A penquin accidentally steps off a glacier when an ice chunk falls into the widening water below.
Oops! global warming. I hope it doesn't claim another species.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, tucked in a dim-lit room are 15 thirty-year olds with their heads together: The Green Team.
The Green Team brainstorms ideas to help save the world and catapult Christie Digital into the number one position as the greenest projector company in the world.
And boy did they succeed.
Christie Digital, already considered one of the largest and best in its category, redefines 21st Century Survival of the Fittest that includes going green and telling the world about it.
I met Zoran Veselic, Vice President of Global Quality, and learned he created a 10 hour/four day factory work week to save energy, changed packaging requirements so that shipping materials are 100% recyclable, introduced a stand-by mode in new digital cinema projectors, which reduces power use, and improved company-wide recycling rate to name a few of their highlights.
Environmental consciousness permeated every Christie employee on the InfoComm convention floor, too. When I was there I observed every employee wearing a green shirt with a pin stating, Ask me about my shirt.
The shirts were edible should I care to bite into 80% bamboo and 20% organic cotton that had the words: Christie environment sewn on.
While many companies at the trade show gave away nifty gifts, Christie's give-away of an organic cotton grocery shopping bag was again one of the best and consistent with their message.
I picked up Christie brochures.
Every one was printed on recycled paper, using soy ink, which told me so. As did their business cards.
Environmental certifications were listed on brochures too, including international environmental certification ISO 14001... they just celebrated their 20th anniversary... and RoHS, Restriction of Hazardous Substances, a European directive which requires that all electronic equipment sold into European Union do not contain certain toxic substances.
Christie went way beyond certification, and continues to strive daily to make their company, employees, and suppliers number one for the environment.
I hope companies in other industries use Christie Digital as their model, and get to work.
At InfoComm 07 I walked around with my "green" glasses on, seeking those companies making a sustainability difference in a typically high polluting industry.
As I walked around, I thought about the great Douglas Fir trees on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, and how no companies should ever touch them or any old growth trees to make brochures and business cards for trade shows or anything else.
I observed a few business cards on recycled paper at Sanyo and Sharp.
In stark contrast to Christie Digital were companies who had employees at the trade show who knew nothing about recycling of their obsolete products, knew nothing about environmental certification, had nothing on recycled paper, and didn't know anyone else in the company who might know more. Obviously, their companies had not made the environment a priority.
In context of a polluting industry...
A convention center is a wonderful opportunity to see what is and isn't being done to green the world.
To see which companies are greenwashing, indifferent, making a difference, or somewhere in-between.
Before I went to InfoComm 2007, the audio and visual industry's tradeshow in Anaheim last week, I researched which companies were greening their company and industry, and I made a point to stop by and speak to many.
Hands down, of those I met, Christie Digital of North America was the #1 environmentally sound projector company.
One company somewhere in-between was Sanyo. I'm told they are very environmentally aware and compliant, and despite a beautiful short film at their press conference highlighting their Gaia campaign: Think GAIA For Life and the Earth, complete with gorgeous photos of earth, water, trees, people, young and old... their press kit was not on recycled paper (unless they failed to disclose), the information executives shared at press conference had nothing to do with the environment, which seemed odd since they'd gone to trouble with the film to tell us they're pro-environment, and I left with a greenwashing taste in my mouth until...
their competitor at Christie Digital told me how environmentally-friendly Sanyo is, especially in Japan.
How odd Sanyo had little to say about their environmental record at their press conference after the film.
At their press conference I asked how their LCD projectors, which they said were the brightest of them all, were made to protect the environment? I was told they weren't. But these bright LCD projectors are what they talked about after their pro-environment film.
Which brings me to this: Sanyo, perhaps, many other companies that are doing good by the environment need proper PR to disclose this information. And they must educate their employees to tell the world what they're doing.
It's important to take green actions, but you have to speak up too. Otherwise you risk someone like me coming along and mistakenly thinking Sanyo is greenwashing.
Something similar happened recently to Apple Computers. They'd phased out toxic components from computers but failed to tell the world until pressured by Greenpeace. Turns out Apple was greening its products all along.
Survival of the fittest companies will be those that make green changes and tell the world.
