Greenwashing

Monsanto likes to think of itself as a sustainable agriculture company. They proudly trumpet their commitment to improving crop yields in the face of an ever-increasing human population, which they put forth as the very essence of sustainability. In truth, they are pursuing a sustainable objective in an unsustainable fashion. UCS senior scientist Doug Gurian-Sherman claims that Monsanto, “is producing more engineered seeds and herbicide and improving its bottom line, but at the expense of conservation and long-term sustainability.”

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Consumer boycotts and pocketbook pressure has been effective in the past in changing corporate behavior. How do we keep the pressure on to keep companies incentivized to do the right thing?

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As many critics have long maintained, the proliferation of genetically modified crops would eventually lead to the proliferation of herbicide-resistant superweeds. Hence, we now have a dangerous escalation of chemical warfare in the fields from which our food is being harvested. The “new” herbicide 2,4-D that Monsanto’s latest corn will be resistant to, is actually one of the two active ingredients in Agent Orange of Vietnam War infamy.

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About 20 months ago, the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers and releasing over 200 million gallons of oil. The biggest offshore oil spill in US history, it seriously damaged ecosystems and caused health problems from chemical dispersants. The responsible thing for [...]

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I have to admit that I got it wrong. Last September, I wrote here about the battle between the competing forest products certification Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Forest Stewardship Council (SFI). I thought that the fact that seven large companies decided to reject the SFI certification meant that SFI is going to lose this [...]

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A lawsuit was filed against Frito-Lay a few weeks ago in federal court for marketing snacks as natural that contain genetically modified, or GMO ingredients. The lawsuit, filed by the law firm Milberg LLP, has one plaintiff, Julie Gengo of Richmond, California. The New York City based Milberg has offices in Los Angeles, Tampa and [...]

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Last week the USDA’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that it was allowing unlimited, nonregulated planting of Monsanto’s MON 87460 genetically modified corn trait, which was designed to be resistant to certain kinds of drought. This trait will be combined with other traits also approved on the same date, to provide corn that [...]

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With the rising number of people participating in the likes of “occupy wall street,” are consumers and investors ready to do more than embrace the change for social and environmental responsibility? This article is designed to make readers question themselves as consumers or investors in terms of pointing fingers at the not-so-responsible companies and the fundamental steps required by the stakeholders (consumers, companies and investors) to take to address social and environmental problems associated with the traditional management practices (financial bottom-line imperative). Investors are likely to be attracted in purchasing equities that will deliver the most profit. Companies will always focus on delivering financial performance to the shareholders. Consumers wil always look for the best deal. The less socially responsible companies would self-correct if both the consumers and investors turned their backs. The challenge lies in finding investors willing to support socially responsible companies at their typically higher price tags. Are consumers ready to pay a premium as well? What is your thought?

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As standards become more well-defined and consumers demand more transparency, companies are increasingly in need of the skills to, first of all, begin that difficult process toward the ever-evolving “sustainable” business. But for those already on that path, an understanding of how to report and communicate their successes and hurdles is becoming essential as well. [...]

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US Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe is a busy man, working incessantly on securing the future of the Postal Service. Yet, last week he found the time to attend the COP17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa, where according to a USPS press release he “heralded the U.S. Postal Service’s sustainability successes, making the business [...]

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The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here. By Corine Prothero Effective sustainability conversations need to be heard everywhere. Select students, communities, grassroots movements, businesses, and [...]

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Sustainability has become a trend for the companies and today every good product should meet ecological, economic and social standards. Consumers are paying for these kinds of objects in a attempt to do their part. But the truth is that some of these products are not buying what they promise. By faking their advertisements, some companies might not be playing a fair game.

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Construction projects should not be considered Green or sustainable unless they have applied equal consideration to all resources used. In Dubai, the labor resources are treated terribly regardless of the “green” nature of the development, this can be changed by incorporating fair and equitable treatment of construction workers into existing sustainable development laws and guidelines.

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Chicago examines options for its recycling program By: Brent Tarnow The City of Chicago, despite its long history of dreadful recycling services, has recently instituted a “managed competition” between two private operators and its own Department of Streets and Sanitation to determine who should win the city’s recycling contract.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel designed a six-month [...]

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Both Nike and Puma adopted a strategy of creating a movement around reframing the word “sustainability”. Although both movements were targeted towards demographically similar markets, the respective target customers have diverging sensibilities. What will be most interesting to see is how the PR of 2011 develops into the actions of 2012.

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Asia Pulp & Papers (APP)  has been accused repeatedly by Greenpeace of causing deforestation in Indonesia over the past few years. It is one of the biggest suppliers of paper pulp and one of its customers, Mattel has also been the target of a recent Greenpeace campaign. Now Mongabay reports that APP fires back at Greenpeace after losing [...]

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An ad on the sidebar of my Facebook profile caught my eye: “What do you recycle?” it innocently asks. The link underneath, www.PlasticsMakeItPossible.com, is enough to make the stomach churn, but I figured that by clicking, the worst that would happen is the company would pay Facebook for a clickthrough, so I went ahead and [...]

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Systemic sustainability is a process of development—individual, organizational, or societal—involving an adaptive strategy of emergence that ensures the evolutionary maintenance of an increasingly robust and supportive environment. Systemic sustainability starts with each individual in an organization or community. It recognizes that change happens through us.

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Can the fast moving ever-changing fashion world of today become a model for sustainable business in the future? Marketing fashion as a sustainable movement requires astute positioning from an industry that annually grosses $5 billion in the United States alone promoting “fast fashion” that is cheap and disposable.

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Craft beer is considered by many to be one of the leading green industries in America right now.  High costs have inspired them to treat their own waste water, ship across the country by rail, and reclaim heat from boiling tanks for use elsewhere in the brewing process.  Support from craft beer drinkers has also given them the freedom to grow their own hops and move to more expensive organic ingredients.

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To date, over a dozen colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada have campus-wide bans of the plastic bottles. A dozen more have partially halted bottle water sales to certain campus departments, and hundreds of schools have installed multiple “hydration stations”, where students and faculty can refill their own bottles. Some of the bans have resulted from student activism, while others have been a calculated effort by school administrators to save money.

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Triple Pundit and I were recently invited to a “virtual conference” sponsored by Dow Chemical. The “Future We Create” love-fest was a meeting of 30 green chemistry thought leaders in academia, industry, and in the non-profit sector.

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By Jonathan L. Gelbard, Ph.D. From the standpoint of a conservation scientist who understands what’s really ‘green’ (in terms of measurable benefits for the health of ecosystems and people) vs. what’s merely greenwash (a claim with little if any measurable positive impact), the world of sustainable business is ripe with opportunity to help companies raise [...]

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This post is part of a series on Stakeholder Engagement sponsored by Jurat Software. Last week Stephen Colbert did a funny five-minute segment on the Colbert Report about “Talisman Terry’s Energy Adventure,” a coloring children’s book promoting the benefits of natural gas drilling. The publisher of this 24-page book is no other than the Calgary-based [...]

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Major virgin paper manufacturers suggest that high recycled content is not appropriate for fine printing and writing papers, based on misleading carbon footprint analysis. Verso and Sappi Paper carbon footprint analysis shows the same or higher carbon emissions with increased recycled content – based on making recycled paer at mills designed to make virgin paper. The most comprehensive and peer-reviewed lifecycle analysis of recycle vs. virgin paper manufacturing shows that the opposite is true – making fine paper from waste paper is a more efficient process than making paper from trees, using less energy, less water, creating less effluent, and generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

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The non-profit ForestEthics ranked twelve financial and communications firms after gauging how their operations—especially those pesky mailers—affected forests. Sprint scored an A.

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A full-page ad in The Washington Post states in big letters, “Natural gas is hot stuff.” A bit of irony if I’ve ever seen one. The smaller print of the ad extols the virtues of natural gas, including its abundance in the U.S. and the energy independence its use will bring. “Natural gas consists mainly [...]

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The Dwell Insights Group, part of the architecture and design publisher Dwell, did a study on “The New Face of Affluence.” While data from the study was designed to tell the story of design, it also told a story of sustainability. While the word affluence conjures up a lavish life of luxury, there has recently [...]

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By Jonathan L. Gelbard, Ph.D. Previously, I explored the cacophony of greenwashing that plagues the mattress industry, making green mattress purchases quite the head-twisting endeavor. In a follow-up post, I proposed a four-question framework for evaluating green purchasing choices – in mattresses and beyond – and explored the first two key questions of this framework: [...]

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Among the developments this week at Chevron’s raucous annual shareholder meeting—some surprising, some not so—was the oil company’s continuing refusal to settle an $18 billion lawsuit over oil pollution in Ecuador. A letter from New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and several investor groups urged Chevron to settle case, which has dragged on in various [...]

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