Green Print Gandering
April 25, 2007

Blustery winds and upside-down weather seem to be tracking me for weeks: snow on opening day for the Cubs in Chicago; Ft. Lauderdale airport shuttered as I departed an HP conference; a Northeaster buffeting my days at the On Demand Show in Boston last week—then back to Chicago for its annual day of spring.

Maybe we should have been paying more attention to the complainants about carbon emissions and global warming. But they have got our attention now. Next week I’ll head north to Toronto for Offset & Beyond (the new name and repositioning of what was the annual Web Offset Association technical conference). Canada’s greener, right? Weather should be better? They have been printing Harry Potter on FSC-certified papers for years, right?

Unfortunately, no. Global warming is one of those borderless environmental issues, like acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer. Unfortunately for planet Earth, (and fortunately for the U.S.-based guilt factory) the root causes of global warming and environmental destruction have migrated away from this nation, which once could be blamed for pretty much everything negatory around the globe. In fact, China is now the leading source of carbon emissions. And talk about the ozone hole—neolithic-technology freon-reliant air conditioners among newly enriched middle classes of India have reopened that gaping hole.

Meanwhile Japan, greatest per capita consumer of print, and largest producer of automobiles, may face some challenges among world environmental opinion leaders. Much as we admire the complexity of hybrid automobiles, they are loaded with batteries full of heavy metals and noxious chemicals.

A dirty little secret surrounds the global green structure: trading in carbon emissions (which allows heavily polluting developed countries can buy permissions to pollute from developing economies, such as China) has also lead to fraudulent creation of expanded credits—beyond those permissible under formal international accords.

Green is good, protecting the earth is good, and the consequences of failing to do so harm us all. And as business operators, the printing industry carries a high profile.

This just in:
• Apple says it will delay release of Leopard, the next generation operating system, because its geeks are all consumed with $499 iPhone. I think that’s too much for a phone. Here’s the Onion’s take - Apple Unveils New Product
• HP was caught off guard when news broke about its Edgeline high speed inkjet technology. Andy Tribute told me he was honoring a non-disclosure agreement, but HP went ahead and posted videos of the technology. www.hp.com/go/allinone
• Flint Group was caught off guard when a press release announcing its acquisition of Day International hit BusinessWire a week before the agreement was consummated. But now it’s a done deal. www.flintgrp.com
• Memjet is said to be working on a super-speed digital printing technology that could reshape the industry—if it can get the development to market. It uses page-wide inkjet heads instead of traversing the www.memjet.com
• The U.S. National Park Service has asked people to stop leaving offerings to the god Pele at Hawaii’s Mt. Kilauea volcano. Food and snacks are attracting roaches and rats—and really, Pele doesn’t want the leftover cheese crackers, report Park Service officials. www.kpua.net/news.php?id=11321

Posted by on April 25, 2007 | Comments (0)