For organizations that want to green up their image a little, there’s TargetGreen, a conference to help you see how companies are becoming environmentally-friendly, and how you can incorporate your environmental efforts into your promotions and marketing.

At the conference, organized by PR Week US, you’ll get a chance to hear from such paragons of environmentalism as ExxonMobil Corporation, Dell and Dow, plus a plethora of agencies that are helping their clients don emerald glasses.

I won’t be able to make it to the May 10 conference in San Fransisco, but I’m dying to hear about ExxonMobil’s funding of groups that debunk climate change concerns, and how that benefits the environment. I’m assuming communications manager Suzanne McCarron will explain that people actively worrying about the environment is what is causing the hole in the ozone layer, so the company is doing its best to get people to stop thinking about global warming.

Exxon’s PR efforts must be working, because searches for terms like "environmental disaster" and "irresponsible corporate behavior" barely turn up any evidence of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaskan waters. And who’s going to bother plowing through the 1,200 mentions of ExxonMobil on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website, when you can find the company’s environmental policy right on its site? The policy includes a commitment to "communicate with the public on environmental matters and share our experience with others to facilitate improvements in industry performance."

The albatross around Dow’s neck has been the Bhopal disaster, which saw thousands of people die from a chemical plant leak in Bhopal, India, and as many as 15,000 more deaths in the intervening years.

For some biting satire of Dow’s official PR, check out DowEthics.com, where a number of "articles" purport to explain the company’s policies on the environment and compensating victims. Dow’s position is that when it merged with the plant’s operator Union Carbide, all compensation had been settled, and the company has no further legal responsibility.

A statement front and centre on the Dow website says:

Responsibility Begins Here

"Sustainability begins at home, but its destiny is to engage the problems of the world. We will build on our company’s rich legacy of leadership in solving the world’s most pressing problems with a spirit of fearless accountability, not just for our own footprint on the planet, but the collective footprint we make as part of the human family." —Andrew Liveris, Chairman & CEO, The Dow Chemical Company

A quick search of Dow’s website for "Bhopal" reveals its fearless accountability: one entry that seems to be about styrofoam projects in India (the link is dead, so we’ll never know how much accountability the page displays).

Maybe I’m being too harsh. and judgemental. Maybe the companies that have had to fight their way back from being environmental villains are the ones who have the most to share about public relations and marketing.

Certainly, Dell is making a sincere effort to incorporate environmentalism into its everyday operations. Something tells me, though, that Dell isn’t going to air the computer industry’s equivalent of responsible drinking ads by booze companies. I don’t see any computer makers suggesting moderation in purchases, with ads like this: "Is that PC really necessary?" or, "Waiting to upgrade could save a child in China from dying of a pollution-induced lung condition."

I hope some of the discussion will go beyond how to put an environmental spin on rampant consumerism.

I’d like to see industries move toward greater use of compatible components, to increase our ability to reuse parts and accessories. Why can’t cell phones and digital cameras all use the same chargers and cables? Why can’t more car parts be interchangeable? Why isn’t the cost to the environment listed on every consumer product, the same way I can now find out the amount of sugar and trans fats in my breakfast cereal?

When industry can talk about these issues, instead of trying to get me excited about the ethanol they use in their corporate fleet of vehicles, I’ll start to see them in a green light.

If these kinds of issues are front and centre at TargetGreen, it will be an event worth attending.

Dow and ExxonMobil - I’d love to hear how you’re making real changes that will make a difference. I don’t need another brochure or web page extolling the virtues of some cosmetic half measures.

The Target Green blog has some good coverage of PR, marketing and environmental issues. Here’s hoping the conference digs deep on this topic.

Tags: environment, environmentalism, green, corporate, business, companies, prweek, public relations, bhopal, dow, exxonmobil, exxon valdez, reputation