Why Being 'Environmentally Friendly' Is A Scam

environmentally friendly allnatural ecos safe non-toxic green what do all these words have in common they're the past few years have seen a huge boom in searches for environmentally friendly products and services which on the one hand is amazing because it means individuals care more than ever about the planet but as a result it's led to a massive industry and the rise of green marketing or green washing some of which is specifically designed to trick consumers in order to simply sell more products but no more it's time to call them out with the seven SS of

bre watching studies over the last 10 years have found that 90% of products in big box retailers throughout Canada the US Australia and the UK fall into one of these seven categories which might be catching your attention when you're shopping but not exactly living up to the standards you hope they are first up we have the S of the Hidden Troff this is when a company highlights the importance of fixing one enironmental issue while potentially hiding a more concerning one let's take Nestle for example oh Nestle the company that takes water from my hometown's aquafer

wraps it in plastic and sells it around the world ooh the company that took Spring Water 120 mi from Flint Michigan for their water bottles while Michigan was suffering a major lead contamination Water Crisis how cute and as one of the world's largest water bottle manufacturers you can imagine they're also one of the largest global polluters of single use plastic wow in fact a 2017 Beach Cleanup in the Philippines found Nestle products the most common brand of litter now Nestle in the meantime has made a pledge that by 2025 100% of their packaging will be

recyclable and reusable amazing finally one of the world's largest polluters of single-use plastic is taking a stand except they're not really of the 20,000 water bottles bought globally every minute less than half of those are recycled which means that more than 10,000 bottles bought every minute end up in a landfill or the ocean and take about hundreds of years to completely degrade and even if Nestle does hit that fully recyclable Target it's worth noting that the world literally does not have the infrastructure in place to recycle all these bottles most recently in 2018 China's national

sword policy banned the import of most Plastics which means that millions of recycled materials from the US are simply becoming waste companies like Nestle Market one angle like recyclability without acknowledging or taking responsibility for the fact that there currently is no way to recycle all these products up next the S of no proof which is when organizations make environmental claims that they have no evidence for and happens all the time let's take Nest Labs as an example one of the biggest producers of thermostats which eventually became Google nest in 2013 Nest Labs claimed that Nest

thermostats were the most environmentally friendly product in comparison to to their competitors which is great except for the fact that they had no proof for this claim and were later forced to remove it when they were investigated and this is the tough part about companies making false claims cuz we often don't know as consumers until it's too late a lot of these companies seem to operate on ask for forgiveness not permission if a company does make a claim the best we can do is verify that it's backed by some government body or reputable organization which

is trash pun intended because it puts all the onus on the consumer to research every single product they buy the sin of a f this is where all the cute new catchphrases fall under like green or eco-friendly in Canada green washing is technically illegal for example the term all natural must not a include added vitamins minerals nutrients artificial flavors or food additives B have anything removed other than water see go through any processes that significantly alter the original physical chemical or biological state which sounds good on paper except there's a loophole where companies can state

made with natural flavors if just one of the flavors they mention is natural while every other ingredient in their product is artificial or synthetic and that's at least partially regulated here meanwhile words like environmentally friendly or ethical are much more vague and meaningless and in many parts of the world no legal ramifications actually exist so if a company isn't explaining exactly how they're more environmentally friendly or what they're comparing it to because remember everything we make has an environmental cost they're likely just using words to sell a product to you ooh but the soft blue

and green packaging with pictures of Nature and look at the little birdie and and the cute bears it must be environmentally friendly nope not likely while the FTC in America has had green guides for businesses since 1992 they're not legally binding though some states like California now do have Eco labeling laws to protect consumers similarly the UK doesn't have specific anti-g greenwashing laws but misleading Claims can fall under consumer protection laws packaging that focuses on what's not in the product can often be a red flag as it's often used to distract you from the actual

ingredient list while in cosmetics they often focus on one specific natural ingredient to give the illusion that the other ingredients are not harmful to you or the planet the sin of relevance is when an environmental claim is not helpful or relevant for example chlorofluorocarbon or CFCs which can be used as refrigerants are banned in 197 countries across the world because of their environmental impact and yet companies still find the need to emphasize that products are CFC free in an attempt to appear as if they're taking responsibility for protecting the environment in reality CFC isn't present

in their product because it's illegal and that's a good thing the CFC ban helped protect the ozone and reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically in the past two decades but with hfc now replacing CFC there is a risk that it's not regulated enough and could do similar damage and that's why it's still important that we put research and regulations around alternative Solutions as well and it's frustrating to see companies hijacking the ignorance of consumers just so they can have a market marketing talking point that is ultimately the bare minimum legally the sin of lesser of two

evils when a slightly less harmful product is created in an environmentally harmful field it's often touted very loudly for example when you see cars labeled as more fuel efficient that's great on the one hand but the cars are still adding significantly to CO2 emissions worldwide in 2019 Transportation accounted for 29% of us greenhouse gas emissions alternatives are awesome but they can still be harmful to the environment which is why it's important to remember that sometimes reducing or completely minimizing our use of services and products is actually the most impactful thing we can do the sin

of f as the name suggests is outright false claims by corporations vehicle manufacturers have been the most recent culprits in 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency found that Volkswagen used emission cheating software when external testing took place in their facilities to ensure that diesel vehicles emitted less gas and appeared cleaner than other vehicles but Volkswagen isn't alone Mercedes Chevrolet and Ford have also been found guilty of using emissions cheating software to bypass inspections and this is where we have to demand regulations and way stricter penalties for companies that make these kind of fake claims it's hard

enough to find environmental Alternatives without the added layer of companies straight up lying to our faces and then really only facing a slap on the wrist or a minor fine ow we promise not to repeat our decade long scam on consumers ever again we SAR nobody in the company knew the sin of worshiping false labels this is related to the hundreds of thirdparty certification and claims given to products with no real guarantee the claims are true of course there are some labels that are audited and more legitimate than others but as an example in one

research study a product of paper towels had a certification that said fights global warming there needs to be a huge emphasis on reputation for thirdparty verification because a lot of these third party organizations claim they'll verify but don't do often enough and as a consumer how are we supposed to understand the legitimacy of every single label that could possibly be slapped on a product we can't so what can you do okay so this was a laot and it might sound a little Doom and Gloom sorry about that add these sins on top of the fact

that we hear about cotton tote bags creating less waste but more CO2 than plastic bags or electric vehicles only being more environmentally friendly when the local grid thereon is also using renewable energy and not just creating that electricity from fossil fuels or the fact that the lithium mining of their batteries is related to the destruction of freshwater supplies and fish or how ride sharing apps claim to be part of the solution by streamlining Transportation but only added more vehicle miles than ever it could sometimes feel like there's no hope and no matter what we do

we lose not to mention straws getting so much attention but obviously there are genuine major efforts by some corporations and Brands to not only minimize their impact but actually create more sustainable products so how do we know what to support the shitty part of the the answer is to be more informed yourself which I know is not scalable and puts the onus on you instead of the corporations who should be bearing the responsibility but if it's something you care about now it's a place to start long term we need to engage socially and politically I

know for some people the word regulation might make you cringe especially our American followers for some reason but it works remember it's regulation that made cigarette companies admit and openly show that they're bad for your health even when they swore up and down they weren't it was the Montreal protocol that helped establish an international treaty to help protect the ozone layer this is what projections looked like with and without the protocol the world's largest manufacturer of tissue paper Kimberly Clark destroyed Mass amounts of boreal forest in Canada which was home to almost a million indigenous

people in response the clearcut campaign began and in 2011 a policy change took place that forced the company to purchase pulp outside the Boral Forest now it must be approved by the forest Stewardship Council which is a third- party organization that validates safe environments the Keystone Pipeline XL is one of the biggest climate change stories of the past decade concern about damage to indigenous lands oil spills damaging the environment and the drilling of oil sands led to the state department in the US creating a report that stated the environment was at little risk for harm

but the strange part about this report was that the authors had their names removed and when the names were finally revealed it was shown that a lot of these members were responsible for approving other pipelines this conflict of interest was hidden to prove that the pipeline had little to no risk in reality it was very dangerous for the environment the protest against against the pipeline got so big in 2011 there was a span of 2 weeks in front of the White House where 1,253 arrests were made where are we with the pipeline today the great

news is after a decade long fight Trans Canada has cancelled the pipeline project it can be a slog and take a long time but when we stand up to corporations and the government to protect the environment they have to listen these companies aren't willingly going to sacrifice their profits for the betterment of humanity so we need to make them and that starts by supporting or joining efforts or movements to impact our laws and effort to protect the environment I hope this video while calling out the Eco fakes of the world can also provide a little

bit of Hope yes there will always be intentional scam artists but knowing that every single day more individuals are caring about the environment taking a stand in their own life and making their voice be heard gives me a lot of Hope in the long run we've seen a lot of great examples of what happens when people stand up and I think we're going to see a lot more speaking of change I want to thank today's sponsor skillshare who's giving a free month trial to the first thousand people click the link in our description I absolutely

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