Green Scene a Flash in the Pan? (McClatchy)
"Probably not" is the response from people Janis Mara interviewed.
June 10, 2008
"Interest in all things green has risen to a red-hot pitch recently with more and more people jumping on the sustainability bandwagon -- so much so that now, environmentalist blogs and consumer advocacy groups are wondering if the trend has peaked."
Green purchasing is up, green blogs are all the rage, and energy is in every news report. GreenBiz magazine surveyed 1,000 news stories (mostly from their own publications) from 2007 and declared that "the green marketplace roared back to life, as products making environmental claims became more prevalent, including some from bigger companies."
Is the new environmentalism really just an awareness bubble? It has so many aspects -- beyond the environmental awareness that began in the 1970s, there are political, cultural, and social aspects, not to mention economic ($4 gas).
Janis Mara explores these aspects through quotes from several experts in her June 7 2008 McClatchy Tribune Business News article, "Green scene a flash in the pan?"
"We don't see this trend in sustainability waning at any time. We think it is a cultural shift, and we intend to take advantage of it," Clorox Chairman Don Knauss said on an analyst call last month.
GM is making long-term shifts in its manufacturing plans, favoring smaller cars over large SUVs. Property developers are committing to green building.
It won’t be an easy road, says GreenBiz. Citing an unnamed study, it says, "consumers expressed skepticism over companies’ green claims, calling them 'just a sales tactic' and expressing reluctance to pay extra for such products... That view was echoed by business leaders, who said that even though companies are greening products of all kinds, buyers are unwilling to pay a green premium."
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that it would begin reviewing its environmental marketing guidelines for the first time in a decade. Is that in response to the increase in misleading claims? Or is it just the FTC engaging in a little greenwashing of its own?
Comments
When our web site first went live nearly eight years ago, information concerning all things green was few and far between. So regardless of some overblown green claims by various organizations the fact remains, we are starting to see a real movement in this country.
http://www.mygreenscene.com
Posted by: Josh Watson | June 14, 2008 08:02 PM
Alternative energy sources have been stymied for some time by their lack of immediate cost-effectiveness for their adopters. Most alternative energy solutions require larger upfront costs and planning on the part of the adopter when compared to the "carbon-based" alternatives. With the dollar doing its best impression of a third world currency of late and emerging market demand increasing steadily I suspect that WTI prices will remain over $100/barrel for the foreseeable future. That said, Americans will not move on to adopt alternative energy solutions until they economically make sense in comparison to the alternatives. I believe that corner has been turned.
The adoption of the term "GREEN" is a Madison Avenue ploy to tag products with a moniker that sells. The term has little to do with alternative energies - some of which are not necessarily environmentally better (I'm thinking of batteries at the moment) than their carbon counterparts.
Posted by: Loren Parker | June 16, 2008 05:49 AM