With the Copenhagen Summit opening today it seems unlikely that the environment is going to disappear from the headlines anytime soon. The "green" story has travelled a long way in the last two decades. Eloqui partner Joanne Milroy observes current trends...
Green is mainstream - green topics are no longer in the ghetto but covered by mainstream commentators such as food writers (food miles) or travel specialists (eco-holidays), home and leisure (green homes and wildlife gardening) or transport (green travel policies) etc etc. Environmental reporters are not quite an endangered species but are evolving in a Darwinian way into new roles such as specialist analysts (e.g.the BBC's Roger Harrabin), or more challenging green commentators (e.g. The Guardian's George Monbiot).
Green is mainstream - green topics are no longer in the ghetto but covered by mainstream commentators such as food writers (food miles) or travel specialists (eco-holidays), home and leisure (green homes and wildlife gardening) or transport (green travel policies) etc etc. Environmental reporters are not quite an endangered species but are evolving in a Darwinian way into new roles such as specialist analysts (e.g.the BBC's Roger Harrabin), or more challenging green commentators (e.g. The Guardian's George Monbiot).
The informed consumer - a few years ago most people didn't know what a carbon footprint was while now stand up comedians make zeitgeist jokes on the theme. A more informed general public means businesses need to continually develop their messages to reflect this new moving target.
Action not words - for many businesses and organisations the priority in recent years has been to get their environmental messages "out there". But campaigns will be increasingly judged not by the size of headlines but on their ability to change behaviours and achieve tangible results.
New campaigns - back in the 80s and 90s environmental stories focused on the swashbuckling deeds of Greenpeace on the high seas, oil spills and whaling controversies. Environmental reporting these days often feels a lot less dramatic but there is a new theme every week – water scarcity and land usage are two topics of emerging importance.
The doubters – with the UEA e mail debate swirling round climate change doubters have received a new lease of life. With media never happier than when there is conflict in the air – the story is only likely to run and run.
Recent environmental communication projects for Eloqui have included stakeholder audits, strategy development, on-line campaigns, media relations, promoting new environmental technologies and public information campaigns
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