Comments on: How Consumers Can Avoid Greenwashing http://blog.terrachoice.com/2009/04/30/how-consumers-can-avoid-greenwashing/ A blog on the EcoLogo Program and green commerce Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:22:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Jeff Earls http://blog.terrachoice.com/2009/04/30/how-consumers-can-avoid-greenwashing/#comment-8440 Jeff Earls Thu, 21 May 2009 17:46:44 +0000 http://blog.terrachoice.com/2009/04/30/how-consumers-can-avoid-greenwashing/#comment-8440 <b>Boy oh boy can I agree with this. The desperate need to make the public FOOL proof about green products is why we got started with our site <a href="http://greenformationstation.com" title="The Greenformation Station" rel="nofollow">The Greenformation Station</a>. Yes a small plug but really I am placing this site on ours so others can see as well. Who knows ya might look at ours and link back who knows.</b> Boy oh boy can I agree with this. The desperate need to make the public FOOL proof about green products is why we got started with our site The Greenformation Station. Yes a small plug but really I am placing this site on ours so others can see as well. Who knows ya might look at ours and link back who knows.

]]> By: Chris Elskamp http://blog.terrachoice.com/2009/04/30/how-consumers-can-avoid-greenwashing/#comment-8332 Chris Elskamp Mon, 18 May 2009 18:18:27 +0000 http://blog.terrachoice.com/2009/04/30/how-consumers-can-avoid-greenwashing/#comment-8332 Question - What is your take on statements like: "By using this recycle paper X number of trees were not cut down." "Save our forests - Recycle" Research shows that in many cases paper fiber comes from the residuals of other industrial processes (sawmills). So the equations used to calculate the equivalent # of trees may be not be valid. Also, while tropical rainforests are disappearing, in many parts of the world, including North America, forest cover is stable or even increasing! ... and these are areas where most of the world's pulp and paper is produced. While recycling is indeed has sound environmental arguments - shouldn't they be centered more on landfill issues? Isn't it misleading to tie this back to trees - a renewable resource that is indeed being renewed in practice? These statmenents appear to Sin in the areas of Vagueness and or Irrelavance (they infer cutting down trees equates with losing forests when this is not happening in areas where paper manufacture is well established and sustained). Question - What is your take on statements like:

“By using this recycle paper X number of trees were not cut down.”

“Save our forests - Recycle”

Research shows that in many cases paper fiber comes from the residuals of other industrial processes (sawmills). So the equations used to calculate the equivalent # of trees may be not be valid. Also, while tropical rainforests are disappearing, in many parts of the world, including North America, forest cover is stable or even increasing! … and these are areas where most of the world’s pulp and paper is produced. While recycling is indeed has sound environmental arguments - shouldn’t they be centered more on landfill issues? Isn’t it misleading to tie this back to trees - a renewable resource that is indeed being renewed in practice?

These statmenents appear to Sin in the areas of Vagueness and or Irrelavance (they infer cutting down trees equates with losing forests when this is not happening in areas where paper manufacture is well established and sustained).

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