Category: The Frog Economy Column

Can a video game make a greener society?
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Can a video game make a greener society?

A little over two decades ago when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker leaked between 260,000 to 750,000 barrels in Prince William Sound, Alaska, it was a major turning point in attitudes towards big oil.  One of the biggest environmental disasters in our history grabbed hold of our psyches, shook our consciences up, and forced us [...]

Published by on March 12, 2012 11:34 pm
Global Warming, the Coming Ice Age and Rational Man
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Global Warming, the Coming Ice Age and Rational Man

Is it true that we are about to enter a mini Ice Age? Could it be possible that climate change was all a hoax? Was it  politically expedient for politicians to use climate scarmongering to get votes? Was it economically convenient for companies and governments to charge us for not being Green enough through taxes [...]

Published by on February 7, 2012 12:56 pm
The Frog Economy
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The Frog Economy

  Pontificating at the crossroads of the environment, economics and psychology.  If our environment or economy is unhealthy, frogs will be the first to let us know. 

Published by on January 23, 2012 12:29 pm
Green Marketing and Gut Feelings
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Green Marketing and Gut Feelings

If you knew everything Gerd Gigerenzer knows, could you make consumers buy your green products? More green marketing surveys are showing that the return on investment in green marketing dollars is abysmal. Gigerenzer, the head of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, has the solution. One of the leading thinkers on how people make [...]

Published by on October 22, 2011 8:05 pm
Therapy for Rising Climate Change Anxiety
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Therapy for Rising Climate Change Anxiety

At a recent creative brainstorming meeting at an advertising agency, my friend recalled to me her creative director’s “macabre” idea. To promote residential solar panels, he suggested a Simpsons-esque animation of a community not far from a coal-fired power plant with no life — brown grass, dead people, and so on (lovely). Macabre or good psychology? [...]

Published by on October 7, 2011 2:38 am
Green Consumers Invest in Companies They Trust
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Green Consumers Invest in Companies They Trust

  There is some very good news in the 2011 Green Gauge US Report.  In the survey of 2,000 US consumers, consumer mistrust of the green product claims of businesses fell to 39%, from 48% in 2008.  In other words, greenwashing is down. According to the report, consumers get their environmental information from the following sources: [...]

Published by on September 29, 2011 6:41 pm
The Greenwash in Consumer Buying
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The Greenwash in Consumer Buying

GfK’s newly released Green Gauge study has some disconcerting news for those marketing green products.  Consumer environmental sentiment has slipped since the Great Recession in 2009.  The percentage of American consumers who bought green products in 2011 declined by 6 points from 2008. The fact that our green commitment begins to fade in economic slumps [...]

Published by on September 29, 2011 6:07 pm
Nudging Cleantech Investors Over the Triple Bottom Line
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Nudging Cleantech Investors Over the Triple Bottom Line

In all the conferences I have attended on clean technology, I have never seen an investor stand at the podium and announce, “Hello, I am Joe Cleantech Investor and I am in this to make lots of money!” On the contrary, cleantech investing is about, in unison now, “the triple bottom line — People, Planet and [...]

Published by on September 12, 2011 6:09 pm