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News Roundup for July 31, 2024
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Green

Sadly, "Green" has become too much of a slogan in many cases. It has hit that stage where it means many things to many people, and sometimes there is little agreement among those purporting to hold "Green" beliefs. Quite possibly this is a symptom of the adolescense of a new ideal for society.
 
Back in elementary school, there seemed to be far more focus on the environment, with recycling, endangered animals, etc., all cared about and talked about...the environment was high up in our consciousness, at least for kids. I do agree that this current 'Green' wave is more about marketing than real environmental issues, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if positive change does happen due to the fad.
 
They probably also do it so politicians can buy "grey" full-size SUVs and say that they're going 'green'.
 
scarberiankhatru said:
I do agree that this current 'Green' wave is more about marketing than real environmental issues, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if positive change does happen due to the fad.
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The current green movement, like all popular counter-culture movements will quickly be co-opted by mainstream big business. Remember when the "all natural/organic" food movement was populated only by tie-dyed wearing hairy legged earth mothers? Well, once Loblaws and other big businesses saw the growing popularly beyond this niche group, they began their own organic line (including organic spinach, unfortunately laced with e-coli). Same goes for any other counter-culture movement, from rock music to motorcycles which were for rebels in the 1960s and are now for everyone from cute teens to pot bellied stock brokers. Even bluejeans were originally worn by teens as a counter culture movement, and now I wear them to work in an office.

The green movement is doomed to the same mainstream co-opting that the other counter-culture movements fell victim to. Just wait, a "Green" Coca-Cola will soon come, next Loblaws and Wal-Mart will begin selling products marketed as "green" while in reality their environmental impact will be little changed.
 
"Organic" has been partnered with "Green" as part of this movement. These two words, along with "natural," have all become meaningful to many people without them understanding what they are all supposed to mean.
 
Part of my work is developing pet food products and branding (and no I don't want to discuss the recall any more, thx) and no where else have I seen such nutty labelling. We've got natural, holistic, organic, whole, wholesome, etc.
 
Admiral Beez said:
The current green movement, like all popular counter-culture movements will quickly be co-opted by mainstream big business. Remember when the "all natural/organic" food movement was populated only by tie-dyed wearing hairy legged earth mothers? Well, once Loblaws and other big businesses saw the growing popularly beyond this niche group, they began their own organic line (including organic spinach, unfortunately laced with e-coli). Same goes for any other counter-culture movement, from rock music to motorcycles which were for rebels in the 1960s and are now for everyone from cute teens to pot bellied stock brokers. Even bluejeans were originally worn by teens as a counter culture movement, and now I wear them to work in an office.

The green movement is doomed to the same mainstream co-opting that the other counter-culture movements fell victim to. Just wait, a "Green" Coca-Cola will soon come, next Loblaws and Wal-Mart will begin selling products marketed as "green" while in reality their environmental impact will be little changed.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmnyNOSuikw
 
The current green movement, like all popular counter-culture movements will quickly be co-opted by mainstream big business.
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But, unlike most other counter-culture movements, the green movement aspires for mainstream recognition. That is the whole point of it. Environmentalism and progressive thinking on all the issues surrounding it can only have an impact if a majority of society actually adopts more sustainable habits.

And yes, there will be many companies who produce many items that are useless or not green at all, but that is part of the process of learning and those companies who simply exploit the green movement for money with false products will eventually be exposed.
 
Exactly. To say that the goal of the green movement is to posture or rebel is to miss the point completely.
 
and this is why we debate, to expose the frauds. when talking about green, it's usually about what's in the wallet that some businesses really mean.


we must be careful of the word green and make sure that people don't use it to justify bad things and sugar-coat selfish interests.

I.M.O - something is wrong here. capitalism drives our economy, not morals and typically green technology is expensive to implement. to have soo many on the "green bandwagon" implies that there might be a discrepancy somewhere. it doesn't add up. i fear that unrealistic claims are being made by some and that people are being mislead.

there need to be stricter standards. people shouldn't be following a word that's named for a color. there need to be environmental ISO's.


to me, words like "green", "natural" & "organic" is just marketing.
 
There's nothing profitable about waste, and yet the goal of the green movement is largely to reduce waste. Many corporations are realising this, and moving to suistainable models. Not because they want a green image, though that is a plus, but rather because it saves them money.

There is a carpet maker that is about to or has already become essentially a closed loop. All their carpets are made from recycled materials which are used, and then reprocessed into carpet after its useful life. This has saved them hundreds of millions of dollars and turned it from a languishing firm to an industry leader. Xerox Europe has done something similar, where is takes back old copiers and recycled 95% in order to produce new copiers, significantly reducing costs.

I recommend Natural Capitalism if you're interested in this. We need to dispell the false dichotomy between capitalism and environmental sustainability. We only need to prod the market in order to significantly reduce the negative impact of the economy on the environment.
 
afransen said:
There's nothing profitable about waste, and yet the goal of the green movement is largely to reduce waste. Many corporations are realising this, and moving to suistainable models. Not because they want a green image, though that is a plus, but rather because it saves them money. ... We need to dispell the false dichotomy between capitalism and environmental sustainability. We only need to prod the market in order to significantly reduce the negative impact of the economy on the environment.
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Hear, hear!
 
There's nothing profitable about waste
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and the nuclear industry knows that more than anyone else. the waste they create lasts for a very long time yet when you see those ads on the TV, they tout it as green.

but to be honest, it really is green - glowing to be exact. :p


p.s....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-lMxkyEocwg LOL!
 
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