginning of October and taking part in the Green Product Council’s (Keystone Group) meeting in mid-October.

The speaking tour isn’t over yet. Coming up over the next several weeks:

Oct. 27 – Boston, MA, Massacheusetts EPP Vendor Fair

Oct. 28 to 30 – Toronto, ON, Conference Board of Canada

Nov. 10 – Toronto, ON; Nov. 13 – Vancouver, BC, Purchasing Management Association of Canada

Nov. 10 to 13 – Philippines, Green Productivity, Green Purchasing Towards Green Philippines (GP3)’ Conference

Nov. 13 – Ottawa, ON, University of Ottawa Sustainability Conference

Nov. 16 – Hampton, VA, Commonwealth of Virginia’s Annual Purchasers Conference

Nov. 17 to 19 – Charlottetown, PE, Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions

Keep checking back with us to see where TerraChoice will be speaking next. Updates will be made to a new section on the TerraChoice site: Events.

Posted by KateRusnak in Environmental standards, Green business, Green cleaning, Green products, Marketing, Procurement