Comments on: Practicing Green: Uncovering and Countering Greenwash http://www.triplepundit.com/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/ Business, Better. Since 2005 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:33:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Living Small and Localhttp://www.triplepundit.com/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/comment-page-1/#comment-12632 Living Small and Local Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:13:43 +0000 http://www.triplepundit.com/wordpress/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/#comment-12632 Seattle is being "Greenwashed" big time. The new Emergency Command Center does not even have solar panels. The Mayor promotes a lot of personal responsibility requirements for citizens but does not walk the walk nor does he do anything to effect real storm water management, force developers to build to LEED standards, or propose laws that will actually incentivize preservation of existing structures. Land Use? A Joke. Transit that makes sense? No, just some glamour streetcars. Just be aware when you see awards for Seattle and the Mayor, that many on the city laugh. Seattle is being “Greenwashed” big time. The new Emergency Command Center does not even have solar panels. The Mayor promotes a lot of personal responsibility requirements for citizens but does not walk the walk nor does he do anything to effect real storm water management, force developers to build to LEED standards, or propose laws that will actually incentivize preservation of existing structures.
Land Use? A Joke. Transit that makes sense? No, just some glamour streetcars.
Just be aware when you see awards for Seattle and the Mayor, that many on the city laugh.

]]> By: Green Girlhttp://www.triplepundit.com/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/comment-page-1/#comment-12631 Green Girl Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:13:10 +0000 http://www.triplepundit.com/wordpress/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/#comment-12631 One way to get past the greenwash is to look for products that are verified by credible environmental labeling or registration systems. One such program is EPEAT - the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (www.epeat.net) - which offers purchasers an easy way to address dozens of environmental performance attributes in electronic products. EPEAT (www.epeat.net) is a nonprofit, stakeholder-developed environmental standard supported by US EPA that currently covers desktops, laptops and monitors and is expanding to address printers, TVs, servers and mobile devices (cell phones,PDAs) over the next year or two. (The original IT standard will also ratchet upward on a regular basis to continue to push design in the direction of more sustainable materials, processes and devices.) EPEAT addresses 51 environmental performance criteria in 8 categories, including energy efficiency (Energy Star mandatory), toxics reduction (RoHS mandatory), takeback and recycling (mandatory), greener materials choices (recycled, biobased), ease of disassembly and recycling, life cycle extension, packaging and company performance. Dozens of manufacturers participate in EPEAT, with nearly 500 products registered. And the US Federal government requires EPEAT registration for all eligible products - so billions of federal purchasing dollars create a huge incentive for manufacturers to design a steady stream of products that meet EPEAT's environmental performance criteria. Already nearly $50 billion in contracts - federal, state, local, enterprise, higher education - contain EPEAT requirements and the numbers grow weekly (if not daily!). Products must meet 23 mandatory criteria to register at the Bronze (entry)level, and then qualify for higher Silver, and Gold levels depending on how many optional criteria they meet. Choosing the highest rated product appropriate for your needs allows you to immediately and significantly reduce the environmental impact of your computing. Searchable product database, participating manufacturers list, product rating criteria, verification procedures, environmental benefits estimates and media coverage at www.epeat.net One way to get past the greenwash is to look for products that are verified by credible environmental labeling or registration systems. One such program is EPEAT – the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (www.epeat.net) – which offers purchasers an easy way to address dozens of environmental performance attributes in electronic products.
EPEAT (www.epeat.net) is a nonprofit, stakeholder-developed environmental standard supported by US EPA that currently covers desktops, laptops and monitors and is expanding to address printers, TVs, servers and mobile devices (cell phones,PDAs) over the next year or two. (The original IT standard will also ratchet upward on a regular basis to continue to push design in the direction of more sustainable materials, processes and devices.)
EPEAT addresses 51 environmental performance criteria in 8 categories, including energy efficiency (Energy Star mandatory), toxics reduction (RoHS mandatory), takeback and recycling (mandatory), greener materials choices (recycled, biobased), ease of disassembly and recycling, life cycle extension, packaging and company performance.
Dozens of manufacturers participate in EPEAT, with nearly 500 products registered. And the US Federal government requires EPEAT registration for all eligible products – so billions of federal purchasing dollars create a huge incentive for manufacturers to design a steady stream of products that meet EPEAT’s environmental performance criteria. Already nearly $50 billion in contracts – federal, state, local, enterprise, higher education – contain EPEAT requirements and the numbers grow weekly (if not daily!).
Products must meet 23 mandatory criteria to register at the Bronze (entry)level, and then qualify for higher Silver, and Gold levels depending on how many optional criteria they meet. Choosing the highest rated product appropriate for your needs allows you to immediately and significantly reduce the environmental impact of your computing.
Searchable product database, participating manufacturers list, product rating criteria, verification procedures, environmental benefits estimates and media coverage at http://www.epeat.net

]]> By: Jake de Graziahttp://www.triplepundit.com/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/comment-page-1/#comment-12630 Jake de Grazia Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:39:41 +0000 http://www.triplepundit.com/wordpress/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/#comment-12630 Thanks for bringing this up. <br /> <br /> As we, as consumers, discuss this stuff more and more, get more and more knowledgeable, and <b>create organized ways in which we can share and evaluate our knowledge and discoveries</b>, companies will have increasing incentives to manage waste well, manage water well, manage labor well, manage philanthropy well, manage supply chains well, manage materials well. <br /> <br /> Discussing more and asking questions will lead to knowing more. Knowing more will lead to caring more. Caring more will lead to demanding more. And once we start demanding, as consumers, that companies get transparent and sustainable, I think we could see some incredible innovation in a hurry. <br /> <br /> Maybe. Hopefully. But the point is that it's great that you bring this up. We should be thinking about which companies we want to support and which we don't. To get to the point of making intelligent decisions about that, we need to know what info is out there and share what we know. Thanks for bringing this up.

As we, as consumers, discuss this stuff more and more, get more and more knowledgeable, and create organized ways in which we can share and evaluate our knowledge and discoveries, companies will have increasing incentives to manage waste well, manage water well, manage labor well, manage philanthropy well, manage supply chains well, manage materials well.

Discussing more and asking questions will lead to knowing more. Knowing more will lead to caring more. Caring more will lead to demanding more. And once we start demanding, as consumers, that companies get transparent and sustainable, I think we could see some incredible innovation in a hurry.

Maybe. Hopefully. But the point is that it’s great that you bring this up. We should be thinking about which companies we want to support and which we don’t. To get to the point of making intelligent decisions about that, we need to know what info is out there and share what we know.

]]> By: urbanworkbenchhttp://www.triplepundit.com/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/comment-page-1/#comment-12629 urbanworkbench Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:28:12 +0000 http://www.triplepundit.com/wordpress/2008/02/practicing-green-uncovering-and-countering-greenwash/#comment-12629 Green <a href="http://urbanworkbench.com/green" rel="nofollow">used to be a noun and an adjective</a>, how is it that it is a verb now too? And an overused one at that! <p>Corporate responsibility should go beyond slogans and advertisements, but we're stuck with too much information and not enough time to process it all. <p>If one says nothing and the other shouts "GREEN!", the assumption that is being abused is that it must be better. The public needs to be informed loud and clear that it may not be.</p></p> Green used to be a noun and an adjective, how is it that it is a verb now too? And an overused one at that!

Corporate responsibility should go beyond slogans and advertisements, but we’re stuck with too much information and not enough time to process it all.

If one says nothing and the other shouts “GREEN!”, the assumption that is being abused is that it must be better. The public needs to be informed loud and clear that it may not be.

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