Coming soon: a collage of pictures from “green” websites featuring dripping leaves, Photoshopped-to-be-impossibly-green leaves, worn hands holding tiny sprouting leaves, and even cartoon depictions of leaves. Even the EcoLogo (one of the good ones!) is made up of doves with overlapping plumage shaped like leaves.

Even only peripherally aware consumer during the “lite” craze knows that many labels and logos found on common products really don’t mean squat. A quick Google search on misleading logos found over 400,000 hits. It’s a testament to today’s media trends that the top hits talked about fake organic food logos and misleading recycling terminology. (It’s also worth nothing that most articles were from Canada or Europe.) We’re all aware, or we should be, that just because a product is stamped “Certified by the Jesus Loves Green Priuses and Eats Free Range Eggs Council” doesn’t mean it’s actually good for you or healthy for the environment. In fact, I could doodle a green say… dolphin, write a bogus name around it in a circle of smudgy letters, and stamp it on a freeze dried pack of fried baby seal meat. Then, some tired consumer after a busy day of playing tug of war with Bangalore for her job would inevitably feel a little bit better about chunking mystery meat into her grocery cart. Let’s face it. A logo without any scientific backing is just a teensy picture with some words cavorting around it.

And that brings me back to the subject. A brief, visual and non-scientific survey of the Green and Sustainability web presence showed me… a bunch of pristine, fragile, greener-than-green leaves. We haven’t forgotten what they look like yet, folks. 

Not that I’m complaining about the web presence. I’m glad I open four godzillion Firefox tabs worth of green websites in my research every day. But could we maybe branch out a little? (No pun intended.) How about a whole gosh darned tree? Or maybe a cityscape without smog cloud? A solar powered house? What the heck does an installed solar panel look like anyway? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t look like the cartoony representation on Solarhome.org. I suppose what I’m saying is that, in the Green Movement, I’m looking for a little more substance and a little less, well… roughage.

Now for those questions I promised. Is there a logo you trust? What is it and why? If you’re feeling adventurous, go poke around your house right now (I suggest the fridge and pantry) and scope out any suspicious looking logos. Shoot me a pic or describe them for me, and I’ll investigate them all Mythbusters(c) style.

]]> http://atlantagoesgreen.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/informative-link-time/feed/ 0 Jennifer Escalona http://atlantagoesgreen.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/here-we-go-with-the-greenwashing/ http://atlantagoesgreen.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/here-we-go-with-the-greenwashing/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:09:49 +0000 Jennifer Escalona http://atlantagoesgreen.wordpress.com/?p=16 ]]> The Greenwashing is getting out of control.

Check out Comcast’s billpay feature:

And closer to home, Decatur First Bank’s “new” initiative:

One of the useful new features?

On-Line Banking Technology…check your balance, transfer funds, pay bills all on-line. Save a stamp and a tree.

…And money on marketing by simply updating your old paperless banking program to include the word “Eco.”

To be fair, there is one fairly nice feature in Decatur First’s Eco-Banking – they pay for your first 10 monthly ATM withdrawals so you don’t have to run around looking for a Wamu or evil Bank of America machine. But, isn’t that something that many small banks have to do to compete with the giants?

Comcast, First Decatur, Countrymen – If it’s something you were doing anyway, then it probably isn’t a hip and cool new eco-initiative. Just sayin’.