Green Options

Brands across categories, but particularly in the natural products industry are choosing charities with which to align themselves. In most cases this is an exercise in determining what the brand will stand for. The bigger the brand, the larger the charity and the more thought is given to this exercise as seen in the almost perfect launch last year of Clorox Greenworks brand.

Just about one year ago, Clorox launched their entry into the green and natural cleaning products category with Greenworks. And I wrote, in this piece, What Should An Eco Entrepreneur Do When The Big Boys Go Green?:

“The phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment.”- Definition of Greenwashing according to CorpWatch.

Perhaps a more consumer friendly definition is the one provided by the Stop Greenwash site, “Used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

The site goes on to explain,

“The average citizen is finding it more and more difficult to tell the difference between those companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those that are using a green curtain to conceal dark motives.”

Examples of greenwashing highlighted on the Greenpeace site are: GM’s Save Gas Ad Campaign and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

According a Clorox commercial on TV today (during a baby show, meaning lots of Moms saw this ad) you should sanitize not only your child’s toys but also their BOTTLES and SIPPY cups in a bleach and water solution.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Bleach is a huge cause of calls to the poison control center, and the makers of Clorox Chlorine Bleach want us to soak young children’s food containers in it?

These are just some of the oh so useful suggestions found on Clorox.com under AMAZING USES. Heh… the only amazing thing about bleach is its ability to strip fabric of all colors and eat through fabric when used repeatedly or in higher concentrations (and that SMELL!)

At the San Francisco pit stop of this past weekends Green Festival, while trying to avoid the masses searching for samples of organic this and sustainable that, one of San Francisco’s green builders Chris Connors mentioned to a few of us attendees, “Wow this festival has gotten big.” Indeed, for those who haven’t attended in a few years – yes, the festival continues to grow faster than FSC certified bamboo.

For [...]

I have been reading a lot of mixed reviews of Clorox’s new “green works” line of household cleaners.  For those of you who do not know, greenwashing according to wikipedia “is a term that is used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”  Chester’s Clean House writes that even 1% unnatural ingredients is too much.  They have a strong argument, but I still think [...]