Ok whatever.  Lets look at some amazing advances in public transportation from “somewhere else”.

“China has made a momentous step forward for public transportation by unveiling the world’s largest bus – the Youngman JNP6250G. The megabus Superliner is 13 meters longer than regular city buses, and it can transport up to 300 passengers in a single trip. A fleet of the new buses will make up the Bus Rapid Transit service in both Beijing and Hangzhou, where populations are high and urban living creates great demand for public transportation systems. The sprawling bus is 82 feet long, and its top speed is only around 50 mph. While other methods of green transportation are faster, the megabus hardly crawls down the highway. Inside, the megabus is much more comfortable and also more wheelchair friendly. The aisles are widened for navigability, and a pavement level step makes wheelchair boarding much easier and faster. 40 regular seats line the bus, and five doors make it easy to enter and exit the vehicle.”

London has also upgraded their iconic red double deckers:

“The new version of the iconic bus features two staircases and three doors – enabling travelers to once again hop on and off whenever they want! Apparently the new bus will also be fuel efficient, saving 15% more energy than the existing hybrid buses and 40% more than the conventional diesel versions.”

I LOVE the asymmetrical design of these big reds!! The designer Thomas Heatherwick said:

“It has been 50 years since a bus was last designed and commissioned specifically for London. This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a team to look again at the opportunities for a new open-platform bus. It has been an honor to be asked by London’s transport authority to take an integrated approach and design everything that you see and experience from the outside down to the tiniest details of the interior.”

Green Hot™ is, of course, about protecting the planet. I think it’s great that design that also looks “hot” is often part of the equation these days.

However, in one of the boldest advertising moves I’ve seen lately, Patagonia approached the sale day orgy in a completely different way. In a full page ad in the The New York Times on Black Friday (and online for Cyber Monday) they implored: “DONT BUY THIS JACKET”.

Then the unusually long copy “gets real” about the fact they’re an outdoors company who is complicit in damaging the environment.  The same natural resources that their company depends on to make make money.

“The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing,” the ad reads. “Consider the R2 Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste. The ad concludes: “There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.”

They steer the reader to patagonia.com/CommonThreads where we find the Common Threads Initiative pledge, which implores us to Reduce, Repair, Reuse and Reimagine a world where we take only what nature can replace. On their end, they promise to make long lasting gear, help us repair our Patagonia products, take back the stuff we no longer need and either find them a new home or recycle them into new products.

Some may get cynical about this reverse psychology campaign, but not I.  This is Green Hot™ gold. I think Tim Nudd (@nudd) of Adweek nailed it when he said:

“…this isn’t greenwashing. It comes off as a genuine attempt to get people to start thinking about sustainable consumption. It acknowledges the hypocrisy of trying to lead such an effort while also hurting the planet—but the messaging offsets that hypocrisy, at least in part, with the boldness of the appeal.”

What I took away from this ad is that Patagonia is leveling with us by saying:   Look…  the way we wastefully consume in the first world is damaging our planet… so lets start making some achievable shifts in thinking and behavior-  it’s the very least we can do, and we as a company, are joining you on this journey.

Their latest win has been described as not only industry-leading but world-leading in the realm of sustainability initiatives.

“From groundbreaking environmental profit-and-loss statement to green packaging plans to a commitment to zero toxic pollution by 2020, the sportswear company has made big strides on addressing its environmental impacts. “We are confident that in the near future we will be able to bring the first shoes, T-shirts and bags, that are either compostable or recyclable, to the market,” Puma boss Franz Koch told the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche. He explained that the company was working with partners on developing products on the principle of the “cradle-to-cradle” design. “It follows two circuits, the technical and the biological: I can use old shoes to make new ones or something completely different, such as car tyres,” said Koch, who has led the sports clothing company since July. “In the biological cycle, I can make shoes and shirts that are compostable so I can shred them and bury them in the back garden. We are working on products that meet these two criteria.”

We live in a world where far too many brands get away with greenwashing because most consumers are apathetic enough to be convinced by packaging that’s green and white with a plant of some description on the label. We also live in a world where regardless whether you believe that climate change is real (it is), the amount of food waste, landfill and planned obsolescence is not only sickeningly short-sighted, but downright evil in my humble opinion.

Green Hot™ is one of our easiest to understand waves. It’s about saving the planet. There are so many examples of brands, product and services that are really trying to do just that. Let hope we can truly add Puma to that list. I would love nothing more for their claims of “compostable” to actually hold up, ahem, unlike certain bottled water companies recently sued by California.

“Salvage Bar & Lounge is the brainchild of Nocturnal Entertainment Group. The group saw a fantastic location, and the discarded remains from the recently redeveloped property, as a chance to create something completely original, unconventional and sustainable. The NEG team has been able to take its years of experience in the nightlife and real estate worlds to create a fascinating and serene atmosphere which allow patrons to constantly discover new details while enjoying reasonably priced beer, organic liquors, or specialty cocktails. Solomon Mansoor, both a principal of NEG and the designer of Salvage, recognized the ravaged building pieces as a treasure trove of beauty and history coming together to create a stunning and distinctive design concept which is unrivaled.”

UpCycling is not only recycling, it’s giving old materials a makeover making them worth a lot more than they were – even in their original form. This cool bar is filled with such things. Located on the ground floor of the Roosevelt, they used their imagination when looking at all the “junk” salvaged from the building’s 2008 renovation and made it into something modern and chic.

Green Hot™ is about protecting the planet, but it doesn’t always have to be about making sacrifices or “going off the grid”. UpCycling is a way to reuse, that embraces hip and smart design that gives old things new worth.

I love mushrooms.

I love growing my own food.

I love recycling.

I love clever design.

I love things that are easy.

I also love inspiring company stories:

“Back to the Roots was founded by Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora during their last semester at UC Berkeley in 2009. Two months away from graduation, and heading into the corporate world of investment banking & consulting, they came across the idea during a class lecture of being able to potentially grow gourmet mushrooms entirely on recycled coffee grounds. Inspired by the idea of turning waste into wages & fresh, local food, they experimented in Alex’s fraternity kitchen, ultimately growing one test bucket of tasty oyster mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. With that one bucket, some initial interest from Whole Foods & Chez Panisse and a $5,000 grant from the UC Berkeley Chancellor for social innovation, they decided to forget the corporate route, and instead, become full-time urban mushroom farmers!”

They are on track to to collect, divert and reuse 1 million lbs of coffee grounds this year from Peet’s Coffee & Tea.  So many great Green Hot™ examples use clever ways to recycle waste.

Well the latest comes from Spanish designer Martín Ruiz de Azúa.  These biodegradable “Bios Urns” combine human remains with tree seeds. “Once the urn put under the ground, a seed starts germinating and growing. The Bios urn helps us to transform a traditional funeral ritual into regeneration and a symbolic return to life.”

I actually love this idea.  However, I have to admit, I wish the urn itself didn’t look like a giant “sustainable slurpee”.  This is supposed to carry the remains of a loved one, so maybe a little more class and reverence in terms of the “packaging design” (for want of a better way to put it.)

Maybe there’s a point to be made about green design.  Does everything really have to be white and green, with rounded “hip” fonts?

Anyway, anyone who lived the Green Hot™ mantra: “Being green helps me secure my future”™ in life… will sure want to leave this world with the same ethos.

And if it doesn’t sell, or you can’t be bothered trying anymore, throwing it in the trash is not an option… it’s actually illegal, thanks to those fancy batteries and circuitry that make it so “magical”.

(Jeeeeeze talk about a “first world” problem eh!!!)

Anyway, enter Gazelle.  A service that helps you sell and recycle your used electronics devices. You can actually sell them your cell phone, laptop, iPad or just about any other device that’s hard to dispose of.  Most electronic recyclers will actually charge you to dispose of them safely!

A less than pristine iPad will fetch around $250 which is way more than I would have thought, and if you have other old phones etc. that are really worth nothing… they say: “As long as something else in your box has value, we’ll still pay for shipping”. Cool!

I also like the term they’ve coined: “reCommerce service”

You know, as much as I hate to admit it, quite a bit of “going green” and being environmentally responsible can actually mean extra effort… with the only reward being a clean conscience. Here’s something they helps you recoup a bit of cash while doing the right thing. Win, Win.

The Green Hot™ wave’s Human Truth™ is: “Being green helps me secure my future”.  We all want a safe and healthy future for ourselves and the planet, so any company that helps me do that easily (and actually throws in some immediate benefits too) is pretty awesome in my eyes.

“Tembo Trunks don’t use batteries or drain power like external speakers or docking stations. This means that you can play music for longer. By using Tembo Trunks you will get much more battery life from your device than you would from your internal speaker (with the added benefit of amplified, clearer, stereo sound). With no cables, chargers or converters, Tembo Trunks will amplify your music anywhere and anytime (indoors or outdoors). All you need is an iPod / iPhone and the earbuds that came with it.”

“Tembo Trunks are the speakers that aren’t speakers. Regular speakers, like most other electronic products, are comprised of numerous parts. Often this includes damaging metals, toxins, glues, and batteries. Tembo Trunks are made from one material (100% non oil-based, high-grade silicone rubber), require no assembly and are designed to last. “

What I really like is the honesty regarding how they address the “green” label:

“We don’t claim to have designed the greenest product ever, but as far as sustainability goes we believe Tembo Trunks are a better alternative to regular speakers.”

That’s much better than over selling or promising things you can’t deliver ie: Greenwashing

I believe a lot of the “burnout” some people have with going green is they feel like they are being misled or it’s become an empty marketing buzz word.  Keeping it simple and transparent is the key for being truly Green Hot™.  Here’s hoping they get the crowdsourced funding they need, because I could totally see myself rocking out to these bad boys!

At the bottom it said:

“PS: This card was printed on 100% recycled paper and embedded with wildflower seeds. Plant it in a sunny spot with a thin layer of soil and watch it grow- while you watch your business grow with adWords.”

Awwwwwww.

The company that does the embedding is called Botanical Paperworks and they say  “the seeds will grow into colorful wildflowers including Bird’s Eye, Clarkia, Black Eyed Susan, Sweet Alyssum, English Daisy, Catchfly and Snap Dragon. Other products are embedded with herbs such as basil, dill and thyme, and vegetable seeds such as carrot and lettuce.”

Double awwwwwwww.

Look, I promise to try and take off my hippy hat off for this post and focus on the business story Frito-Lay is teaching us.

In the Corporate Hating™ Wave we tend to advise companies to listen to their customers and address their concerns promptly. The Wave essence is “Big business listens when people start screaming.”

However, in this case I feel bowing to this kind of “backlash” totally undermines the decision to “go green” in the first place.

No one can deny that Green Hot™ is a major trend. But what we have said from the beginning is to be real about it. Don’t “greenwash!” Yes, changing the packaging to biodegradable is a real and positive step, but to cave to a few people who don’t like the sound of the bag is ludicrous to me. Furthermore, it shows that your heart was never in it.

Ok, so they say they will just change back to the old environmentally unfriendly bag until they kind find a “quieter” eco-friendly solution and even “show its commitment by sticking with the noisy but compostable packaging for the sixth flavor” but my opinion is this:

Backlash sucks… I get it. But maybe if your reasoning is sound you’ll look better in the long run if you stick to your true ethos on the decision Perhaps make the point in packaging and advertising that “going green” isn’t always easy! And we all have to change a few things that we take for granted for the greater good!

Anyone, who knows what being committed to healthier living actually means, understands that sacrifices and change are a daily requirement. And when “sacrifice” comes down to a chip bag being too noisy then we have seriously lost the plot people.