Last month PineMark, Inc. (PineMark), a San Diego-based company, launched a program that provides certification for green lifestyles. [Full Disclosure: I own a very small percentage of PineMark]
According to its web site, PineMark offers the first and only individual environmental certification available to consumers.
An individual who wishes to be “PineMarked” enters various information about his or her lifestyle relating to electricity consumption, motor vehicle and transportation habits, water consumption, the types of appliances used and recycling habits.
The individual then gets a score that rates his or her comprehensive impact on the environment. Those who earn a high enough score receive the PineMark Certification, and hopefully all users become more cognizant of how to reduce the environmental impact of their lifestyles.
According to PineMark’s CEO Lauren de los Santos, “PineMark wants to help individuals find out if they are green . . . by establishing national standards with this certification. It’s a similar concept to LEED but for people. We want to help people live sustainably and the first step is to raise awareness.”
PineMark owns several eco-mark applications relating to both its trademarks and certification marks.
U.S. Application Serial No. 77/771,314 is for the word PINEMARK for services relating to analysis and evaluation of individual lifestyles in Class 42 (314_application.pdf). U.S. Application Serial No. 77/815,507 is for the same services for the PineMark tree logo (pictured above) (507_application.pdf).
The central eco-marks for PineMark, of course, are the certification marks. PineMark owns both the certification word mark PINEMARK CERTIFICATION and a certification mark for its PineMark seal:
U.S. Application Serial No. 77/771,553 (553_application.pdf) is for the word certification mark and U.S. Application Serial No. 77/813,597 (597_application.pdf) is for the seal. Both list the certification services as:
Analysis and evaluation of the environmental impact of individual lifestyles
Like LEED certification for green buildings and the Energy Star program for appliances, PineMark is attempting to build goodwill around a certification mark while helping consumers help the environment.
