Greenwash: Don't Believe The Hype

I hate bloody greenwash.

Degradable bags - the word "degradable" is plastered all over these products, making it sound wondefully sustainable. It isn't. This doesn't mean they compost, they just break down into tiny pieces of plastic that sit around in the environment for hundreds of years, inveigling themselves into the ecosystem.

Organic brazil nuts - brazil nuts aren't cultivated, they're harvested from the rain forest, so they're always organic. It's good to buy them as it encourages rainforest conservation and provides income for rainforest communities, but don't pay more than you should for them.

Misleading adverts - there's been a whole spate of these, with advertising companies jumping on the green bandwagon and trhowing as many environmental buzz words at people as they can. My least favourite two are Shell's "CO2 into flowers" advert, showing a factory spilling out clouds of flowers; apparently they divert CO2 to flower cultivation instead of contributing it to the atmosphere. What utter tripe. Also, EDF's "recycled" advert, made from clips of old footage - the environmental advantage of using film already shot pales somewhat when you consider that EDF is an energy company, with the industrial carnage that implies. (EDF also charges twice the price for energy in this country than they do in their native France!).