Print advertising is one of the primary means that a brand can use to convey its image and communicate with consumers. While it is an effective way to impact the public at large, it also has an impact on the environment. As we at John Hardy contemplated the ecological footprint of our print advertising, we wanted to do something about it.
Thus, we are embarking upon a new initiative to help offset the ecological impact of our advertising. With the help of the Institute of Sustainable Communications (ISC), we have estimated both the key ecological impacts associated with our own advertising in 2006, as well as evaluated practical solutions for how to offset them.
Specifically, we have chosen to offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our advertising through the planting of bamboo, a long-lived, rapidly growing woody perennial grass that is capturing the attention of
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environmentalists and sustainability advocates around the globe. For our first initiative we will plant bamboo on Nusa Penida, a small island off the coast of Bali where our workshop is located. We have engaged the respected non-governmental organization (NGO), Friends of the National Parks Foundation, to plant the bamboo for us. In addition to sequestering carbon dioxide, this project will yield many additional benefits: Local families will be provided with bamboo seedlings and training in sustainable cultivation of bamboo that will provide them with food and income as well as conserve precious soil, water and wildlife. An important aspect of this project will be a protected preserve for the highly endangered Bali starling. Although we are a small advertiser by comparison with so many others, we feel that this is a very worthwhile initiative. We hope to serve as an example to larger dvertisers and that many others will commit to joining us in the reforestation of Nusa Penida, and over time, in reforestation projects all over the world.
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Collectively, we can make a world of difference. Hereinafter, all of our advertising will bear the logo, www.sustainableadvertising.org as both a demonstration of our commitment to this cause, as well as a means for consumers, advertisers, publishers, printers and paper manufacturers to find out more about the initiative.
Sustainable advertising is just the latest example of our commitment to sustainability at John Hardy. From the bamboo structures we build for our workshop needs and the women's mud wall cooperative we started, to the organic farm on our compound from which we feed our 700 workers daily and the midwife project which educates our workers about natural childbirth options, the principles of sustainability have guided our environmental, social and economic business practices. Even still, we know we can do better, and have committed to an internal audit of our own supply chain in 2007, in the hopes of reducing our own eco-footprint further.
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