PCI-Media Impact Hosts International Workshop on Entertainment Education and Social Marketing

PCI-Media Impact, a New York-based non-profit with 25 years experience using communications for development, is initiating its sixth year of the My Community program on November 2 with an international training on Entertainment Education and Social Marketing in Lima, Peru.

 The 32 selected participants – including radio hosts, journalists, community activists, and professors– representing Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, will participate in a five-day  hands-on training  and learn how to design, produce and broadcast entertaining radio soap operas that address urgent community needs.

“This year’s training promises to be one of the best,” said Media Impact Programs Director, Sean Southey.  “Between staff, community activists and media leaders, and representatives of current My Community coalitions, we will have representatives from  leading NGOs and grassroots social movements in Latin America coming together to discuss how to create global changes beginning at the local level.”

Media Impact received applications from more than 40 coalitions hoping to participate in the training, of which the top 11 were invited to attend.  After successfully completing the Entertainment Education training, coalitions are then eligible to apply to produce their own radio campaigns. 

During the past twenty-five years, Media Impact has worked with local partners worldwide to produce educational, culturally sensitive radio and television serial dramas that combine the power of storytelling with the reach of broadcast media to address social issues in developing countries.  For the past five years, this approach to social change has centered on the 8 to 12 annual My Community projects.

“We are really excited to meet and train the new coalitions,” says Mike Castlen, Media Impact Executive Director.  “They bring issues to the table that affect their daily lives, like child prostitution, discrimination against indigenous populations, and domestic violence.  We can help them address these heavy issues in an entertaining, effective way.  My Community thrives on this strong local buy-in; our partners develop communications strategies that are enriched by their in-depth cultural understanding and vested interest in driving local change.”

The current My Community projects address a variety of sexual and reproductive health and environmental issues plaguing developing nations.  Most recently, successful projects have addressed rising HIV prevalence rates in Central America, deforestation of rural areas in South America and the importance of demanding civil rights and civic engagement. 

This year, the training will feature a presentation by My Community partner, Asociación Comunicares, a coalition that has, for the past two years, produced a youth-run radio drama, “The Intruder.”  The group will discuss their successful experience leveraging local resources to scale up a community-level program to a national campaign. 

“Comunicares has been a strong partner over the past two years, and we are excited for them to share their experiences with the new coalitions,” says Queta Valdez, Media Impact Programs Officer for Central America.  “Showing the impact their campaign has had will give workshop participants a taste of what they can accomplish in their own communities, and a sense of how effective Entertainment Education tools are in achieving social change.”

To follow the training and receive daily updates, please visit Media Impact’s Facebook Fan Page or its Twitter page.

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CSR Special Report: BSR Conference—Taproot Foundation’s Lindsay Firestone

Lindsay Firestone, Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Taproot Foundation

Nestle Waters’ Hit and Miss

Christine Arena is the author of The High-Purpose Company – The Truly Responsible (and Highly Profitable) Firms that are Changing Business Now. Like what you just read? Get your daily dose of corporate insights. Visit www.christinearena.com for more information.

 

There is a great deal at stake in the bottled water business. Perhaps Nestlé Waters North America knows this better than anybody. The company presently controls approximately 41 percent of the $11.7 billion US bottled water market. Like every other competitor in the space, it faces shrinking category sales, as well as mounting pressure from groups complaining about the toll that water corporations take on the planet.

Bottled water activists point to plastic waste, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, the environmental effects of water extraction, water privatization issues and a range of social problems generated by the industry. Could such “road blocks” deter long-term growth for corporate bottled water empires? Nestlé thinks not.

According to a 2009 document entitled “The Future of Bottled Water” authored by Nestlé CEO Kim Jeffery, the company’s broad portfolio of bottled water products, including Poland Spring, Perrier, Arrowhead, Deer Park and Zephyrhills, are well-positioned to recover from the present economic slump. “Bottled water is perfect as it is,” the company says. “[There are] limited opportunities to innovate.”

This company is clearly not of a world-changing mindset. Nestlé takes the position that the bottled water industry is unfairly portrayed as a “villain” by environmental activists and an angry public, and that “environmental facts do not support this.” Really, Nestlé?

In a press release and video web site launched last week, Nestlé attempted to express to the public the environmental virtues of bottled water. “Bottled water is actually the most efficient choice of any packaged beverage available to consumers,” the company insists. “Bottled water is a very small user of our water resources…Plastic represents less than one percent of solid waste. While water bottles can be recycled, not all Americans have access to curbside recycling…To sum it all up, bottled water is a healthful choice, can cost less than 20 cents per bottle, and has a lighter environmental impact.”

Of course, not everyone sees things through the corporation’s rose colored lens. Take the 5,400 local citizens of Salida, Colorado who recently banded together in order to fight Nestlé off and protect its local water resources and land. Or what about the residents of McCould, California, who claim their town was torn apart by Nestlé’s operations in the area? Nestlé makes no mention of such stakeholder concerns in its press release or video web site, both which set forth to “set the record straight.”

Nestlé has a public relations problem. The problem isn’t just that Americans around the country are hanging signs in their windows and entryways reading: “Stop Nestlé” or “Nest-Leave.” Nestle’s public relations problem is its sterile, detached response. The company seems to be under the impression that people will read its communications in an isolation chamber, devoid of context, clue, cultural condition, and (yes, Nestlé) fact.

Let’s start with the hard data. According to Food and Water Watch, bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. That plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil annually to produce. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and is demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles end up in land fills. That’s why the Pacific Rim Garbage Patch, the floating vortex of waste that’s twice the size of Texas, is comprised mainly of plastic. It’s also why so many sea creatures die every day from ingesting plastic, and why plastic waste has become one of the chief concerns of our Nation’s top environmental groups.

On the cost side of things, consumers pay a huge markup on a product even though as much as 40 percent of it comes from a tap in the first place. Stakeholder communities also pay. Food and Water Watch says Nestlé has an unfortunate reputation for moving into communities, taking water for next to nothing, selling it for a hefty profit, then leaving the locals to deal with the residual environmental and social externalities, and moving on. “Next!”

None of these issues are substantively addressed in Nestlé’s press release or on its video website. Through bullet points, select interviews and clip art snippets, the company only superficially confronts the environmental impacts of bottled water. Nestlé avoids all controversial content, including details related to ongoing rifts with local communities around the country. The company’s corporate tone of voice, detached message and superficial approach to “issues outreach” demonstrates an indifference to the wider public’s ardent support for environmental reform and social justice. The pitch is all wrong.

Nestlé broke every cardinal rule in social media, stakeholder engagement and transparency with it’s one-sided, “set the record straight” public relations effort. There is no meaningful opportunity to interact with the company, no way to leave a comment. My bet is, the only folks convinced by Nestle’s “bottled water is good” message will be those who manufactured it.

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RedZone proudly introduces the ‘GreenZone’ to help Reduce Environmental Pollutants

Collection system management is critical for environmental safety.  The EPA has identified the reduction of sewer overflows as one of several national priorities of focus to reduce environmental pollutants.  Every day, collection system managers are tasked with making critical decisions about abundant and valuable buried sewer infrastructure. In the U.S. alone, there are over 4.2 billion feet of sewer pipe, or approximately 14 feet per person.  In many cities, aging & leaking pipes cause millions of gallons of sewerage to be discharged into water bodies every time it rains.  Collection system managers are constantly dealing with 4 key constraints while trying to inspect and understand their infrastructure prior to making critical decisions:  insufficient funding, timing, resources and technologies.

RedZone recently launched a solidified product offering that includes Solo and ICOM3 alongside our flagship Responder robot.  These breakthrough products will help our municipal sewer customers inspect and understand their systems better than ever, allowing them to plan asset management programs that make the best use of available funds.

Steve Line, RedZone CTO, stated, “Sewer systems can present great risk by overflowing into the environment when they are neglected or when the probability of failures not understood due to random, sporadic inspection practices.  Managers need to inspect and understand their systems in an expeditious manner so that plans can be devised to prioritize and execute cost effective preventative measures, maximizing the value of their rate-payer funds.  While helping solve the greater environmental concern, our products are also an environmentally friendly way for managers to inspect, understand, plan, and execute.”

Steve added, “Our newly launched Solo robot is an industry first.  It is the only commercially available, self powered, truly autonomous inspection robot for sewers.  It replaces large CCTV trucks as an environmentally friendly alternative, and can even be hand carried to any site.  Our Responder robot enables the inspection of the most difficult and typically neglected large sewer pipes that have disproportionally large consequences of failure.  And everything comes together on our ICOM3 wastewater management software.  ICOM3 is designed to be deployed as a service, which means less energy consumption and required hardware.  Software as-a-service is a low energy consuming proposition and very good for the environment.”

For more information please visit www.redzone.com and select ‘GreenZone’.

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Visible Light Solar introduces 3 new products, Floodlight, Downlight, Inground that deliver 75% energy savings

Visible Light Solar Technologies, a LED and solar lighting technology innovator today introduced three new products in the Vector retrofit line of commercial and industrial lighting applications. Vector recessed downlights, floodlights and in-ground retrofit lighting solutions are available for immediate order and will deliver significant energy and maintenance savings for businesses, municipalities and education facilities.  Designed for customers who want to retain and reuse rather than replace their existing lighting applications, the Vector solutions utilize Cree XLamp XP-E LEDs.  All Vector retrofit applications meet the ENERGY STAR Program Requirements for Solid State Lighting Luminaires and surpass all applicable requirements of California’s Title 24. 

Visible Light Solar is the first lighting company to fully integrate LED lighting devices, solar power technology, advanced power management and control systems in exterior and interior commercial and industrial lighting fixtures.   Visible Light Solar’s energy efficient lighting solution are based on its patent-pending SPDI platform which regulates current and voltage levels, provides for a high degree of fixture programmability and, for lighting applications utilizing solar modules, enables seamless switching between battery and grid power for 100% reliability.  Visible Light Solar’s LED lighting applications deliver up to 75% energy savings, reduce maintenance costs through long-life LED’s (useful life of 50,000 hours) and provide true-color, highly programmable illumination.

“We’re proud to now offer interior recessed down lighting retrofit solutions; no one should have to tear out their ceiling or replace their existing recessed downlight fixtures in order to achieve the 75% energy reduction that these products promise,” said Dee Dennis, president and CEO of Visible Light Solar Technologies.  “With today’s new product offerings, we have the broadest line of industrial-grade LED retrofit products, along with innovative solar/LED solutions, for the commercial and industrial lighting industry.  From in-ground and floodlights to recessed downlight interior and exterior lights to parking lot, high bay and canopy lighting, business and industry can quickly reduce energy consumption, safely recycle old lighting parts, and introduce renewable energy creation wherever possible.  The fact that we save customers considerable money over the long term makes our Vector retrofit products a true triple bottom line solution.”

About the New Vector Products

LED Recessed Downlight Products

The Visible Light Solar Vector recessed downlight products are designed for customers looking to retrofit their existing 8”, 10” and 12” recessed downlight HID applications with 100, 150 and 250 watt equivalent solutions.  Offering up to a 75% reduction in energy consumption, they are designed to provide 50,000 hours of life with virtually no maintenance and provide true-color, cool white illumination (6000k).  The Vector retrofit recessed downlight products fit both lensed and unlensed interior applications as well as exterior soffit and canopy applications.

LED Floodlight Products

The Visible Light Solar Vector retrofit floodlight solutions fit any 150, 250, 400 or 1,000 watt style HID application, including traditional configurations, regardless of mounting style.  In addition to providing up to 75% energy savings, the Vector retrofit floodlights provide true-color illumination for security-sensitive applications where high quality, even illumination is required.

LED In-Ground Lighting Products

Our retrofit in-ground solutions fit any existing 35 – 150 watt HID up-lighting application including office and public walkways, driveways, decks and patios as well as up-lighting of flags, buildings and trees.  In addition to providing up to 75% energy savings, the Vector retrofit line of in-ground solutions provide significant maintenance savings because they utilize vibration resistant LED components rather than fragile HID bulbs which are susceptible to shock during landscape maintenance.

ABOUT VISIBLE LIGHT SOLAR

Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Visible Light Solar Technologies (www.visiblelightsolar.com) is an intelligent LED and solar lighting technology company.  Visible Light Solar provides businesses, municipalities and educational facilities with retrofit as well as new solar/LED lighting solutions that save money, reduce maintenance costs, and are environmentally sustainable.  Visible Light Solar is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society, US Green Building Council and the International Dark-Sky Association.  The company is backed by the venture accelerator firm, Noribachi (www.noribachi.com).

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