Environmental Performance Index

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner An initiative of Yale and Columbia Universities in the USA, the EPI ranks a country’s environmental performance according to how well human health and ecosystems are protected. They use nine criteria including child mortality and access to drinking water, plus twenty additional measures ranging from changes in forest … Read more

Game of Rules

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Much as we would like to believe that people will do the decent thing, it generally takes the rule of law to make them behave. But the global television phenomenon that is Game of Thrones makes it abundantly clear that the rule of law on its own is … Read more

APP Walking the Walk

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Asian Pulp & Paper (APP) really do seem to be living up to their promises. When they announced their Forest Conservation Policy just over a year ago it had a serious omission: reforestation and conservation plans. This had lead to some voluble criticism from NGOs such as the … Read more

Getting Energy Levels Down

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Understanding technology seems to be much less important than it used to be. Stuff works in our industry because the graphic arts industry has benefited from years of technological innovation, combined with practical experience that has been fed back into research and development for new kit. This is … Read more

More than a Lottery Win

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner In another life I was addicted to horse racing, especially the dangerous jumping variety. As a teenager I imagined someday riding in the Grand National, the world’s greatest steeplechase. Instead I find myself riding in an altogether different kind of race. But there are some curious similarities between … Read more

100th Blog & Counting

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We started the Verdigris blog in 2012 just before a highly successful drupa and here we are with the 100th, just following IPEX. If anyone had ever considered that there was a battle underway between the two exhibitions, it would have to be said that drupa has won … Read more

Standards & the Market

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner When ISO 16759 was published in July 2013 expectations were mixed. Would the market really care or was this standard ahead of its time? Given the state of the economy pretty much everywhere, the more realistic expectation was that it would be received to general apathy. Interest in … Read more

Alphabet Soup for Print’s Environmental Impact

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner There are many things that scientists love, but probably none more so than acronyms and absolutes, such as DC for Direct Current or PDF for Portable Document Format. Neither could be anything else, but even though scientists love to deal in absolutes, environmental science is notoriously inexact. Climate … Read more

Brought to Book

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner All the people who chat about print fading away must not haave noticed the rising number of book fairs around the world. The Jaipur Literary Festival is one that springs to mind. It started in 2006 and has grown to be the largest event of its kind. An … Read more

Environmentally Friendly Substrates

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner One of the biggest concerns with print’s environmental impact is disposing of it when it reaches end of life. Fortunately we have in place robust paper recycling supply chains and there is a thriving industry in paper recovery and reuse. There is a less well developed model for … Read more