In recent years the concept of ‘going green’ has become
insanely popular. Unfortunately, this
has resulted in the concept being insanely overused, and in many cases, abused. Essentially, the common understanding of
green is good for the environment. Yet
not enough have looked into what that really means regarding the ideology’s
application in actual business practices.
It is easy to claim that you care; it is far less easy to prove it. People like to feel as though they are making
an effort to be socially and environmentally responsible. However, too often such good intentions can
become misguided. Even more disturbing
is the fact that big business is all too aware of this fact, and is more than
willing to use it against you.
(from iedp.com)
A
perfect example of this is the corporate campaign against printing. We have all at one time or another received
an e-mail which says at the bottom: “Please consider the environment before
printing this e-mail.” At face value it
seems as though this person really cares about his or her impact on the
planet. Their real motivation is
actually far from social responsibility.
Rather, its presence is a testament to personal profitability and the motivator
behind most business practices: making more money. This condescending guilt-trip is a marketing
strategy which attempts to convince you to save them money. Print is not the environment’s
enemy—misinformation is. Sadly, the
‘green initiative’ has become less about ethics or ecological responsibility
and more about empty promises intending to part you from your cash. In the end ‘green’ doesn't really mean much
anymore.
(from moralcoral.wordpress.com)
That
does not mean all environmental efforts in recent years have been made in
vain. The “true believers” have chosen
to distance themselves from the many carpetbaggers who have made the term ‘green’
useless by instead promoting the idea of sustainability. The use of this notion in a business’
literature is a good indicator that it is a genuinely eco-friendly
organization. Such groups tend to advocate
for credibility and transparency. In
other words, their specific practices should be outlined in detail in a way
that is readily available to the consumer.
If you don’t have a good idea of what exactly a given company is doing
to be environmentally conscious, then it’s probably not much!
(from prismeng.com)
