EnviroHumanImpact

In a word, “yes.”

But to some companies, “no.” What do I mean? It all depends upon the motive behind “being green,” or “appearing green.” Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with literally being greener so that a company gains the goodwill bought by also appearing green.

As a subject, there is no real problem with a company wanting credit for being greener, however there is a problem if they are trying to appear greener without actually improving their envirohuman impact or if they try to appear greener than they are in actuality. Why?

Well, look at what happens when an underdog (in any instance) takes on more than he can reasonably handle. If it’s a “little bully,” trying to appear bigger than he is, his puffed up chest is just not going to matter to the guy who towers over him and has real hulking muscles under his shirt (and when the little guy picks a fight).

If we allow our economy as a whole to stuff balloons into its shirt and call them biceps (pardon the continued simile) we will eventually come to face with the bully that is environmental destruction. Basically, it’s okay for marketers to market their relative greenness, so long as it is true. Otherwise, reality will snap back for the economy as it has fooled everyone into believing we were ready to face the problem of sustainability without doing nearly enough.

There is a caveat to that last statement paragraph. Marketing it is fine, so long as it is true, and so long as it does not allow people to become complacent with the feeling of, “at least we’re all greener than we were five years ago.” If that happens, we have an even greater problem, because the consumer will feel good about being somewhat greener, yet short of the needed reforms to our economy to truly have a sustainable future.

And that is where regulations come in. Eventually, yes, we’ll probably become immune, as a society, to all that marketing hype. But what then? Regulations have to be continuously improved, staying a step ahead to tirelessly push the major polluters to clean up their act, in order to avoid catastrophe over the longterm (environmental degradation, though a slow process, is a catastrophe).

In other words, we need real political leadership to point regulations on a path of marked improvement over the longterm, allowing industries to react but also pushing them ever forward to a better, more strategically sound place for them, and giving our society a fighting chance.

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