Like many of you, my knowledge of Greenpeace begins and ends with that one Seinfeld episode, the one where the NBC executive, so in love with Elaine, freaks out and joins the organization in order to impress her. That is to say I don’t really understand the “point” of the organization, or who appointed it the protector of the environment. But, it is, somehow, so let’s roll with it. Good news for HP and Apple: Greenpeace hates you two a little bit less today! Break out the champagne!
Now, what have Apple and HP done to get on Greenpeace’s good side? We brought up Apple’s efforts to placate the environmental organization the other day, but to recap: Apple cut a whole bunch of garbage from its products, and does a lot to make sure its factories are as green as possible. So that’s what Apple did.
Meanwhile, over in HP Land, those guys have “[put] a PC on the market that is virtually free of PVC (vinyl plastic) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).”
And who is Greenpeace’s favorite company? That would be Nokia. There’s a whole list of who are, in Greenpeace’s estimation, the greenest companies out there. The worst company? Nintendo! All those nuclear powered Wiis out there!
But like I said the other day, I really don’t know too many people who buy things based on their environmental impact. Can I afford it, and does it work well? That’s what I figure most people are thinking when they walk into the mall.
i could care less about green peace and their skewed views on reality, i put them in the same boat as PETA.
So…..you really do care?
Or did you mean to type “I could NOT care less”
Whatever happened to diction?
The “point” of greenpeace is to starve the worlds poorest people by convincing their leaders that genetically modified foods are poison.
While I do think that this Greener Electronics initiative may just be grandstanding for attention, I do think that Greenpeace has done good work brining environmental awareness to the world. Why the hell are you two so angry at them?
Dear Nicholas, so, you don’t understand the point of Greenpeace. Does that mean, that the state of the environment in general, the protection of habitats, a climate-friendly production and consumption, the children who are dismantling old electronics which ends up in Asian landfills just do not matter in your opinion?
Or do you think companies like Esso/Exxon would move one step towards a more climate-friendly business or governments like French (in the nineties) would have stopped their nuclear tests without people all over the world protesting, making use of their freedom of speech and right to civil disobedience? Or even Apple would have made that important step to set a new standard in dealing and communicating about their environmental impact? Which is now bringing momentum to the whole industry.
All of these examples are of course not the success of Greenpeace alone, but I am supporting Greenpeace mainly for two reasons: first, as governments and corporations often don’t care about the environment, the environment needs a strong voice. And second, we need Greenpeace as an organization as it’s an international and independent (from governments and corporations) actor whose activists, campaigners and experts I believe more than the ones who are on the payroll of industry groups.
Last but not least, of course maybe no single Mac user will base his buying decision on Apple’s eco policy. But is it therefore wrong to demand a greener Apple? I have used Apple products half of my lifetime (my first self-bought computer as a not-yet-student was a Powerbook G3 Pismo), and although the Greenpeace Greener Electronics campaign made hopefully all of us more aware about Apple’s and other IT manufacturers’ impact on the environment I still appreciate my Mac and my iPhone. But I surely appreciate them even more the „greener“ they come (not to be taken literally – I like the recent Unibody design and my black iPhone).
One more thing: Although I expect no Mac user would have jumped ship because of a bad record of Apple in the past, it’s not said that other buyers ignore environmental impact in their buying decisions. Think of companies and institutions who follow a policy to care for the environment and whose IT departments make hardware decisions based as well on environmental impact (if that sounds strange to you: they exist at least in Europe). In doubt, they might now rather buy HP or Dell instead of Lenovo, based of companies’ environmental records and policies, if other product features are similar – as it’s often the case in the Windows/PC hardware offerings. And personally, I wouldn’t mind if individuals buying hardware go for a Mac now for some more reason: Apple now being cautiously lauded by Greenpeace for their progress and maybe the first hardware company advertising their environmental policy big on their homepage.