I recently had the opportunity to visit ad:tech in San Francisco. ad:tech is a must visit for any marketer who believes in the Internet. It's a combination vendor trade show and educational series, and I highly recommend it all. One particular topic concerning green initiatives caught my eye. It featured speakers from the Sierra Club and Clorox.

Now, I figured this would be a verbal prize fight. I mean a conversation between a company that produces cleaning products and the Holy Grail of all things green ? I got there early to get a good seat.

The speech began with a "toast" of sorts, The Sierra Club's speaker made a toast and asked us to raise our glasses -- in this case all the water bottles found on all seminar tables. "Hypocrite!" was the message, as all of us realized we were holding one of the biggest ecological problems of the 21st century: Plastic bottled water. I felt ashamed.

As the speaker from Clorox approached the stage, I was sure there would be redemption from the guilt of my plastic bottle habit and toast (easy, I recycle). I must admit, however, that I was surprised and impressed as he told a story of looking to purchase a smaller green company in an effort to "green wash" their other products only to find that most green products they looked at were not green at all.

As a result, Clorox turned to the Sierra Club for help in developing their own line of products which are on your super market shelves now. I was impressed with the fact that while they are producing green products, they are not "washing" their parent company in a fake green sheen. They have, however, made a step in the right direction.

I am often asked what Surf Expo's green initiatives are. While as individuals, I believe our staff is probably more conscious than most and we do utilize vendors that recycle and use green products, I would be guilty of green washing myself to insinuate that we are truly a "green" trade show.

We are, however, making progress. Much of the carpet at this September's Expo will be recycled. Our convention center is looking to solar. We have reduced mailings and revamped our registration system to help make onsite badge pickup easy for all attendees, eliminating badge mailings. Recycling will be available on the show floor and we'll be running shuttle systems between local hotels to help cut down on congestion.

Are we green? Maybe not dark green, but we are looking at affordable ways to improve our greenness.

As for green washing, I was surprised to find out that the Sierra Club voted the Chevy Tahoe SUV at 20 mpg, "green car of the year." Sounds like a bit of green sheen to me. Shame on you Sierra Club.

I can promise you that the crew at Expo is aware and will continue to make greener changes going forward.