xcel
11-19-2007, 02:50 PM
Companies are keen to advertise their ecological credentials. But beyond the marketing spin, how green are they really? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/19/mondaymediasection.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=media)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/GE_Hybrid_Locomotive.jpgLucy Aitken - The Guardian - Nov. 19, 2007
GE’s Ecomagination is a prime example of “Green Washing” with the goal of reducing its business’ GHG emissions by a whopping 1% by 2012. The companies products are striving to limit emissions as can be seen with the GE Hybrid Locomotive and an ~ 10% reduction in fuel consumption. -- Ed.
Last Wednesday, November 14, was a big day for Eurostar. Not only did it open its St Pancras International terminus, it also made all Eurostar journeys carbon neutral at no extra cost to its passengers. Both Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace - who can spot the merest splash of greenwash - have applauded Eurostar for the eco-friendly changes it has made throughout its business, as well as for how it is communicating them.
Through being transparent and truthful, Eurostar avoided accusations of "greenwash", a practice which receives an arresting definition in a new book, John Grant's The Green Marketing Manifesto. In it the co-founder of St Luke's advertising agency writes: "You can't put a lettuce in the window of a butcher's shop and declare that you are now 'turning vegetarian'."
Window dressing
Many companies have put lettuces in their shop-fronts and found themselves attracting nothing but rotten tomatoes. Unsurprisingly, the big oil companies tend to regularly receive a drubbing from environmental NGOs. In fact, just a fortnight ago, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint from Friends of the Earth about a Shell ad claiming that the oil company uses its waste carbon dioxide to grow flowers. FoE corrected the ad, saying that it actually uses less than 0.5% of its waste CO2 for this purpose.
As Dax Lovegrove, head of business and industry relations at WWF, points out: "A lot of oil and gas companies talk about alternative energies and offsetting, but this distracts from the real issue because their industry is about sucking oil out of the ground. There's still a long way to go before customers understand that we all rely on natural resources to supply us with the products that we use in our everyday lives." He adds: "The rhetoric has to match the reality of what a company is doing to address sustainability issues, as opposed to tinkering around the edges, or communicating a red herring."
One such example of "tinkering around the edges" is the drive by major UK supermarket chains to encourage consumers to reuse shopping bags. Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, is disappointed by the tokenism. "Until the big supermarkets reduce the amount of energy used in their stores, minimize the distance that food travels and review their relationship with farmers, saving a few plastic bags is just window dressing."… http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/19/mondaymediasection.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=media
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/GE_Hybrid_Locomotive.jpgLucy Aitken - The Guardian - Nov. 19, 2007
GE’s Ecomagination is a prime example of “Green Washing” with the goal of reducing its business’ GHG emissions by a whopping 1% by 2012. The companies products are striving to limit emissions as can be seen with the GE Hybrid Locomotive and an ~ 10% reduction in fuel consumption. -- Ed.
Last Wednesday, November 14, was a big day for Eurostar. Not only did it open its St Pancras International terminus, it also made all Eurostar journeys carbon neutral at no extra cost to its passengers. Both Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace - who can spot the merest splash of greenwash - have applauded Eurostar for the eco-friendly changes it has made throughout its business, as well as for how it is communicating them.
Through being transparent and truthful, Eurostar avoided accusations of "greenwash", a practice which receives an arresting definition in a new book, John Grant's The Green Marketing Manifesto. In it the co-founder of St Luke's advertising agency writes: "You can't put a lettuce in the window of a butcher's shop and declare that you are now 'turning vegetarian'."
Window dressing
Many companies have put lettuces in their shop-fronts and found themselves attracting nothing but rotten tomatoes. Unsurprisingly, the big oil companies tend to regularly receive a drubbing from environmental NGOs. In fact, just a fortnight ago, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint from Friends of the Earth about a Shell ad claiming that the oil company uses its waste carbon dioxide to grow flowers. FoE corrected the ad, saying that it actually uses less than 0.5% of its waste CO2 for this purpose.
As Dax Lovegrove, head of business and industry relations at WWF, points out: "A lot of oil and gas companies talk about alternative energies and offsetting, but this distracts from the real issue because their industry is about sucking oil out of the ground. There's still a long way to go before customers understand that we all rely on natural resources to supply us with the products that we use in our everyday lives." He adds: "The rhetoric has to match the reality of what a company is doing to address sustainability issues, as opposed to tinkering around the edges, or communicating a red herring."
One such example of "tinkering around the edges" is the drive by major UK supermarket chains to encourage consumers to reuse shopping bags. Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, is disappointed by the tokenism. "Until the big supermarkets reduce the amount of energy used in their stores, minimize the distance that food travels and review their relationship with farmers, saving a few plastic bags is just window dressing."… http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/19/mondaymediasection.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=media