TORONTO, ONTARIO- Marketwire- April 2008. Eco-Lawn, developed by sustainable landscape specialist Wildflower Farm, is a specially formulated blend of seven fine fescue grasses that thrives in all climates and conditions, including full sun, part shade and even deep shade. The lawn is virtually maintenance free as it germinates quickly but
turns into a slow growing grass once its takes root.
Environmentally Friendly: Eco-Lawn reduces green house gases, as it only needs to be mowed once a month at the most. Did you know that a lawn mower running for one hour emits the same amount of pollution as 40 automobiles running for one hour?
Economical. A real cost comparison. The cost of installing and maintaining an Eco-Lawn over at ten-year period is $1,499.75 including maintenance costs and mowing four times a year. A savings of $6,575.25 over ten years! (See cost comparison)

While the cost of installation and maintenance of a typical 1-thousand sq. foot traditional lawn is $8,075, over a ten-year period. This includes, site preparation, installation, seed and irrigation, as well as mowing ten times a year, fertilizer/herbicides watering and core aeration.

No Fertilizers or Chemicals: Eco-Lawn, has deep root systems that enables it to naturally source the nutrients it requires from the soil so there is no need to add chemicals or fertilizers. unlike traditional turf grasses. It will make roots up to 9 inches (22.86 cm) deep in hardpan clay soils and up to 14 inches (35.56cm) in deep in sandy soils.
Drought Tolerant: Eco-Lawn produces grass blades that are very thin; therefore it doesn’t require the amount of water that typical thick bladed lawn grasses demand.
Eco-lawn is perfect for areas where water conservation is important and is excellent in quickly establishing new lawns, or used as erosion buffers and for riverbank stabilization. It is also ideal where water conservation is a necessity.
Less Vulnerable to Grubs: Grubs are the larvae of June Bugs and non-native Japanese Beetles. The larvae live as grubs in moist soils for two years and then emerge as adult beetles in early summer. The adults only live for about 6 weeks, so their number one goal is to reproduce! The female beetle lays her eggs in the moist soils of pond edges and stream banks as well as in well-watered lawns. Since Eco-Lawn requires very little, if any watering once established, the surface of the soil is hard and makes it less attractive for the beetles to lay their eggs. So you will be grub free.

Too good to be true? See our photo gallery.

Who benefits. Municipalities. Companies. Homeowners. The Environment.
Proof positive that Eco-lawn is environmentally and financially effective comes from our many satisfied customer testimonials. Eco-lawn has been installed at a number of large-scale municipal projects throughout Canada states Miriam Goldberger, President of Wildflower Farm, the company that developed the sustainable Eco-lawn product, ten years ago.
“As more and more municipalities ban pesticides or institutions look for ways to reduce costs, sustainable landscaping is gaining ground.” Goldberger adds. Other facilities using Eco-Lawn include Toyota Canada in Toronto, the new Cirque de Soleil headquarters in Montreal and the Canadian Air force base in Shiloh, Manitoba. See o
More questions? FAQ
Did You Know? Eco-facts.
1. The typical lawn is Oil & Water. Our lawns were founded on a dream based on having two resources our world is rapidly running out of - Oil and Water. Keeping a traditional Kentucky Bluegrass or Perennial Rye grass lawn takes one to two inches of water per week; for the average 1,000 square foot lawn, that easily adds up to over TEN THOUSAND gallons of water a summer! Less realized is that, like a fully loaded luxury sedan, traditional lawns are dependent on fossil fuels. It takes natural gas to produce lawn fertilizers, petroleum to power lawn mowers and oil to keep the weed whackers, and blowers buzzing. (Excerpted from the book “American Green” by Ted Greenberg
2. Pesticides are big business. Did you know that in 2001 the U.S. Home & Garden market spent over 2 Billion dollars on pesticides! (Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

3. Lawn Mowers are big polluters. Did you know that in one hour a conventional lawn mower pollutes as much as driving a car for 100 miles! (Source: US Environmental Protection Agency)

About Wildflower Farm:
Wildflower Farm is a horticultural company specializing in innovative sustainable landscaping techniques, products and green solutions. Wildflower Farm offers a unique selection of hardy perennial wildflowers, native grasses, seeds, meadow mixes and Eco-Lawn, an innovative low maintenance turf grass.
Embraced by landscape architects, high profile corporations, municipalities and home owners, Wildflower Farm products are sold at selected retailers throughout North America and on-line at www.wildflowerfarm.com.
Sales to its many US customers are processed through Wildflower Farm’s warehouse and fulfillment facility in New York State. 1-866-476-9453 Wildflower Farm Is located near Orillia, Ontario, North of Toronto Canada.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Pollution Probe have cited Wildflower Farm as a Canadian business generating a positive impact on climate change and the environment by reducing greenhouse gases.
To learn more about Eco-Lawn and Wildflower Farm go to www.wildflowerfarm.com

Leveraging relationships and making contacts through public relations can help increase business.

By Marjorie Wallens, first published in the Canadian Employer, October 2007.

“Today,” said a prominent sage of one of the world’s largest PR firms; “great brands are built with PR.”  Ok so the quote comes from a PR exec and not from the world of advertising, and he was talking about building national brands. So you might ask what does this have to do with me, a small or mid-sized business with a limited budget and just me, an owner-manager to promote my business.

The fact is that PR is not out of the reach of any business and can yield enormous results and is particularly effective at the local and regional level
and therefore useful to people in small to mid-sized businesses.
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My definition of Public Relations is the act or ‘art’ of building relationships and creating awareness that can be leveraged to increase sales among the various publics that touch your business-your customers, suppliers, community leaders, business and trade associations to name a few.  It is also the delivery of the right message to the right audience at the right time. Activities include media relations, public speaking, by-lined articles in the media or trade in press, publicity, community participation and the development of good professional citizen ship.  It is not paid advertising.

It is usually the opportunity to provide fact based information about your product or service free of promotional hype that is perceived to be objective and editorially neutral which can appear as an endorsement by the forum in which it is presented..

For the purpose of this article, let’s focus on media relations as a way to increase awareness to build sales.

Remember, the media frenzy created by doughnut makers, Krispy Kreme? They entered the market place by spreading the word strictly through the media with no paid advertising.  By creating a ‘compelling story’ about the unique features of their product; the donuts were freshly made continuously and still warm in the box when you walked out the door, it peaked the interest of the media which in turn carried stories about the Krispy Kreme experience.  It created a lot of ‘ink’ across North America resulting in long line ups (another good media story) and soaring sales. However, Krispy Kreme also found that PR had its downside, when the calorie laden products were targeted as a public health hazard number one and ended up taking a big bite out of their sweet sales.

So PR is a double edged sword. However, it can be very effective
in getting the word out and building credibility for your business. A story in the media also provides a boost for employees who work for your company, since ‘being in the media’  gives employees a sense of pride that their company in the news, it’ s also good for recruitment, as prospective employees may have heard of your company through the news and may perceive it as an employer of choice.

The first step however, is to determine your goals and objectives-What is it you want to achieve. Do you have a product or service that is innovative, are you doing something that’s newsworthy, will gaining media interest enhance your business reputation and help differentiate your product or service in the marketplace and therefore lead to increased sales?

For example, a small enterprising Toronto company developed a training program that could efficiently train employees to do routine tasks without the high cost of developing training manuals or taking valuable supervisory staff time to teach the new procedures. What was different? The training program was delivered virtually-on-line -to an employee’s home computer.  Each training module contained a follow-up question and answer quiz with the results fed directly back to head office to gage the effectiveness of the training program. It also saved lots of money and training time and was endorsed by one of the company’s clients, which is considered a good ‘hook’ or unique angle that would be of interest to the target media’s audience.

The target market for the training program was human resource professionals, marketing and sales professionals and any industry that needs to quickly disseminate information to employees working in various geographical locations, where a visual demonstration enhances the ability of the sales person or customer representative to sell the product or service.

The PR strategy in this case was aimed at creating media awareness and stories in various publications read by human resource professionals and marketing trade magazines looking for competitive edge products for their clients and the small business section of the city’s largest daily newspaper. The coverage would then be leveraged by sending the articles to potential clients as part of an overall marketing campaign.  The articles could also be posted on the company website. By gaining positive media coverage in a HR trade publication and a daily newspaper in the small business section, the company was able to use the coverage as an endorsement of their product, especially since several of their clients were quoted in the story and offering both examples and testimonials as to the effectiveness of the training program.

So, if you have an innovative product or service, are doing something that is newsworthy and think it would be of interest to a particular media outlet-
•    Tailor your key messages to fit the editorial thrust of the particular media outlet,
•    Create clear messages that illustrate what makes your product or service different; and
•     What makes it of value to your particular customer audience

This can be done through the development of a news release or a ‘pitch letter’ and sent to the editor of a relevant section in a newspaper or trade publication or a reporter who regularly covers stories of interest to your particular target audience
I then follow up with the reporter or editor-to ‘see’ if they got the release. Most reporters and editors don’t like to be ‘bugged’- because they are bombarded by information and can’t review everything. But, follow up calls are crucial-because it gives you a chance if nothing else to remind the reporter about your story and an opportunity to bring to their attention the unique value of your particular service or product and tell your story. Even if its voice mail –leave a message succinctly outlining your story and why it would be of value to their audience.

Getting to know reporters or editors personally is also a good strategy to better understand their editorial point of view.  But there is no substitute for a relevant and compelling story that matches the needs of the publications’ target audience, Don’t‘ be afraid to contact the media, an astounding xx% of all stories that appear in the media today are a result of being pitched by outside sources as newsworthy or initiated as part of an event that is taking place.

The virtual online training story attracted inquires about the program and subsequent sales from interested companies. The articles were also posted on both the company website and that of the two companies that were profiled as part of the story…-further extending the reach and awareness and sales of the product.

“We are pleased to be a sponsor of L’Oreal Fashion Week” says CEO & Founder of cleanairpass inc., Bryce Conacher. “Not only are events such as this leading by example, it also highlights the enormous output of C02 emissions required to make clothing and ways manufacturers’ can reduce their ‘manufacturing footprint’.

While organizers of L’Oreal Fashion Week are making every effort to offer one of the most eco-friendly events ever held in Toronto-one hundred and seventy-six tonnes of greenhouse gases will still be emitted into the earth’s atmosphere. To ‘offset the carbon emissions’, cleanairpass will donate registered and verified carbon offsets that will ‘neutralize’ or ‘offset’ the equivalent amount of greenhouse gases associated with the event.

cleanairpass will be sourcing the carbon offsets from a tire recycling project in Quebec, which transforms used tires into rubber products rather than using newly sourced rubber or having used tires go to landfill where they will be broken down and release more greenhouse gases over time. The project is third party verified and meets the internationally recognized ISO 14064-2 standard. (see www.cleanairpass.com for project details)

All clothing has a carbon footprint from both manufacturing and shipping of products.
It is estimated that clothing is responsible for about one tonne of C02e emissions per person.

“Cleanairpass is also able to calculate the CO2 footprint of clothing.” adds Conacher, “We can calculate the CO2 usage of apparel and provide a cleanairpass tag to manufacturers who want to make a significant statement about their commitment to the environment.”

cleanairpass Fashion Tips on reducing CO2: Wash clothing in cool water to reduce the energy required to clean clothes, choose organic and sustainable fabrics-some designers are using used clothing as their feedstock for making ‘new ‘articles; use more recycled fibers, avoid dry cleaning- its becoming trendy to wear wrinkled shirts to demonstrate a commitment to the environment.
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For More Information Please Contact:
Marjorie Wallens, MJW Communications
O. 416-961-5924 C/ 416-708-3783
Email. mwallens@mjwcommunications.com
www.mjwcommunications.com
What is a carbon offset and how does it work?

A “carbon offset,” is a quantified unit of the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) equal to a one tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. When you buy an ‘offset’, the purchase goes towards reducing your emissions by investing in third party verified sustainable projects that are designed to reduce greenhouse gases. The number of carbon offsets required to achieve carbon neutrality is determined by the amount of carbon emissions a particular activity like driving a car produces. All carbon offsets purchased by cleanairpass are sourced from verified projects that reduce greenhouse gases and meet international standards including ISO 14064-2 and/or the Gold Standard. Cleanairpass will also source from the new Voluntary Carbon Standard when it becomes available in 2008.

About cleanairpass inc.

cleanairpass inc., is a leader in North America in providing a practical way for individuals and businesses to help stop global warming by reducing their carbon emissions footprint through offsetting. All carbon offsets are verified by a third party. Bryce Conacher, cleanairpass CEO & Founder has been instrumental in developing industry standards in both Canada and the U.S. He is also qualified to teach the greenhouse gas verification course offered by the Canadian Standards Association. For more information visit: www.cleanairpass.com

Toronto. ON. September 18, 2007 Cleanairpass is now making it easier for businesses to help consumers make a small but significant
difference to the environment, as a result of a partnership with two Ontario based car dealerships.

Oxford Dodge in London and Provincial Chrysler in Windsor, are the first car dealerships in Canada to provide a carbon neutral cleanairpass, for every owner that purchases a new or pre-owned vehicle, The ‘carbon credits’ will effectively offset the carbon emissions of the vehicle in the first year.

Cleanairpass Inc. President, Bryce Conacher, estimates the dealership program will offset 15,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in the first year and provide a way for consumers and businesses to become more proactive about environmental issues.

“We need to provide a practical way for companies and consumers to get involved and make a difference, says Conacher, “The cleanairpass program focuses on ways to reduce emissions from vehicles. I can’t think of a better way than for car dealerships and automobile manufactures to take a leadership role in this area. Dealership owners, like James an Elizabeth Bennett, are leading the way and are a good example of what individuals can do”

Through the cleanairpass program, carbon credits are purchased to ‘offset’ the amount of greenhouse gas of about 5 tonnes emitted by an automobile driven an estimated 20,000 kilometers a year.

“Our partnership with cleanairpass does three important things”, says James Bennett, President, Oxford Dodge Chrysler in London, “First, it empowers our customers to take responsibility for their personal vehicle’s emissions. Second, its adds significant consumer clout to the effort to stop major manufacturing emissions. And third, it financially supports renewable energy producers and other projects that reduce air emissions. As individuals and business leaders, we can make a difference.”

All credits are sourced and verified. Initially the credits will go towards helping support a tire recycling facility in Quebec, that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the transformation of used tires from cars and trucks into rubber carpets and other products rather than using newly sourced rubber. As the program grows, other Canadian projects will be selected.

About cleanairpass inc. www.cleanairpass.com
Cleanairpass, is one of the first companies in Canada to provide a practical way for individuals and businesses to help stop global warming and create a cleaner planet, through the purchase of carbon credits. All carbon credits are registered and verified.

What is a carbon offset and how does it work?
A “carbon offset,” is a quantified unit of the carbon dioxide equivalent equal to a one tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
When you buy an offset you are paying for someone else to reduce your emissions for you by investing in projects that are designed
to reduce greenhouse gases. The number of carbon offsets required to achieve carbon neutrality is determined by the amount of
carbon emissions a particular activity like driving a car produces. Carbon offsets are sourced from verified projects that reduce greenhouse gases.

A key finding in the IABC’s 1998 study on effective supervisor-employee communications underscored how learning in organizations can be nurtured through effective communications between leaders and their employees. And business communicators who tap into the ‘power of talk’ in their companies can increase the organization’s ability to learn faster than its competitors and gain the competitive edge.

Following on that, study results from research on organizational communications at a Canadian financial cooperative was profiled in IABC’s publication, Communication World. The company had a staff of 250 and consolidated assets of over Cdn$3 billion.

The study was undertaken to help the organization understand how communications between leaders and employees could help reshape culture and support organizational learning. At the time, the organization was coping with change on many fronts including globalization, new technologies, changing demographics, and increasingly sophisticated customer needs.

The study shed light on how leaders and employees experience their conversations and what makes a conversation from which two people can learn, including:

• the role conversations play in organizational learning;
• characteristics of effective and ineffective workplace conversations; and
• best practices for enhancing organizational learning between leaders and employees.

For example, a conversation with a leader or supervisor and an employee was perceived to be effective if the participant learned something that was helpful in his or her work. The partnerships, while taking time to develop, then helped build trust, idea sharing and meaning, making employees more open to being guided, supported and constructively challenged and by extension more productive.

Conversely, a conversation with an employee or leader where the participant was not able to learn something that helped with his or her work, or was perceived as playing politics, intervening for a non-work purpose or pursuing a hidden agenda, was remembered as ineffective and likely would not help employees improve their work performance.

Finally, I’d like to pass along just one more example of why employee dialogue and communication should be a key communications priority by company leaders and is critical to a company’s long-term success.
In introducing a formalized employee recognition program at one mid-sized company, peer opinion leaders from all levels of the company were brought in to learn about the new program and to provide feedback.

When the program was launched, this review team, or “ambassadors” as they came to be called, had been involved in the program’s development and had the inside story. They were able to discuss the new program with their peers and answer questions. In conversations, they carried key messages about the new program to their colleagues, thereby assisting the company to gain buy-in from its employees and save valuable work time for more productive endeavors.

So, how do you begin successful conversations in your workplace? Some simple conversation starter suggestions include:

• asking questions in a constructive rather than an accusatory way;
• building partnerships between leaders and employees to explore workplace issues and problems as equal, open, and active participants; and
• sharing a case study to help start a conversation or establishing a clear and common purpose for the conversation so that both participants know the purpose of the conversation, eliminating confusion and mixed messages.

So, if organizational change is on the horizon, why not incorporate the practice of talking and entering into conversations. Far from being cheap, talk may turn out to be one of the most valuable assets your company owns.

First published in Workplace News, May-June 2007 issue