Green Steps Revealed

Let's set the record straight on Green Steps, the trade show program for recognition of companies who are taking steps to reduce the environmental footprint of their business and call attention to their efforts within the show and the outdoor industry.  This was not a program set in motion by one brave and brilliant individual on the show floor, but one that was built by a collective effort of many people, all doing their part to start something from scratch that had never been done before.  The recent OR Daily article on the program was poorly informed and spread misinformation, unfortunately.  The idea that the trade show and industry could be 'greened' by one individual is dreamy, and unrealistic. 

Green Steps is an OR trade show program, inspired by retailer Joe Hyer (and others) at an OIA Rendezvous in 2004, that details a best-practices listing online and a floorplan color-recognition system for calling out brands who contribute to a greener way of doing business; proceeds from the program sponsors go toward reducing the show's footprint itself, like purchasing wind energy credits, using soy ink, recycled paper, recycled carpet in the aisles, biodegradable concessionware, paperless press room, etc....  There was even a Green Steps Association and Journal at one time....  Never, from its inception, was there methodology put forth for transparency (the tracking and disclosure of all elements of Green Steps and reporting to show the 'P&L' statement of the program).  Transparency is not something The Nielsen Company(parent company of OR, and currently privately owned) is necessarily hip to, and we at OR are trying to put forth a ground up initiative within Nielsen.  Some years into it, when it started to take hold, concern was voiced that this was a revenue stream for Outdoor Retailer/Nielsen, and we should show our cards on it.  So I did the best I could, in a newsletter update in 2007, which got no fanfare and didn't need to.  With 85k over 6 shows brought in, and easily over 150k spent on administering the program, there was clearly no surplus.... as claimed by one exhibiting individual who was in on the early planning, then bowed out while taking credit as the 'founder'. 

Just the staff time alone to organize, produce and clean up the materials for the steps themselves crushes any profit that might be squeezed from such a program.  Furthermore, to give even ballpark figures on the full costs vs. revenue of Green Steps is extremely difficult since the program is folded into the fabric of the show production process... one that involves dozens of people and hundreds of detail work orders that need fulfillment for any one show.  The trade show industry itself is stepping forward, being one of the least 'green' business models on the planet (behind Construction).  That we know, and therefore have lots of headroom to improve. Still, demanding transparency of any sustainability program is throwing stones at the glass house still under construction.

Even companies like Timberland and Patagonia, on the front edge of transparency and sustainable business practices, are inventing the wheel when it comes to transparency.... they are breaking trail for the thousands of businesses that will eventually fall into line, or risk consumer judgment.  The company who owns this blog space, and pays my salary, isn't one of the early adopters.  Nevertheless we have a program at the show that is cutting edge in it's own way.  Nielsen sees the point and allows it to happen as long as it doesn't have a heavy cost side.  Transparency is an easy word to throw around these days (like 'green'), useful in dividing the 'true green' from the 'greenwashed' (for those acting as judge, that is).  Who is really transparent? 

OR is dedicated to the continuation of Green Steps and pushing the bar up every show, serving our retail audience...and for all the finger pointing and self-aggrandizing, no one even mentioned the sexy black and red 100% recyclable and 40% recycled content carpet that was used throughout the show.  Or the SLC Bike Collective bike valet on the South Plaza.  Or the 100% recyclable meter boards that pepper the SPCC new for this show, on which the 'founder' used to be recognized on icky foamboard (landfill only).  And how about the free Light Rail trip to Ogden and back for OR badgeholders?   All these programs take time and money to produce for the event manager.   

How many requests to 'turn on the heater' during setup (and a whole lot else ungreen) we get for Winter Market is just one sign that we are hardly in lockstep as an industry. The OIA Eco-Working Group is making progress from an industry-wide perspective on developing indexing and modeling resources for the market.  TNF has just signed with Bluesign, one of the most recognized and progressive monitoring and process 'greening' organizations on the planet.  Only in the outdoor market could we even attempt this, and for that I'm grateful to have a small role.  Do we need to do a whole lot better?  Hell yes....one step at at a time.

Voice your thoughts on Green Steps.  Bring on the questions!  We want this to be the industry program at the industry show.  Thank you to those who continue to contribute and put up meaningful new programs (like TNF joining Bluesign) that push forward into a brave and more sustainable business world.

KH