A Rant on Greenwashing

I've already shared with you all that Patrick and I have our wedding favors chosen but I decided to browse the David's Bridal website because I heard they have a section of eco-friendly favors. So I went to the site and looked at the favors. They are all made of paper with wildflower seeds embedded in them so you can plant the paper and watch a garden grow. They are pretty and it's good that DB is trying to be environmentally conscious but the problem with things that have seeds in them is that those wildflowers are not native everywhere and it isn't good to introduce new species to any environment where it doesn't belong and can run rampant.



It gets complicated but this is called greenwashing. Greenwashing happens when a product is marketed as "eco-friendly" but it isn't really that great for the environment afterall. They (the offending greenwashers) are hoping to make money off of people who want to do the right thing but in reality it would be better if David's Bridal just sold favors that were made from recycled, recyclable materials in the first place. A lot of this sort of thing is happening now because so many people are taking an interest in saving the world. Clorox, which is an awful company as far as the environment is concerned, now has a "green" line. That stuff is still full of toxic chemicals. They just made slight changes in their formulas, colored the liquids green and slapped a pretty label on the bottle and people think they're saving the earth when they buy it. I've also been seeing a lot of cosmetics marketed as "mineral"-something-or-other. 100% pure mineral makeup is non-toxic and great for your skin but most of these major cosmetics companies are just using their usual chemical-laden formulas and adding a mineral here and a mineral there and labeling it as mineral make-up. I could go on and on.



In this day and age of saving the earth, we want to do all we can to purchase non-toxic items. Major corporations just don't always make it very easy on us. It's a real shame because all we want to do is preserve our land and keep a safe environment for ourselves and our loved ones. My advice? Just be aware and if you want to try a new product do a little research. All it takes is a quick Google search to determine whether it's worth it or not. Or you can just ask me and I'll gladly do the research for you.