PowerPoint Presentation

News Stories

1Prof Kohns News Story: Lobbying

75-year old Wisconsin billionaire John Menard wrote more than $1.5 million in checks to a pro-Gov. Scott Walker political advocacy group that pledged to keep its donors secret.Been writing them to Wisconsin Club for Growth a group that spent heavily to defend Walker during a bitter 2012 recall election seem to have paid off for the businessman and his company. In the past two years, Menards company has been awarded up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs, according to state records.In Walkers 5 years in office, Walkers appointees have sharply scaled back enforcement actions by the state Department of Natural Resources a top Menard priority. The agency had repeatedly clashed with Menard and his company under previous governors over citations for violating state environmental laws and had levied a $1.7 million fine against Menard personally, as well as his company, for illegally dumping hazardous wastes.The contributions by Menard, made in 2011 and 2012, were uncovered among hundreds of emails and internal documents seized by state prosecutors in the course of a wide-ranging criminal investigation into whether Walkers campaign committee violated state campaign finance laws including those requiring public disclosure by funneling large donations to outside, nondisclosing advocacy groups, such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth, with which they were believed to be closely coordinating their efforts.2COSTA RICAS ENERGYutilityhasnt burned any fossil fuel this year. None. Entire country been running on renewable power for 75 days, a goal that many richer countriesincluding and especially the United Statescan only dream of. Like Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, and many other Latin American countries, Costa Rica gets most of its energyabout 80 percentfrom hydroelectric plants. Damming rivers has environmental consequences too, obviously, but the energy from the resulting power plants is carbon-free. Hydropower is also more reliable and easier to scale up than existing wind and solar technologies.So in that sense, Costa Ricas 75-day streak may be impressive, but it isnt surprising, says Juan Roberto Paredes, a renewable energy expert at the Inter-American Development Bank. On average, the countrys energy matrix was already nearly 90 percent renewable, making it the second most renewable country in Latin America (after Paraguay, which gets nearly all of its energy from just one dam).But a reliance on hydropower still puts you at the mercy of the elementsjust different ones than solar or wind. The key to hydropower is rainfall. Less rain means less water behind the dams, which quickly translates into less power. Just last year, Costa Ricadeclared a state of emergencyin the countrys northwest because of an El Nio-fueled drought, and hydros contribution to the countrys electric grid dropped, forcing the utility to switch on some diesel generators. (Brazil is currently experiencing a similar crisis, with a catastrophic drought endangering many of the hydroelectric plants that power So Paulo and the rest of the countrys populous southeast.) But this year, Costa Ricas four largest hydropower plants have enjoyed unusually heavy rainsso far.

Prof Kohns News Story: The Environment3

Kimpton Hotels CaseWhether you travel frequently or once a year, you've no doubt seen this sign in your hotel room. It was one of the first initiatives put forth by hotels in an attempt tosave moneyconserve resources, giving guests a guilt trip when it comes to whether or not they reuse their towels. (hotelchatter.com)

Save Our Planet?Which Message Is More Effective?

Save Our Planet?6According to Social Psychologist Robert Cialdini (spoke at Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference) the typical environmental appeal yields a fairly low level of compliance.

Message #1 (the control):Re-use your bath towels for the environment

vs.

Message #2:If you re-use your towels well donate a % to an environmental cause.

= NO INCREASE IN TOWEL USAGE

Save Our Planet?7However, if say.Message #3:

Weve already donated to an environmental cause in the name of our guests

= 28% INCREASE

Great lesson regarding social cause marketing: i.e., you were probably going to give a donation anyway (right?) so weve gone ahead and done it for you. Very effective.

Save Our Planet?8Message #4:

What do you think is the BEST message to give?A message of peer pressure! i.e., 75% of people who have stayed in this room hung their towels up to save water. Will you do the same? That increases compliance by approximately 20-30% from the baseline environmental message. (i.e. , Re-use your bath towels for the environment)

Save Our Planet?9What do we learn from this?

Who recycles?

Why do you do it?

Would you buy a recycled or environmentally- conscious product if the product was

inferior

or

more expensive?

Question 1:What are the benefits of Kimptons environmental sustainability initiatives?

What are their costs?

Question 2:How would you justify the EarthCare Program to Kimptons board of directors and stockholders?

That is, what is the business case for the program?

Question 3:What challenges face the EarthCare Program?

How might Kimpton overcome them?

Question 4:What further steps should Kimpton take to institutionalize its environmental commitments?

Question 5:How would you measure the success of the EarthCare Program?

How should it be reported to stakeholders?