An eager and trendy account executive said to his boss, ”I think it’s important we let our clients know that we support the environment.”
His boss turned around and looked down at him with sympathetic wisdom to say, “See, I think it’s important that we actually do support the environment.”
Firstly, I’d like to comment on the term “environmentally friendly”. Any way we conduct business, the best of the worst way, the worst of the worst or anything in between, we’re not being environmentally friendly. The environment has a natural state and anything we do to affect that is not friendly as to progress it. What we consider environmentally friendly is the least amount of damage possible while turning a profit.
To pile on the heap, our era has given way to greenwashing, a term used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company. For instance, a printing company can place an attractive, little tree in the corners of their documents that are on 10% recycled paper. Where’d the other 90% go? Or, a company can use 100% recycled paper on a press that uses hundreds of paper stacks to warm up.
Green standards do not take enough into consideration. That’s probably because there are no green standards. All we’ve got are attractive little trees that any business that knows what’s best for it will find a place for on their next letterhead. With all the Prius’s in the world, it’s no secret green is the new black. Why wouldn’t companies take advantage of such a loose label?
There’s a lot to say for companies who take being green seriously. Unfortunately, we spend time focusing on the scams than appreciating pure agendas. It’s only a matter of time before we actually do get standards or we become the set of Wall-e.
Tags: business practices, green, marketing, printing //
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