Miami, FL - When Kermit the Frog first introduced the song ‘Being Green’ on Sesame Street in 1970, the loveable puppet publicly declared “It’s not that easy being green”. Of course, puppeteer Jim Henson’s world-famous amphibian wasn’t referring to Environmental-Correctness then, he was singing about adversity and diversity.

In the 38 years since, however, Environmental-Correctness has moved from being a limited side dish of just a few years ago — offered by only a handful of environmentally involved companies and organizations — to become the main entrée on the ‘Green’ menu today.

In fact, being ‘green’ has seemingly become highly embraceable by retail stores, companies, corporations, institutions, organizations and environmentally conscious people everywhere — and more than a few unconscious ones, too!

Green, it seems, has indeed become very easy! Green cars (including hot, fast and SUV ones). Green houses, green office buildings, green foods, clothes, mutual funds, tourism destinations. Even green data-warehousing! And, of course, green companies and green corporations.

Only one thing is missing, however, from this ideal, Let’s-All-Save-the-Earth picture. Unfortunately, that one missing thing may be the very thing which prevents Environmental Correctness from becoming ‘just one more passing fad’. And that one missing thing is (a drum-roll, please): Green Executives.

“Put Your Green Mouth where Your Green Money Is.”

To prevent the current wave of ‘green-ness’ from simply fading into vague memory and, in the process, contributing to the earth’s slide toward an ‘ashen gray’ barrenness, a Miami-based consultant — and self-described ‘environmental & conservation foot-soldier’ with a knack for putting a twist on a familiar saying — is calling on Corporate America to put “it’s green mouth where it’s green money is!”

Lee Sinoff, an Operations, Marketing & Communications and Project Management generalist ( \n professional_resources@theplate.com ) with more than 25 years of executive experience, is publicly asking companies, corporations, organizations and institutions to adopt “Chief Conservation Officer” (CCO) as the newest ‘C-level executive’.

Sinoff further asks companies, corporations, etc., to give the person with that title executive-level authority for overseeing, motivating, managing, maintaining and expanding the organization’s commitment to conservation and environmental responsibility — in day-to-day activities; in their programs, projects and products; in planning, steering and orchestrating the organization’s future; and in fulfilling its ultimate responsibility to its own constituency, the community, the environment and humanity at large.

According to Sinoff, that ‘office’ would involve promoting environmental awareness within the organization and the community, and pursuing efforts organization-wide to conserve energy, resources and everything related — backed with C-level ‘muscle’ to make sure that commitment continues beyond a fad stage.

Naming a Chief Conservation Officer, Sinoff asserts, would even contribute to the bottom line, especially as consumers become more committed to preferring environmentally conscious products over similar products with no environmental ‘involvement’. And, from a marketing and sales point of view, as interest goes up, prices will go down — making environmentally tuned products even more competitive.

Chief This & Chief That
Sinoff looked up “Corporate Titles” at www.wikipedia.com , and found 49 separate “Chief This” and “Chief That” officers, but “no reference to anything dealing with, or close to, Conservation or Environmental Issues!”

“I even met a ‘Chief Relationship Officer’, who works with a law firm, at a recent Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting,” Sinoff said, “but that title wasn’t even one of the 49 listed at Wikipedia!”

And yet, if you google ‘Chief Conservation Officer’, Sinoff noted, “you’ll find that Orbit Irrigation Products in North Salt Lake, UT, appointed a Chief Conservation Officer in 2005!

“And, a year before that, the Catalina Island Conservancy was hiring a Chief Conservation Officer to direct the Conservancy’s efforts to protect Catalina’s ecological system and restore the islands’ natural resources, as well as conduct scientific research on the island.”

In fact, according to Sinoff, Google can pull up more than 5,000 links for Chief Conservation Officer in less than 3 seconds.

But most of those links connect to environmentally conscious governments (for example, the state of West Virginia and the province of Ottawa), Native American tribes (such as the Bois Forte Band of the Chippewa Indians and the Fond du Lac Reserve in Saskatoon), and a few major environmental organizations themselves (such as The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Federation).

Long-Term Is the Key

“With few exceptions, ‘Corporate America’ is sadly missing from standing up for a long-term commitment to environmental awareness and concern,” Sinoff said. “ ‘Long-term’ is the key to the future!”

This is not a campaign Sinoff relishes as a lone individual, yelling against the wind. “I see myself as Camus’ Sisyphus, pushing that huge ball uphill, making little progress against great odds.

“Where are Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and even The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Federation, who have Chief Conservation Officers? Those organizations should be trying to wake up Corporate America, not me!”

Companies and corporations are indeed now producing more ‘green’ products — and promoting their ‘green-ness’ — than ever before, even though those very same companies don’t seem to have a Chief Conservation Officer (a CCO, as opposed to a COO) in place yet.

And many environmentally conscious consumers and even people who may not be particularly involved in environmental issues are indeed beginning to prefer ‘green’ products over similar ‘non-green’ choices.

“It’s time-imperative for the Business, Corporate, Manufacturing, Industrial and Service sectors to realize its not only healthy for the planet and all living things to be environmentally conscious, it’s necessary,” Sinoff points out. “And it can be good for business, too. But corporations already know that… as long as the trend continues, or turns to forgotten fad!”

Posted: 04|30|08 at 8:35 am. Filed under: Press Release.