Speaking the Truth

As much as I think it is great that everyone is becoming so "green" or environmentally conscience, part of it is all for show I think. Since celebrities and the media have started this whole 'Green' idea. It makes me laugh when walking into Nordstrom and seeing all these hipsters with 'Green is the new Black' shirts; kid, are you going to recycle that bag you bought all these new clothes in? How much did you spend on that shirts and does any of it go to the environment? Doubtful. Or hippies that always say they are vegan and are living for the Earth, those kids are always wearing Birkenstocks. Birkenstocks are from cows and the least vegan-friendly thing ever. I have also read that a lot of celebrities that back environmentally friendly companies end up getting free stuff for their endorsement. I am all for helping the environment and keeping this planet around longer, but I am the first to admit that I like my steak, I only occassionally recycle and love to buy books, which just kills trees. If you want to help the environment, do it for everyone, not because Leonardo Dicaprio uses that product or the 'Green' movement has hit Gap.

Why it's cool to be green

Suddenly, concern about global warming has crowded the environmental bandwagon, with many businesses front and center

Sunday, May 13, 2007 3:52 AM

By Spencer Hunt

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It's hard not to save the world these days.

How about a hybrid car or a new energy-efficient washing machine? Did you know that compact fluorescent lights use one-third the electricity of regular bulbs?

After years of being stuck on society's back burner, the environment is popular again. It's cool to be green.

Lawmakers are looking to cap so-called greenhouse gases that are blamed for climate change, movie stars are buying "carbon credits" and businesses are pushing eco-friendly products.

From Ford and General Electric to Wal-Mart and SC Johnson (the maker of Pledge furniture polish), companies are flooding the airwaves with commercials that tout themselves as green.

"Everybody's got an angle," said Jim Coleman, director of Ohio's Tomorrow, an advocacy group that wants to reduce global warming.

"I think it's tremendous that the business community is the one leading this.

Experts tie this new "greening" of America to several factors, including:

• Soaring gas prices that created a market for hybrid cars and revived efforts to replace fossil fuels with alternative energy sources.

• Some scientists' linking of Hurricane Katrina to global warming.

• The Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which brought worldwide attention to climate change.

• The reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that say greenhouse gases must be reduced by 2015 to prevent everything from famine to animal extinction.

Andrew Hoffman, a University of Michigan professor who studies business response to environmental issues, said the United States is riding the third wave of environmentalism.

The first began in the late 1960s, when environmental disasters including Cleveland's Cuyahoga River fire helped spur the first Earth Day and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The second began in the 1980s, with concerns about a hole in Earth's ozone layer and a toxic chemical leak in Bhopal, India, that killed thousands of people.

This latest resurgence, centered on global warming, "is an environmental issue like no other," Hoffman said.

"It ties into so many other issues, like national security and national competitiveness."

Another big difference, Hoffman said, is how businesses are responding. Instead of fighting change, many are embracing it as a way to cut costs or make more money.The nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, plans to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent over the next eight years and said it will design new stores that use 30 percent less energy.

The company also started a campaign last fall to sell 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs, called CFLs, each year.

In April, the do-it-yourself giant Home Depot announced that it would offer more than 2,500 eco-products, including all-natural insect repellents and plants in biodegradable pots.

"We want to get ahead of an emerging trend," said Jen King, a Home Depot spokeswoman.

Environmental advocacy groups say they are benefiting from this new green wave.

The Sierra Club said its e-mail newsletter has grown from 150,000 subscribers in 2004 to more than 600,000 today, spokeswoman Orli Cotel said.

"It used to be that if you wanted to live a green lifestyle, you'd have to invest in really expensive technologies, like (solar panels)," Cotel said. "These days, anyone can get involved without making really drastic changes."

Then there is the carbon-offset industry.

Several companies offer investment stakes in projects that reduce carbon dioxide. The idea is that you might have a huge house or car that requires burning a lot of fossil fuels, but you can offset that pollution by buying the credits.

Alexia Kelly, a policy analyst with the nonprofit Climate Trust, which sells offsets, said the credits are more than a way to reduce guilt.

"We look for things that make permanent reductions" in carbon dioxide, such as restoration of an Ecuadorean rainforest, Kelly said.

But will all of these efforts really save the planet?

Hoffman said he expects that Congress will cap the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that power plants and other companies emit.

"When it subsides, the world is different than it was," he said. "Prior to 1970, the idea of national regulation on the environment didn't seem reasonable.

"Now here we are, and it makes perfect sense."