When Buying Green Isn’t Green

By Beth Starkin, GreenPepper

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Go Green Expo here in NYC.  It was a beautiful, sunny weekend, and I was excited at the opportunity to learn more about what eco-minded companies in the area are doing, and what products and services are available to me, the “green” consumer.  What I found was really nothing more than a glorified flea market.  Peddlers were pushing their wares, from biodegradable diapers to solar-powered turtle lamps (really??) to organic baby clothes to cruelty-free acne treatments.  It was overwhelming and an outstanding display of the excessiveness that is the antithesis of the green movement.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some great products and ideas on display at the event, and I even picked up a onesie and bib for my friend who’s about to have a baby any day now.  But giant flat-panel TV’s pulsing out product benefits and thousands of samples in plastic containers don’t quite strike me as the height of the green movement.  I was struck most when I walked past a man who was selling all natural totes for just one dollar.  When I pointed out the free tote I had already acquired from someone at some point during the day, his response was – “Well, that’s not natural fabric.”  So, what, I should just toss that puppy in the landfill because it’s not made of all natural products?  How is that green in the least?

I’m all for making conscious purchases and buying green when a purchase needs to be made.  But we all need to be carefully about mindlessly buying stuff just because someone says it’s green.  If you don’t really need it, it’s pretty likely that so-called green purchase is just going to be one more thing taking up space in a landfill pretty soon.

Comments

[Theresa]

Amen to that! I fear greenwashing is on the heels of the new trend of all things going green. I recently saw a digital frame with an eco-green label on it simply because the cardboard box that it was packaged in was recyclable. What about the product itself? Was it made from recycled plastics or powered by rechargeable batteries? No, but you can recycle the packaging and that's enough to make it green?

I'm glad to hear your opinion on this expo and shining a light on the real incentive behind these types of ventures - not for greening the environment but for greening one's pocket book.

[KITTYCarr23]

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