Target Green debrief

Today, I was in Washington, DC for the Target Green Conference put on by PRWeek. The conference was well-attended. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet Keith O'Brien, PRWeek.com editor and prolific blogger (who interviewed me recently for the Target Green blog), and the rest of the PRWeek crew.

My preliminary assessment saw two themes weaving themselves throughout the many presentations. Both are themes that have been discussed in detail on this blog.

First, was the idea that the "green movement" has moved beyond the fringes of past decades to become more mainstream. Ken Rother, President & CEO of Treehugger, said environmentalism is now part of the urban, hip culture.

The consensus of presenters was that the mainstreaming of green is not just the latest fad. That certainly is the belief of the Discovery Channel, which had a SVP of Planet Green in attendance to talk about that upcoming launch. Congressman Ed Markey put it this way: This isn't a blip like the hula hoop.

The second theme was the desire of businesses to self-regulate (or self-improve, etc.) before the government does it to them. One of the many benefits manufacturers can see from "cleaning" their process is a possible reduction of regulatory obligations said Alex Folk of the Green Suppliers Network. The panel discussion on Clean Tech and Public Policy talked extensively about this benefit. Thomas Bisacquino of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties made it clear that his group needed to be at the table on these discussions and could only effectively do so if they were taking green issues seriously.

I'll have more to say about some of the individual panel discussions in posts to follow, but that's my initial assessment of the conference. If you were there, what did you think?