In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The young cashier responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to be green so we have a long way to go to clean it up."
He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, they washed the baby's nappies because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of a small country. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took a tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.
The three goals for this guide are to get companies to:
1. Clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances.
2. Take back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.
3. Reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products.
Apple, just for the record, is in 9th place and dropping.
So much for the "cool" factor on our i-Everything gizmos.
These guys need to ramp up their commitment to Cradle to Cradle design.
Take the example of Nike.
Since 2000, Nike has been working toward a cradle-to-cradle manufacturing and product life cycle system. A two-phase collaborative effort between MBDC and Nike, is setting new design guidelines and auditing all of the company’s major material suppliers. Since 2001, research has focused on the chemicals used in the manufacturing process and the development of a list of materials that will comprise a positively defined materials palette.
“Our goal,” said Winslow, “is to take responsibility for our product through its entire life cycle.” To do so, Nike has begun to “align the life cycles of all its footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories as closely as possible with
natural cycles.” By 2020 Nike aims to:
• Eliminate the concept of waste in product design, using materials, energy, and resources that can be readily recycled, renewed or reabsorbed back into nature.
• Eliminate all substances that are known or suspected to be harmful to human health or the health of natural systems.
• Close the loop and take full responsibility for its products at all stages of product and process lifecycle, including the end of a product’s useful life when consumers are likely to dispose of it.
• Develop financial structures that promote greater product stewardship in design, engineering, and manufacturing, as well as create new financial models to reflect the full cost of doing business.
So now, back to you and me.
If we are the new generation, the younger generation, the generation with the future in our hands, the ones who can "save the world" from the wasteful older generation, we can ask ourselves, honestly:
Do we really do the green thing right now?
Do each of us personally take responsibility -- this means taking action not just talking about it -- to put companies that produce the right things in the wrong ways under pressure, and get committed to helping producers to improve?
Do we even know how half our stuff gets produced, how it ends up in double plastic packaging in neat rows in our over-air conditioned mega-stores?
And what kind of company do you work for? Do you dare to ask?
What kind of stocks, shares, investments, products and services are you and your company buying or creating? Are you willing to NOT buy into this stuff if it's obviously the opposite of anything even close to sustainable?
See, that's the hardest part. If we want a change, it starts with you, with me, with each of us. That, my friends, is the only bottom line that counts.
