Got a Question: Ask The Lazy E

We're gearing up for the release of our new website later this fall. One of the new features will be an "ask box" where I'll respond to questions about green living. Here's a question that came from Kevin in San Francisco.

Q: "What helps you determine whether or not a company is legitimately working towards a sustainable future versus someone looking to make a few extra bucks by putting the word “green” on their product? Isn’t it a matter of interpretation? The more I look into it the more I find this green wave similar to the dot com era."

A: Of course, there’s lots of companies trying to brand themselves green. To be honest, I don’t really concern myself with attempting to decipher the “true” intentions of companies with regard to sustainability. I'm not sure that Mother Nature cares one way or the other what companies' intentions are provided they're taking substantive steps to integrate environmental responsibility directly into their core business operations. Many companies can (and do) write big checks to environmental non-profit organizations, but how many are really willing to commit to changing the way they actually do business? The best way to tell is to look at their products. If they’re taking substantive steps to introduce legitimately green products – which almost always starts with green, non-toxic materials – then odds are that some serious change is underway because to bring these kinds of products to market requires buy-in from many areas of the company like product design, sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing. Then I evaluate whether those products reflect consumer behavior. For example, lots of companies are touting the biodegradability of their products, but this is largely irrelevant since unless that product is eventually going down a drain or inside a composter, it most likely will never biodegrade. Nothing biodegrades in landfills because there’s not enough oxygen or microorganisms to enable the process. So, yes, there’s a lot of hype and less than legit claims right now, but I mostly see this as an inevitable phase through which the green economy must pass in order to achieve more concrete and widespread footing.

The dotcom era was filled with hype. But the promise of the Internet was and is very real. It was only after the bubble burst and many pundits said the internet was dead that the Internet truly began to transform the way humans gather information, transact commerce and communicate with one another. The future of green is bright. But there’s no doubt that we'll continue to encounter some rough patches and frustrations along the way. The more we can applaud companies for taking substantive steps in a green direction while still holding them accountable for areas in which improvement is necessary, the more effective we'll be in creating the change we want to see.

-- Josh