My Greenest Hour

The Greasy Growth of Greenwashing

No, not "green washing," which might involve using non-polluting detergents and minimal amounts of water and electricity. "Greenwashing" means using slimy marketing techniques to fool consumers into believing that a product or business is sustainable when it's not. Advertisers realize that more and more people want to shop green. They'd love to capitalize on our environmental awareness.

Futerra, an ad company in the UK, has compiled a list of warning signs that a company may be greenwashing buyers. For instance:

• They use language with no real substance. (What does "eco-friendly" really mean?)
• They load ads with scientific jargon that the layperson has no way to verify.
• They emphasize one green aspect of an otherwise unsustainable product. (A hybrid SUV is still an SUV!)
• They simply refuse to provide proof for their green claims.

For the rest of the list and more information, visit their Web site and download the Greenwash Guide.

For the green couch potatoes . . .

I'll admit that, on occasion, I indulge in some quality lounging action. If you do too, you'll be just as excited to find out about the Discovery's Planet Green channel, due to launch next month. Starting on June 4, millions of US homes will welcome over 250 hours of original green programming. Rumor has it that Bill Nye the Science Guy will make an appearance . . . oh, how I've missed that man and his lab coat!

In the meantime, if you cruise over to planetgreen.discovery.com, you can explore their  quickly growing community. Current discussions on the board include green gardening and tech suggestions. They've collected some helpful articles, too—if you still owe Mom a bouquet, here are four tips for buying organic, eco-friendly flowers.

Shame on the Post Office!

I purchased some really cool stamps at the post office that are part of the Nature of America series.  The stamps were imbedded into a beautiful Alpine Tundra scene and, without thinking, I purchased 8 sheets.

When I was done assembling my invitation mailing my husband said, "Look at how much paper this wastes," and he was right.  Take a look at what's left of the sheet of stamps!  Granted, on the back there's a whole discussion about the Alpine Tundra, but from a waste standpoint these are not the greatest step towards preserving our natural environment.

Creativity

I read this at MorningNewsBeat and thought it was fitting for this blog, which celebrates ingenuity, daring and "thinking outside the bag."  These quotes are from Apple Computer ads from years ago. 

"Here’s to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently."

"They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing that you can’t do, is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward."

"While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Eco-Friendly on Campus

A short article written by Natalie Ermann Russell in this week's USA Weekend magazine discusses those higher institutions that are adopting green policies. The greenest are:

At Middlebury College in Vermont. The school plans to be carbon neutral by 2016. How will it achieve this? With a proposed biomass plant (to be powered by wood chips) and energy efficient lighting.

At Oberlin College in Ohio. Students get real-time information about their energy usage through a Web-based system in the dorms. Stuents also worked to get a car-share program on campus to reduce pollution.

At University of Maryland at College Park. 91% of undergrads voted in favor of implementing a small anual fee (atarting at $4) that would fund the purchase of "clean" electricity.

Learn, Do, Teach

How do kids learn to care about our planet?  From their parents, teachers and friends.  The simple act of switching from single serving portions of goldfish to making single servings from a big box into little containers taught us all a lesson. 

I was asked to send in a snack for my daughter's class and the teacher asked, specifically, for single serving packs.  "No way!" I thought.  I was happy to send the snack but not willing to buy those little 100 calorie packs in the box, in plastic!  We couldn't send them in baggies because that was just as bad.  We ended up getting little Dixie cups and filling those and then transporting them to school.  More effort for sure but my daughter got to teach her teacher AND her classmates about over-packaging and single serving waste. 

Learn, do, teach.  It works nearly every time.

The Green Family

After the Green Products Expo, I left for Florida to visit my mother and hopefully get a bit of R & R.

When I think about my family, there's a long history of green living. Seniors currently in their 70s and 80s began the authentic green movement back during the 1940s when they were taught that “sacrifice meant victory” in the strictest of terms – the war could not be won without conserving on the homefront.

There are legions of “green grandparents” out there today. The Web site Grandparents.com  wrote an article with 10 easy tips to be a greener granny. There is even a network called Green Seniors that believes "the concept of Community is being lost in the face of the rush towards a future that has been defined by corporations and politicians; not by the people that are directly affected by the decisions and actions that they take."

Sounds just right to me.

My sister Ellen is fluent in Spanish and will help translate the Ecobags.com Web site so that this growing population has the opportunity and knowledge to adopt green practices. She's gone to the organic side in terms of food, but she's generally a green baby.

Then there is my sister Heidi...Heidi is an organic farmer on Martha's Vineyard. Enough said.

I won't even go into my husband Blake. That's another entry. 

 

Welcome!

I have been involved in the green movement for almost 20 years. Each of us has his or her own way to live a little greener every day. Your Greenest Hour is about YOU, the millions of clever people who have found simple, sane ways of eliminating trash from their lives and the earth. This is a place where you can share your stories with others. And, if you need to reveal your "less than green" sins, post them in The Un-Green Confessional.

Join the chat...save the planet! (Like our favorite Heroes star Ando.)

-Sharon