Fighting Through the Green Static

Posted by Chad on July 31, 2008 under green |

With so many green products and conflicting green marketing schemes, how does an environmentally conscious consumer really know if they’re doing the right thing? The New York Times recently brought this issue to the forefront in their article “The Era of Green Static“.

“Two years after ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ helped unleash a new tide of environmental activism, green noise pulses through the collective consciousness from all directions. The news media issues dire reports about disappearing polar bears; Web sites feature Brad Pitt arriving at a movie premiere in his hydrogen-powered BMW; bookstore shelves are piled high with titles like ‘50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth’; shops carry hemp-enriched shampoo and 100-percent organic cotton tampons.

An environmentally conscientious consumer is left to wonder: are low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs better than standard incandescents, even if they contain traces of mercury? Which salad is more earth-friendly, the one made with organic mixed greens trucked from thousands of miles away, or the one with lettuce raised on nearby industrial farms? Should they support nuclear power as a clean alternative to coal?”

Beyond that - there are many more factors that come into play. What local organic farm has a better recycling program? Which efficient light company turns their own lights out every time they leave the office?

We are being swamped with “green” slogans beyond what we can comprehend, leaving us unable to tell whether we’re even on the right path or not.

In my mind, the only way we can truly know whether we are being “green” or not is if corporations create a culture of transparency.

In this setting, companies who advertise themselves as being “green” for marketing purposes would have to deliver quarterly consumer reports regarding their environmental decisions - and Greenwashing would be frowned upon in a much more serious way.

I’m not saying every company would have to be perfect, we know that’s impossible - especially when it isn’t always clear what “perfect” is. However, in order to advertise themselves as being green, businesses would have to be making a pro-active decision to continuously decrease their ecological footprint.

At Digitech, we are always striving to be create an environmentally friendly workplace. Besides providing our customers with the best remanufactured cartridges around, we recycle and re-use everything in our office. Since we market ourselves as being the “green choice”, we know it’s our job to meet your expectations and be the greenest we can be.

If you’re looking for remanufactured printer cartridges in Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, or Kelowna then give us a call!