Starbucks: people either love ‘em or loathe ‘em. My husband likes their coffee and admires their business brains. I, on the other hand, can’t stand them for their homogenized, yuppie style. Having grown up in grunge-era Seattle, once a land of artsy coffee shops crammed with kitschy sofas and local color, cookie-cutter Starbucks look to me like a department store: void of soul and chock-full of useless merchandise.

But how bad is Starbucks, really? I decided to find out.

1. Clean water is such a precious commodity in the world …

Tags: barista , coffee , corporate power , disposables , drink , fair trade , food and beverage , greenwash , starbucks , waste

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As the recession cuts deeper into the profits of big food companies, many brands are downsizing their portions in a bid to cut costs. In some cases, they are also downgrading their ingredients. But as chocolate giant Cadbury is discovering – you mess with your iconic brands at your peril.

Cadbury’s current advertising campaign involves eyebrow gymnastics from two children. Meanwhile, it has made some eyebrow-raising changes to the formulation of its popular Dairy Milk block in Australia and New Zealand. The new chocolate block is smaller, contains fewer cocoa solids …

Tags: agriculture , business , Cadbury , chocolate , food , greenwash , palm oil

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Green-wash – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. – TerraChoice
Earth Day seems to have brought out the green in everyone, especially businesses. Wherever we turn, we are being bombarded by advertisements and articles telling us about green services, products and specials. Everyone from Treehugger to Huffington Post and CNN are talking about things you can do today (and this month) – and Grist is even cheeky enough …

Tags: companies and greenwash , consumers and greenwash , greenwash , greenwashing , seven sins of greenwash , terrachoice

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The good news is that there are more green-minded consumers than ever before and travel companies are taking note. The bad news in that in the rush to offer eco-tourism, sometimes the eco part gets diluted or even trampled on.

Eco-tourism doesn’t just mean tourism in a wilderness area. If it did, then tourist space flights would qualify – despite the obvious energy cost involved in blasting into orbit.

In my book the number one rule for eco-tourism is to do no harm. Exploring beautiful wilderness areas is fantastic – …

Tags: carbon , eco tourism , greenwash , travel

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I don’t know if it’s irony or hypocrisy that best describes that fact that Prince Charles is heading to South America next month to focus on environmental sustainability and climate change issues but is getting there on a private jet, leaving a massive 322 ton carbon footprint. I’m going to go with hypocrisy. Perhaps the Prince should consider leaving some of his 14-person entourage behind and just hopping on an ordinary plane like the rest of us.

Apparently the Prince does plan on offsetting his carbon emissions. But …

Tags: carbon emissions , celebrities , ethics , going green , greenwash , hypocrisy , Prince Charles

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Dear readers: Sara and I stumbled across this and six days later we’re still not sure what to think of it. When you come across a green product as useless as this, it’s easy to be rendered speechless. Fortunately, at least for us, this doesn’t last long. Here, we share our thoughts. Please do share yours.

We present to you the Umbrella Pot by Kyouei Design. It claims to conserve water by reusing the rainwater cast off by your umbrella to nourish the plant growing in a small …

Tags: greenwash , pot , shopping , umbrella

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With 55 million pounds of pesticides sprayed on clothes yearly, the EPA considers seven of the top 15 of these pesticides used on cotton in the United States as “possible,” “likely,” “probable,” or “known” to cause cancer in humans.

Thanks to various agencies safeguarding what we wear, “Eco-Friendly” clothing is being subjected to many production standards much like the green building industry from organizations like the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the International Market for Sustainable Apparel (registry required) and the Organic …

Tags: eco design , green clothing , greenwash , organic fashion , tips

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Discover is on a mission to help green that ubiquitous sliver of plastic we all have taking up real estate in our pockets: our credit cards. Discover’s grand gesture of ecological friendliness? They’re introducing biodegradable credit cards. I certainly hope the company doesn’t think that’s the best they can do. The most dangerous thing about having credit cards is not the fact that they are leaching BPA’s into your pocket.

I suppose the biodegradability makes the cards technically eco-friendly, but what about all the “stuff” …

Tags: credit card , Discover , greenwash , shopping

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As the eco-friendly movement matures and embeds into mainstream culture, the power of green iconography diminishes ““ and the greenwashers will move on. It’s already happening. The Law of Diminishing Returns tells us that the more companies try to Green up their act, the less unique it becomes as a sales pitch. Increasingly, being environmentally friendly isn’t a luxury ““ it’s a requirement.

That’s bad news for advertisers dealing in promoting the uniqueness of their products, notes Rebecca Swift for the BBC’s Green Room. And the …

Tags: certification , consumers , environmentalism , greenwash , shopping

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