Great stats hot off the presses from a study at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

• 84% would prefer to select the cause their purchase would support
• 83% say personal relevance is key
• 80% believe the specific nonprofit associated with the campaign matters
• 79% say they would be likely to switch from one brand to another, when price and quality are about equal, if the other brand is associated with a good cause
• 85% say they have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about

Thanks to marketing partner Sustainable Life Media for breaking the story!

Depression - that’s right!  I’m not even debating this one.  Read a more technical blog for the explanation.  When we’ve reached - by far- the worst global economic crisis since the 30’s, the “D word” is the only way to describe it.

We see and hear about them almost every day now: big, inefficient companies going belly up, half finished development projects, withdrawn funding.  Even Major League Baseball is trying to figure out how they’ll make any money from the postseason after 1/4 of their advertisers (financial institutions) are now out of business - or in no state to spend millions on advertising.

Ridiculously high gas prices?  Try $10+ a gallon in Europe or over $20/gallon in Sierra Leone, where filling up your SUV could cost several hundred dollars.

Getting to the point: For the first time, people are actually driving less, buying smaller cars, taking closer vacations.  Developments are being held up around the world - but most weren’t being built very sustainably.  People are taking fewer far-off vacations.

Maybe the Depression of 2008 to 20_ _? is the best thing that we could have asked for.  (And don’t thing for a moment your author isn’t hurting as well - my stocks are down about 50% since all this mayhem started and clients are pinching pennies like never before.)

If things slow down long enough to challenge people around the world to innovate and move ahead efficiently and sustainably - we just might be a lot better off in the long run.  Now if we could only get those cattle to stop farting…

Ouch, I guess we are messing things up just a bit.

Mahalo to Twitter user ecozebra.com for the heads up.  Just let me know when to look out for a giant iceberg in the NorCal line ups

While we’re on an ecorant, let’s take a look - photo below - at the more depressing side of SF Outside Lands (and American culture & event sustainability - or lack thereof - in general).

Just a few suggestions:

1. All trash areas have large recycling and compost containers, and small trashcans.  Event “volunteers” could monitor the situation and enjoy some free music for doing their part.
2. Don’t charge so damn much - fewer bands, less running around, time chilling on the lawn at the main stage.
3. Fix the bleachers or rip ‘em out
4. 2 bike Valet areas (north & south) - great work SF Bicycle Coalition!
5. Improve and promote the eco-offerings and keep going with the “score cards”.  Great idea, just didn’t spread the word.  Maybe get headliners to do surprise acoustic sets on the “green stage”.  Love to see Willie Nelson!

Rock ‘n’ roll, rap, hip hop, and funk filled the air of the Outside Lands festival but while the throngs packed San Francisco’s great Golden Gate Park, we took time from the audio overload to explore the some of the green aspects of the festival.
It actually didn’t take long as a set of solar panels sat just outside the main entrance. After that, we hit the Eco Lands. The PG&E sponsored area offered up booths (organic farmers market, solar cell and wind powered phone charging station), tents, exhibits (like solar education classes) that one doesn’t normally see in a rock ‘n’ roll venue. We grabbed an Eco Lands Passport which by obtaining a minimum number of “stamps” for doing certain activities such as recycling your cell phone, use bike valet (we did), calculate your carbon footprint, or donate to a non-profit could win concert tickets and other green schwag.

We found ourselves super impressed with the Panhandle Stage not only because we saw the politically and socially charged K’Naan here but the stage actually ran on solar. That’s right, all the amps, mikes, lights, everything off the grid.

Not until we finshed the fisnished the event did we even realize that people could win prizes for recycling bottles and cups. If we would have picked up 250 bottles then we could have snagged some organic jeans. It didn’t seem like many people knew about this eco-barter system. Too bad because a lot of plastic littered the grounds over the three days.

We’re already psyched not only for an even greener version of Outside Lands 2009 but for other event concerts and what green, social and political action they will take to raise the bar.

I caught this Solar Buzz article on one of my many email digests today.  It’s really a refreshing solution for more affordable solar power.

Typically, only the rich can afford a nice PV display on the roof (after paying for the site survey, installation, etc.)  The costs simply make payback take too long.  This might not be THE solution, but we’re starting the get the idea around here (at least those of us not living on Pennsylvania Avenue).