What
Does ‘Green’ Mean?
By Frank Carini, EcoRI.org
“Green is when we are actually healing the ecosystems of the planet we depend
upon. Anything less is just slowing the damage. It’s sort of
useless."
—
Greg Gerritt, Environmental Council of Rhode
Island
The meaning of “green” has faded.
Public relations firms and marketing agencies have diluted it to get their
corporate clients’ overhyped and overpriced environmentally friendly impostors
the biggest share possible of the eco-conscious consumer dollar.
If
we were to believe all of this eco-friendly propaganda, green oil and gas are
available. We can drive green SUVs and enjoy green vacations at Walt Disney
World.
This
relentless barrage of eco-PR is overwhelming. There’s green dog food, green
chocolate bars and green undergarments, such as an “eco-friendly” bra that
doubles as a shopping bag. Most every company is touting something green, which
is why many consumers don’t know whether a company or product really is
environmentally friendly.
Many
of these self-proclaimed green companies spend more time and money claiming to
be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business
practices that minimize environmental impacts. It’s nothing more than
whitewashing, but with a green brush.
All
of this market manipulation has robbed the green movement of its voice. Talk of
sustainability and reduced consumerism has been drowned out by corporate marketing
that utilizes false and misleading claims to awash their bank accounts in
green.
Many
hotels like to call themselves green because they allow guests to choose to
sleep on the same sheets and reuse towels, but they seldom do little else to
save water and energy, because the cost to do so would hurt the bottom line.
In-ground
sprinkler systems running no matter the weather or broken heads creating
puddles of mushy lawn are left untouched. Outdated appliances decorate the
kitchen and inefficient lighting illuminates hallways. Gas-guzzling vans
shuttle people, sometimes no more than two or three at a time, back and forth
to the airport.
Earlier
this year, the Coca-Cola Co. introduced its new plastic bottle — called the
PlantBottle — which is 70 percent petroleum-based, instead of 100 percent. Coke
was so impressed with its planet-saving idea of using Brazilian sugarcane to
make 30 percent of its plastic bottles that the company’s Dasani bottled water
brand last month ran a green-hat giveaway to build awareness of this
still-mostly petroleum-based bottle often filled with high-fructose corn syrup.
Hat
recipients were notified via e-mail on Earth Day.
Four
decades after the first Earth Day was launched to promote environmental
awareness and education, the idea has been co-opted by some of the globe’s
worst polluters. Chevron, Pacific Gas & Electric, Cargill and the Dow
Chemical Co., one of the biggest polluters in global history, sponsored some of
the Earth Day events celebrated April 22 across the country.
Earth
Day is now less about the appreciation for the environment and more about FAO
Schwartz, Proctor & Gamble and other multinationals hyping their green
image.
Congress
has introduced initiatives, such as the Household Product Labeling Act of 2009
that called for more transparency, but we can’t wait for government to stop
this orgy of bogus marketing.
Educating
yourself about truly green goods and companies takes time, so ecoRI Inc. would
like to help, but we need your assistance. We are creating a database called
“Green Guide” that will feature Web sites and products recommended by readers
and researched by us. To recommend a Web site or environmentally friendly
product/business, please send an e-mail to frank@ecoRI.org. In the subject
line, please write Green Guide.
Frank
Carini is the executive director of ecoRI Inc. He can be reached at
401-678-0206 or via e-mail at frank@ecoRI.org.
