Greenwashing’s powerful effect on consumerism

What do you think of when you hear the word greenwashing?

I asked a few students and got some interesting responses. One thought it was a new environmentally friendly laundry soap; another pictured someone scrubbing grass like you would a tile floor or hosing down a tree to clean its leaves.

Images of someone taking soap and water to their lawn is amusing, but the true meaning of greenwashing is a serious topic that effects consumerism in a big way.

Put simply, greenwashing is a term that describes a company, government or organization that advertises positive environmental practices while acting in the opposite.

We’ve all seen the revolution in the store aisles. Next to the paper towels you always buy is a new option decorated with green leafy tendrils to advertise its environmental sustainability.

Now you’re faced with a new dilemma. Do you choose the tree-killing chemically treated triple-ply value brand or go with most likely more expensive tree-planting brand? More and more consumers, fueled by incessant media coverage of the green movement and the increased popularity of buying organic, untreated products, are picking up the expensive “eco-friendly” advertised brands.

But how green are the products themselves? All too often consumers get sucked into cool advertising that sells a product not much different than the value brand.

In fact, according to an independent study conducted by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc. in 2007, more than 99 percent of environmental claims on consumer products are demonstrably false or risk misleading their intended audiences.

TerraChoice defined what they call the “Six Sins of Greenwashing” to describe the different falsifying claims on these so-called green products. The most common sins committed are the hidden trade-off and the sins of no proof and vagueness.

The hidden trade-off is fairly straight forward. Those paper towel companies that promote their recycled content or sustainable harvesting don’t mention the environmental impact of their manufacturing processes, which aren’t so green.

The sins of no proof and vagueness are where the green paint hits the fan. Product and service claims that provide no evidence or certification of their validity are nothing short of fraud. My favorite is the “all natural” claim. As TerraChoice points out, arsenic is natural, as is uranium, mercury and formaldehyde. All of which are poisonous.

So what’s the big deal? Advertisers have always lied to us to influence consumer buying power.

The problem lies within the reason behind buying green products. Unlike other marketing ploys that try to convince us either to buy at the place with the best price or buy the product with the best value no matter what the cost. Buying green is buying into a philosophy that supports the environment.

False and misleading advertisers give consumers the sense that purchasing their product supports that philosophy. The result is the uniformed majority pay more for a lot of hot air, and true environmentalists have no faith in green claims.

So far the only standards used to measure environmental products and services are a few certification organizations. There is no Federal standard required to display environmental claims on product labels.

The best bet is to look for products that have the logo of an outside certification organization. Eco-logo, Green Seal, Green Label and Energy Star, among others, are recognizable certifications that require total company analysis before giving a product a environmentally friendly rating.

The next time you’re in the paper towel aisle, don’t get greenwashed. If the product doesn’t support its claims using an outside agency or at the very least provide proof on its own Web site, ignore the green paint and cute pictures of baby trees. You’ll save a little green in the process.

Cartoon by Jose Sandoval,an Advertising Design & Print student at Texas State Technical College.

Need for Speed: CNS instructor enjoys high gear sports

By Sarah-Jane Sanders
TSTC Coordinator of Publications

For Computer Networking & Systems Administration Master Instructor Jimmy Summers, risk taking is no light matter. But through years of practice and proficiency, he has found the rewards of extreme activities exceed the risks as much as the ocean exceeds a kiddie pool.

"I’ve done some things few other people will do," Summers said. "I’ve experienced free-falling from up to 14,500 feet and have seen some of the most beautiful sunsets from in the clouds. I’ve played hockey with people from the NHL (National Hockey League) and with personnel from teams like the Dallas Stars. And in motorcycle racing, I’ve ridden with some of the best people in the world."

But, Summers would be the first to tell you he didn’t start out in the big leagues.

On the road
He bought his first motorcycle right after graduating from college and had no intentions of racing.

"At the time, I thought racing was for guys with sub-high school educations with nothing better to do than run circles around a racetrack."

However, after attending a few races and making friends with some big name racing families, he cautiously took up the sport.

"I didn’t want to be one of those (motorcycle death) statistics, so I bought one of the leather suits that the racers wear with the boots, helmet and gloves."

Summers rode in the racing circuits for four years until an accident at an association Grand Nationals race caused significant damage to his motorcycle and left him with minor injuries.

Despite this, his skills and abilities later qualified him as a Rider Coach candidate for the internationally known California Superbike School.

Recently, he has taken up teaching racing techniques with the RideSmart motorcycle school based in Austin. He also continues to hone his racing skills, and often rides his bike to work.

In the sky
Skydiving is another of the various daredevil sports Summers enjoys. He began jumping while he was a student studying at A&M University and joined A&M’s skydiving club soon after seeing a campus demonstration.

Summers’ first jump story, however, sounds like a recipe for disaster. His parachute ripcord caught on the plane, causing it to deploy prematurely. Then, he opened a reserve chute, but found the navigation toggles had not been fastened correctly which prevented him from steering. After missing several dangerous obstacles, including a major highway, a construction site and power lines, Summers touched down about 1,000 yards from the target landing area.

Throwing caution quite literally to the wind, Summers made a second jump the next weekend, and now has approximately 190 safe landings under his belt, as well as several levels of jump licenses and awards.

I made a second jump to see what the first jump should have been like," he said, "and I’ve been hooked ever since."

Though his skydiving habits began on a whim, Summers said he happened into ice hockey because of a girl.

Around the rink
To impress a woman he was dating, Summers planned a special date that would end with a bit of romantic ice skating. In preparation for the date, he took skating lessons at a rink in Dallas.

During first lesson, he ran into an old skydiving buddy who encouraged him to try out hockey. Later, when things fell through with his girlfriend before the skating date could be arranged, he stayed with the skating lessons and took up the popular ice sport.

At the time, Summers lived and worked in Waco, but made a 100-mile drive to the nearest ice rink in Dallas to continue his skating classes and hockey games. When a position for a youth and children’s hockey program coordinator and team coaching assistant with the now disbanded Waco Wizards opened, Summers jumped on the opportunity to practice and teach hockey in town.

He worked with area youth and children, instructing them in basic hockey techniques so they could show off their skills between periods of Wizards hockey games. From there, Summers took a job coaching the fledgling Baylor hockey club, and later went on to guide the Texas A&M hockey club to its all-time best season.

Currently, he is coaching less, but finds time to play hockey at least once a week for a men’s recreation league in College Station.

Pushing his limits
Despite his long history of daredevil sports, Summers has kept his injuries to a minimum. A few broken fingers and ribs, a broken collarbone and some bumps and bruises are the most damage he has sustained.

Some might call him lucky, but Summers say it is his caution and practice with the sports he enjoys that has kept him free from major accidents.

"There’s a level of expertise required to do these activities well, and a mind set you have to have to do them right. If you learn it, then it becomes very challenging and satisfying," he said.

Throughout his career of extreme activities, Summers said he has been driven by more than just risk taking.

"There is something else to it," he said. "It’s not just the thrill. It’s not just being a daredevil. It’s deeper … It pushes my limits, it pushes my knowledge, increases my faith in God and my appreciation for this earth and what he’s given me. He’s given me the ability to do all this."

So, what’s next for Summers? He said scuba diving and piloting are things he’d like to consider as he pursues his next adventure.

Just say “NO” to Bad Pick-up Lines

“Hey girl!... Mmm Hmmm…” Ignore
Random boy in the hallway #1: “Hey, you go to school here?”
“No, I work here”
“You a counselor?”
“No.”
“Oh, well I wanted to ask someone about changin my major. You don’t do that?”
“No.”
“Man, what you do here?”
Random boy in the hallway #2: “Look sexy, that’s what she do.” Ignore
“I work on the newspaper.”
“Oh, so you got a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“You married?”
“No.”
“You looking?”
“No, but if I decide to you’ll be the first to know.” (sarcasm galore)
“Alright then. You stay sexy now… Mmmm Hmmmm.” Ignore

This is a typical transaction for me. It happens at least once, if not more everyday.
What’s the answer to this problem?
Ignore, say “NO,” repeat. Welcome to TSTC.

Lost Innoncence

I've been thinking a lot about innoncence.

Innocence in the sense of not knowing. Because once you know something, you can't get back to ignorance. You have to live the rest of your life knowing. I think there is a heavy burden that goes along with that.

It's sort of like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. They could never go back, just like we can never go back to our childhood before life got complicated. When it was easy to love without inhibitions, and you knew God because he was God. There was no question of his existence. You just knew. Like you knew your parents loved you. It was undoubtable.

The more you know, the more you find doubts about. You realize, what do you really know? I think that is what Jesus meant when he talked about having faith like a child. Children don't doubt because the "knowledge" of the world hasn't taught them the world isn't safe. They aren't jaded.

But sooner, more than later nowadays, they learn pain, evil and sadness. It is the knowledge of good and evil: emphasis on evil. Their hearts harden and the sting of the fall of mankind haunts them. We may not realize the implications the fall has caused until we realized where we once were.

The perfect garden. Immortilized in our minds as a day in our lives when we weren't burdened with the knowledge that we are no longer innocent. We merely were.­­

Painting courtesty of pincel3d

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