If you’re at all like the gang at Marketing Eco, when a way to save energy takes only two clicks of the mouse button to implement, you’re all over it.

Hang on to your hats and get ready to to “click on” your energy savings, because by using Blackle as your browser’s home page and your default search engine you can make an impact, and we all know that even the small energy savings are important ones.

Here’s the scoop straight from Blackle.com:

How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Roberson et al, 2002

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.

How can you help?

We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.

Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: “Blackle.com – Saving energy one search at a time”.

Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy or you can follow Blackle on Twitter and we will keep you updated with simple energy saving tips.

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling “energy saving tips” or visit one of the many great blogs dedicated to environmental awareness.

If you haven’t changed your browser’s default home page before, Blackle has instructions embedded above to set Blackle as your home page.

Thanks to Eco Scout, Marketing Eco has “clicked on” energy savings for each ME computer. We’d love to hear how many people are already on board with Blackle, and how many of you give two clicks for sustainability by visiting http://www.blackle.com now.

Per Eco Scout, it’s true as long as the site meets strict quality criteria, fills gaps in educational content, and is approved by the EEWW.

Here’s the scoop on criteria and how to submit your Web site straight from the EEWW:

The EPA Environmental Education Web sites make quality environmental education materials more accessible to Kids, Middle School Students, High School Students and Teachers. The EPA’s Environmental Education Web Workgroup (EEWW) evaluates sites to determine whether they are appropriate to be included as links on EPA’s environmental education portal pages.

Read the linking criteria to determine if the site you are proposing may be included in any of the portal sites. The site will not be selected if it:

• Promotes commercial activities
• Promotes political organizations
• Engages in advocacy
• Is not fact based and neutral

[Reference: Above information from http://www.ttemidev.com/eewwRev/]

Our audiences

We design our environmental education portals for specific target audiences. (Grades and ages may vary for certain content.)

Our Environmental Education Portal Web sites
Site	Audience	We link to:
Environmental Kids Club	grades pre-K-5 or ages 4-10	we link to EPA sites, other federal, state and local government sites, and educational sites (e.g., museums, educational institutions)
Student Environmental Center	grades 6-8 or ages 11-13	we link to EPA sites, other federal, state and local government sites, and educational sites (e.g., museums, educational institutions).
High School Environmental Center	grades 9-12 or ages 14-18	we link to EPA and other government sites, educational sites, and some non-government sites.
Teaching Center	classroom, home school, or non-classroom instructors for youth grades pre-K-12 or ages 4-18	we link to EPA and other government sites, educational sites, and some non-government sites.

[Reference: Audience information, method of evaluating sites, and more details regarding criteria can be found on http://www.epa.gov/teachers/criteria.htm]

Per Eco Scout, submit a site for EEWW review at: http://www.ttemidev.com/eewwRev/

Eco Scout has been watching for updates to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) "Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims" and noticed that the FTC updated eCFR Title 16, Part 260 on July 1, 2009.

Stay tuned! Eco Scout will stay on the trail of this e-CFR and keep you in the loop regarding all future FTC changes big and small. Even though this recent update by the FTC wasn’t much to squawk about, as the FTC continues to hold hearings and gather information we expect to see changes in the regulation of environmental marketing claims.

TITLE 16–Commercial Practices
CHAPTER I–FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
SUBCHAPTER B–GUIDES AND TRADE PRACTICE RULES
PART 260–GUIDES FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS

Try one of these easy ways to stay connected and connect your friends and colleagues to all Eco Scout’s finds on Marketing Eco:

1. Click "Subscribe" in the lower-right corner to receive the Marketing Eco RSS feed via your favorite feed service.
2. Click on the corresponding link in the upper-right corner to follow Marketing Eco on Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace.
3. Share Eco Scout’s Marketing Eco updates with your friends and colleagues via your favorite social media or email, or save us to your favorites using the "Share / Save" button below.

For those of you who want certainty about making environmental claims, it’s critical to work with marketing and advertising firms that are familiar with this information and on top of future updates. 

Because the FTC will continue to gather information, hold hearings, and update these guides as needed, Marketing Eco will keep a watch on developments with this e-CFR.

Without further ado, here’s the scoop from the FTC:

The guides in this part represent administrative interpretations of laws administered by the Federal Trade Commission for the guidance of the public in conducting its affairs in conformity with legal requirements. These guides specifically address the application of Section 5 of the FTC Act to environmental advertising and marketing practices. They provide the basis for voluntary compliance with such laws by members of industry. Conduct inconsistent with the positions articulated in these guides may result in corrective action by the Commission under Section 5 if, after investigation, the Commission has reason to believe that the behavior falls within the scope of conduct declared unlawful by the statute.

These guides apply to environmental claims included in labeling, advertising, promotional materials and all other forms of marketing, whether asserted directly or by implication, through words, symbols, emblems, logos, depictions, product brand names, or through any other means, including marketing through digital or electronic means, such as the Internet or electronic mail. The guides apply to any claim about the environmental attributes of a product, package or service in connection with the sale, offering for sale, or marketing of such product, package or service for personal, family or household use, or for commercial, institutional or industrial use."

e-CFR Data is current as of June 18, 2009
TITLE 16–Commercial Practices
CHAPTER I–FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
SUBCHAPTER B–GUIDES AND TRADE PRACTICE RULES
PART 260–GUIDES FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS

The new Marketing Eco website will start out a little like a seedling awaiting the full foliage that ongoing eco posts and content development will provide. With such an enormous wealth of marketing knowledge here, our main challenge will be to dispense it in bite-size, easily digestible pieces.

The concept for the website is to provide a green marketing twist on cutting edge strategic marketing know-how and wrap that up with useful green business and marketing best practice information provided by our Eco Scout.

By tying our website posts directly to feeds to social media, we look forward to showing by example how green and effective both viral and social marketing really are.

We never stop searching for new ways to improve marketing strategies and tactics and we’re focused on empowering our clients with marketing techniques and tools that they can manage themselves. This both saves clients a great deal of cost, but also makes their marketing fluid and live, versus static and slow moving.

For instance, this website is built on a free, open-source, and very flexible platform that enables a password protected client-side content editing portal that is very easy to use. In addition, a client can edit their website from any computer with Internet access 24/7, a feature that our clients are positively beaming about. We’re in the midst of two client web launches on this platform and we’re looking forward to sharing their after-launch feedback with you all within the next week or two.

With over 18 years of hands-on international marketing experience in various industries, we’re excited about nurturing eco marketing projects for companies from all walks, both green industries and regular companies who want to green up and their business practices. To that end, Marketing Eco’s new website opens up a global, virtual conversation for those interesting in green marketing. 

With the level of enthusiasm our clients are showing for our client-empowering green twist on strategic marketing, we couldn’t be more thrilled about how our combination of marketing ecology and economy is flourishing. It’s a definite win-win for the client and saving the earth through sustainable marketing."

Kari Havir, Marketing Eco

We may be a little tongue in cheek when it comes to the conversational and fun flavor of our website, yet we’re extremely serious when it comes to delivering a measurable return on marketing investment (ROMI). Contact Marketing Eco to learn more.