Companies putting green foot forward

Environment - Portland's Keen Footwear sets an example, with some staffers biking to Salt Lake City for a trade show

Riders embark on the Keen Hybrid.Pedal

About a dozen wind-chilled bicyclists in brightly colored jerseys pedaled through the Pearl District on Wednesday morning on their way to Mount Hood and, eventually, Salt Lake City.

After bagels and coffee, a lot of chatter and a few humble speeches, they turned their first corner and were on a mission.

The group is part of Portland-based Keen Footwear's Hybrid.Pedal ride, a two-week, 1,000-mile journey through some of the West's most scenic wilderness areas. The goal is to highlight the work of the Conservation Alliance and, more broadly, to raise awareness about the role businesses can play in environmental preservation.

Admittedly, it's a small effort to make a larger point. But a growing number of U.S. companies are coming up with clever ways to push an environmental message and change business practices so they're more in line with the conservation ethic.

Click here to see more photos from the Hybrid.Pedal.

Critics have called such efforts nothing more than savvy marketing ploys or prime examples of enlightened self-interest, but the companies and some environmentalists say true altruism is behind the shift. Either way, it's a sign of the times.

Consumers increasingly have concerns about sustainable business practices, packaging, waste and efficiency. And Portland's outdoor companies, like many others in corporate America, are tripping over themselves with efforts to be more green than the next guy.

"It does talk to our bottom line," acknowledged Chris Enlow, foundation manager for Keen and one of five who will ride all the way to Utah. "But our customers are demanding it. Everybody makes an impact and systems don't change overnight."

The cyclists are on their way to Outdoor Retailer's annual trade show, which begins Aug. 9. Keen challenged other outdoor companies to ride bikes to Salt Lake City rather than drive

Businesses clearly hope to benefit from such public displays, but it goes beyond marketing, said John Sterling, director of the Bend-based Conservation Alliance, which collects annual dues from 145 outdoor-related firms and spreads the money to environmental groups.

"Companies increasingly have to compete for good staff and have to build corporate cultures that are about more than the bottom line," he said. "Consumers are looking for that. They want to buy, but they want to believe in the companies they buy from."

The idea of marshaling profits for environmental causes was born of the ecology movement of the 1970s. Today, it's far from the fringe movement it was three decades ago.

"It's fundamentally different because of the scope of the challenges," said Terry Kellogg, director of 1% for the Planet, a foundation set up by Yvon Chouinard, founder of clothing and outdoor gear maker Patagonia Inc. "We're seeing issues like climate change that can affect our lives, but that's a serious economic threat as well."

Taking the blame

Chouinard once wrote that business should take the majority of the blame for being the enemy of nature and "poisoning the earth with the effluent from its factories." But he also said business can "make a profit without losing its soul."

Yet some are fearful that the greening of American business may be just another fad. Emma Stewart, director of environmental strategy for Business for Social Responsibility, a San Francisco nonprofit, said some large corporations are taking small steps, which do more to generate publicity than change their business practices.

She cited Coca-Cola as an example. "No way are they more sustainable," she said, even though the company recently began talking about the need to be "water neutral" after a bottling plant in Plachimada, India, was ordered closed over water pollution.

"You can have a few innovations here and there, but ultimately, if we don't change the business model, we're not going to get there," Stewart said.

While Kellogg agrees that businesses can and should do more, he said people shouldn't be cynical about the companies' efforts. Many are engaging the workforce to come up with better ways of doing business.

"They're truly motivated by wanting to do the right thing, and they realize they can do that while doing well in business," he said. "It's because of that alignment that there's a real future for more companies to get engaged."

An immediate difference

Corporate activism can make an immediate difference, too. In May, Sterling testified on behalf of the Mount Hood wilderness bill, which is before Congress.

"Financial support and clout of the larger outdoor industry balances out clout on the other side, like the timber industry," said Steve Pedery, conservation program manager for Oregon Wild, the group pushing for new wilderness areas on Mount Hood and a recipient of Conservation Alliance grant money. "These guys are really the new economy of Oregon and they can say that their customers do not want to go try their new tent or mountain bike in a clear cut."

Erika Bruhn, marketing manager for Keen, thought up the idea for the ride to Salt Lake City. She hopes it will be an annual event and envisions that one day people will ride to the convention from all across the country.

"It's really about the small things you can do to make a difference," she said. "We have a long way to go to becoming a sustainable business. We know that. The idea here is to get people inspired."