Greener Products vs. Green Products
I came across a great interview of consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson’s Al Iannuzzi, senior director of Worldwide Health & Safety, where he was asked about greenwashing.
His reply was dead on: ” I don’t believe in green products but greener products. The only truly green product is the one you don’t use. So it’s a journey and when we have made real product improvements — we should let our customers know. You can be perceived as greenwashing when you overstate improvements.”
I think this nails the green movement down succinctly– going green is an evolutionary process, with continual improvements and adjustments, not a simple one step solution.
Sure, there are simple steps that many organizations can take immediately to reduce their impact on the planet. There is always low hanging fruit..and those steps should be taken immediately.
“Green” should be looked upon as goal that reached out to inifinity, as organizations can strive to become “more green” or “greener”–but never reach “totally green”.
As I had mentioned in an earlier blog, consumers do not expect companies to be saints. A full three-quarters (75%) say it is okay if a company is not environmentally perfect—as long as it is honest and transparent about its efforts. This is according to the 2011 Cone Green Gap Trend Tracker.
If people are going to judge more harshly companies that are taking significant strides to reduce their carbon footprint, then the entire environmental movement will take three steps backwards for every one step forward.
Let’s take a continuous look at our path to green, and make significant reductions in packaging usage, energy consumption, transportation expenses, raw materials, etc. A goal of 10% reduction in one’s carbon footprint is a good goal thatncan continue to unearth ares for refinement.
Let’s make Earth Day Every Day.
