The Green Scene: environmental news 8 May 2008

CPI don't beat about the bush when it comes to talk of saving trees. Meanwhile, Brother staff sacrifice their time to plant a few.

Putting printers into the picture
Printing, paper and portraiture were among the key points of discussion for CPI's recent 'Clear the air ...' session.

Hosted at the Art Gallery of NSW, the "de-mystification" session covered the gamut of environmental abbreviations that could confuse even the most well-versed of rap artists: ECF, EMAS, FSC, SFI, PEFC ... there's probably more but we'll leave them to you to compose.

Speaker Peter Cottam (pictured below) said that clients are demanding more environmental fluency from designers, agencies and printers than ever before. He is keen to spread the word about what people can do to see through the green wash out there, and also show that printers are not the environment's number-one enemy.

"What we've got to get through to printers is that they need to talk to people," he said. "We've always been an easy target."

The ACCC's Green Marketing Act (remember, we published it here) is going to have a major effect on keeping printers honest, according to Cottam. He's also keen to fight against the recent corporate culture of choosing electronic documents over print.

"Not using paper in order to save trees is like not eating salad in order to save vegetables," he said.

Sound a bit confusing? Well, you're not alone, Cottam says. "I'm not going to say I'm an expert – sometimes I am completely bamboozled. So read and study the information out there."

Guests might not have rushed straight home to heed Cottam's advice, but when there was a free viewing of the Archibald (and complimentary canapés) to follow, not even the most devout of greenies could blame them for sticking around.

Of course, this writer would have stayed longer if he wasn't chased off by security for pulling out a camera.

Big effort from Brother
Brother International Australia employees did their bit for the environment last week when they planted 1000 trees donated by the Brother NSW office as part of the Dungog Film Festival tree planting and bush regeneration project.

The project, which took place from Monday 14 to Sunday 20 April in Dungog, in the Hunter Valley, was led by the festival's environmental partners, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA).

Brother planted the trees alongside 30 other volunteers in an effort to assist in the restoration of natural habitat in an area just outside of Dungog.

Mark Cullen, brother's state manager for NSW and ACT, commented reckoned it was all worthwhile. "Brother staff are genuinely concerned about the daily impact we all have on the environment and are pleased to have the opportunity to be involved with this regeneration project," he said.

Pictured: (L-R): Back row: Alex Rodriguez;  Scott Mill; Susanah Franey; Mark Cullen and Cassandra Stojsic.
In the ront row is Festival Director,  Allanah Zitserman with her dog ‘Cookie’ and Andrew Curling. We want to know how many trees Cookie planted ...