If you’re a sizeable zoo struggling with low enrollment for summer programs. Here’s an idea:

Partner with Woodbridge Ontario’s Gantz toys, makers of Webkinz for a special edition Webkin that is given only to kids that enroll in the zoo’s summer camp program. The special edition ZooCamp Gorilla (or other endangered species) unlocks special games based around that animal’s geography, physiology, and ecology.

Summer Zoo Camp registrations fill up, and kids leave with new friends, memories, and a new appreciation for an endangered species.

One for other local zoo’s to duplicate as incentives for their own summer programs.

This post has been sitting as a draft for a while now, so I figure its not getting any better sitting and gathering dust.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a CMA Ottawa presentation on The Six Sins of Greenwashing with TerraChoice’s President and CEO, Scott McDougall. Scott discussed the research his firm did behind the usage and recognition of misleading eco-marketing practices, the results of which they summarized into what they call “The Six Sins of Greenwashing“. They surveyed six category-leading big box stores and identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims. Of those 1,018 products, all but one made claims that were demonstrably false or that risked misleading intended audiences.

Incidentally, TerraChoice also does product validation for the EcoLogo certification program, so if you’re interested in EcoLogo certification, get in touch with them. Onward.
The “Six Sins of Greenwashing” are ordered by the frequency that they were found to have appeared in the marketplace sample. Read more »