Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Two-Faced Attempts at Greening Products


There's a great article in the business mag Fast Company this month about Procter & Gamble's new efforts toward greening their products ("P & G's Chemistry Test"). Written by Melanie Warner, it questions the earnestness of P & G's efforts when many other products it makes still contain questionable chemicals like phthalates.

Bottom line? A product like Tide Coldwater is great for reducing our reliance on hot water for washing (and therefore reduces our carbon footprint). But if it's fragranced with chemicals that may be reproductive toxins, the production of which pollutes ground water, is the effort any more than one step forward and two steps back? In other words, is P & G just greenwashing?

It's a strong article and recommended reading for those of you following these important, and under-reported, issues.

Posted by Amy Shaw for Greenjeans. Image sourced here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm torn on this one. Even if the chemicals are harming the environment, if they encourage people who use the product anyways to reduce energy usage by using cold water, isn't that a small step in the right direction? All we can do is put pressure on the companies to change.

Dagny
www.onnotextiles.com
bamboo and organic clothing