Environment

On Tuesday night, over seventy people filed into Room 220 in NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall. The lecture space filled quickly as people settled in with notebooks and laptops, fixing their gazes toward the podium at the front of the room. At first glance, it could have been any normal night class at NYU Law; however, closer scrutiny showed some surprising elements. There were a strange number of people in pinstriped suits, for one. And a table of Tostitos and pastries.

BBMG, a branding firm based in both New York and San Francisco, just released its second national study on purchasing behavior and social values. The 2009 BBMG Conscious Consumer Report is designed to help companies understand what motivations are behind consumer purchasing. Through a national survey of 2,000 adults, BBMG found that nearly one in four U.S. consumers say they have “no way of knowing” if a product is green or actually does what it claims.

Congratulations to 1994 Echoing Green Fellow Van Jones on his recent appointment to the White House Council on Environmental Quality as a special adviser.  The news hit the wires yesterday and has been covered today by The New York Times, U.S.