Entreprenurial companies will find customers. And once those customers are found, then products get made. That is the bottom line on this article.
Now that green is the new color of marketing, expect a lot of money to be made selling green products. The products may not be green, but they will be sold as such. Be careful before buying anything. The hype may exaggerate any claims. And that hype may be believed by the sellers as well, but let me give you a for instance. Every one knows that if you keep your oil changed, your air filter cleaned, your tires pumped up and you drive slower, you will get better gas mileage. But I really doubt if I do all of them that I will go from 15 to 30 mpg. But sometimes that’s how it sounds. 10% for an air filter. 10% for tires, 5% for an air cleaner and another 10% for changing my driving habits. A 35% increase in gas mileage? Have studies really been done?
But I digress….
Yes, we should buy greener when we have to buy anything.. But do we always have to buy something? Think about every small thing you buy.
It had to be made from materials that had to be made from something that was originally a raw material. It then had to be transported to you somehow. Either drop shipped from an online order or taken in bulk to your neighborhood store. I wonder about every eighteen wheeler and freight train I see. What is in there? How far did it travel and does someone really need it?
And need is such a relative term in America. I see it as part of a three tier system: need, want, nice-to-have. I see us as seeing too many wants as needs, and too many nice-to-haves as needs. What would happen if we bought less? How would energy needs be affected? Fewer trains, fewer trucks, fewer barges. Less packaging to recycle. Less plastic made. Less metal smelted.
And yes there would be other side effects. All of those people selling nice-to-haves would be out of work. But with spending less, maybe a spouse could stay home with the kids and no one would notice. Or not have a second job, or even spend time with family and friends.
But I know that none of that will happen, our marketing departments are too good at marketing. Our logistics centers are too good at moving goods around. And we are too good at buying. Can anyone cheer me up out of the hole I just buried myself in?
The “greenest” thing you can do is reuse, recycle, and buy new only when absolutely necessary.
Granted he’s extreme. Marketing, gimick, experiment maybe all three, but it’s still a fun read. His latest article may cheer you up: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/money_is_green.html
it is the same concept, that marketing use when they say something is All Natural or even Organic. Probably, a few of the ingredients or parts are really natural.
Made in the USA. Probably, it is just put together in America, out of 90% parts from all over the world. Like American cars, more than half of the parts are not really from US.
Until there is no standard to measure, what is Green and what is not. It is not much of a difference for most products.
Same thing goes to recycled materials. It is a relative term. For example: Most recycled paper is actually 30% from recycled materials, which is very closed to the average contents of recycled material any paper can have in the US.