From the Forums: Eco Fads & Corporate Greenwashing
by Alan Graham on 04.30.08
greenteadrinker poses the question about companies who are "pushing" green ideas, but might simply be jumping on what they perceive to be a fad and not as green as they say.
This concerns bubbleberry who says:
Green is becoming a fad, and if we are not careful it will fade like every other.
stins:
Of course as green becomes mainstream, we do run the risk of fakers or greenwashers getting in the mix. And as consumers, we really do have to know what to look out for and demand some accountability.
countrytinman brings up Wal-Mart:
Most of their products are manufactured in China (A country that doesn't care about its people or the environment) For them to say they are going green is an out right lie. Most of the products they build are ok its just that when someone buys a product from China its dirty not green.
But BobTrips has a good argument:
OK, how about looking at this from a "baby steps" angle?Company decides that they could make a little extra money by doing something a little green and advertising it.
They do and do.
Now they recognize that there actually is a "green" market and serving it makes some money.
Now they are open to trying something even greener....
A good example in a completely different thread would be from mikebeavis who points out something cool on the side of his Pepsi can:
On the side of my Pepsi can there is a recycle triangle with Pepsi written in the middle. Below that, it says..."Have we met before"
Recycling could get this can back on shelves in less than 60 days.
Kudos to Pepsi, I like it Just thought I'd share that with all you other TreeHuggers!
And we're just getting started.
Come into the forum and tell us who you think is making a good effort, who are the major culprits, or just tell us if you are worried that corporations might just treat this as another fad to exploit.
I assume all this talk about the green movement being a "fad" is only aimed at marketing strategies because there is no way that the green movement will "fade away" from people's minds because it involves so much more than social culture. where as bell bottom pants were just a man made invention in the 70's worthy of the "fad" title.