Green or Greenwash?

By Alex in Politics on Apr 6, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Green is in, and big corporations left and right are jumping on the bandwagon … but are they really trying to be environmentally-conscious or is it just a case of "greenwashing"?

WebEcoist takes a look at the world’s worst offenders – take, for example, BP:

BP’s ad campaign with the theme ‘Beyond Petroleum’ led the public to believe the company was headed in the direction of cleaner, renewable fuels. But, it turned out the company was spending more money on advertising than on green efforts, leading Treehugger to ask, “What does BP stand for these days? Beyond Propaganda? Bye-Bye Planet? Bad Pollution?” After all those greenwashing ads, BP went and dropped $3 billion to buy into oil from the Alberta Tar Sands. Each barrel of oil out of the tar sands generates about two thirds of a ton of CO2, meaning BP’s 200,000 barrels a day will generate about 127,000 tons per day.

Link

Tags: BP, green, greenwash

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BenJCarter
Apr 6th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Hype and BS regardig the environment? I’m shocked!
Dave
Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I received a bottle of water at a conference recently, and the label on the bottle actually bragged up the fact that the company was using smaller labels on its bottled water because it was somehow more environmentally responsible. As if a smaller paper label on a normal 16oz PETE bottle makes much of a difference… Never mind the fact that many of those recyclable bottles will end up in landfills, there’s a company that’s making a difference!
Johannes
Apr 6th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Let’s not forget about greenwashing from the government also.

The whole mandated ethanol in gas thing is an example of government subsidies and handouts that do nothing for the environment (or actually do more harm)all while touting the effort’s greenitude.
oOPonyOo
Apr 6th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I am green, but can’t stand it when people get their facts wrong. I believe the tar sands only produces 80kg of Co2 per barrel of oil. Even 85.6 kg Co2 equivalent/barrel. Or something more reasonable like that.
DOJ
Apr 7th, 2009 at 1:31 am
127,000 tons of CO2 a day!?!!!?

Is that a lot? I don’t have a reference point.
Tony LaRocca
Apr 7th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Thank you so much! I don’t claim to be environmentalist, but I’ve always wondered exactly what BP was doing to save the environment beyond putting a flower in their logo. It’s like the AT&T commercials of the 90s that would show Star Trek-age technology to get you to infer that someday AT&T would make it real.
eenerz
Apr 7th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Can we at least tell the whole story? Carbon capture and emission, please.
sigh
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
People are so naive. Companies are only going to do things if it brings in money. No corporation is going to do something because it is morally right, they are going to do it because the mob thinks something is right and the company will make money because people will “agree” with what they are doing.
Money talks.

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