Page 178 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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Environmental Crisis Communications 159
compliance by government regulation, pressured to adopt more envi-
ronmentally safe operations by NGOs, and accused by the news media
of ‘midnight dumping’ and other crimes against the environment, big
business was among the last to willingly embrace the global environ-
mental movement.
However, after the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989, a new vision of
environmental stewardship in business emerged with such doctrines
as the ‘Valdez Principles’ and the American Chemistry Council’s
‘Responsible Care’™ programme, among others. These management
models paved the way for business, government and environmental
organizations to work in partnership to reduce the environmental
impact of manufacturing around the world.
Today, environmental stewardship is far more commonplace in
industry, and not just in manufacturing industries, but in the service
sector, retail, entertainment, food and beverage, travel and tourism,
transport and virtually every aspect of the global economy. Yet still,
businesses and organizations whose operations hold the potential for
environmental impact are vulnerable to crisis situations. Accidents still
do happen. Human error, acts of God, terrorism, weather or geologic
events, and other calamities, when they occur near hazardous ma-
terials, can still prove disastrous for the environment, wildlife and
human health.
Fortunately, the experience and lessons learnt from past environ-
mental crises have provided a valuable roadmap for creating a culture
of environmental stewardship and then effectively surviving an envi-
ronmental crisis. These lessons are the foundation of environmental
management in any business or industry, and are an essential set of
strategies for running an enterprise and surviving crises in this new
era of environmental consciousness.

Laying the groundwork: creating a
culture of environmental stewardship

Effective environmental crisis communication cannot occur in a
vacuum. It needs to be a logical extension of an enterprise-wide
culture of environmental management and stewardship that factor
into the organization’s overall corporate reputation and brand iden-
tity. An organization that doesn’t discover environmental steward-
ship until it is faced with a crisis will risk being perceived as
disingenuous and artificial in its management of the crisis.
Environmental stewardship as a foundation of corporate culture will