Max Cohen Cohen, 1
Professor Seelie
September 27, 2015
English 104
Essay 1: Recycling
Recycling has been the environmental crusade to reducing the human footprint, with it’s spotlight shining down on in recent years. It was the noblest of causes, recycling being a great idea for the environment and society; but it is being handled poorly. Its modern descendant has turned into a corporate scheme with recycling becoming a business, instead of being about the environment because marketers are using environmentalism as a excuse for overconsumption, recycling products are only being recycled for profit, and cities & big business use inflated numbers to attain media attention. Let’s now take a look at the bread and butter of
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Companies are using environmentalism as a straw man for overconsumption. Coming straight out of writer Amy Westervelt’s article, “Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?”, Westervelt clearly sees through this ploy of emotional appeal, stating “American consumers
Cohen, 2 assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing these items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week”. (Westervelt, Amy. "Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015). So why is the reason that companies are starting to “Go Green”? Its clearly obvious that the change in America from an industrial country to a environmental country has taught big business how to market environmentalism in mass quantities of their product. The strategy of the consumption-environment mindset are increasing rapidly. If this trend of buying without thinking does not slow down, with problems like not shifting priority from consumption to being environmentally aware, things will certainly worsen. On the topic of green marketing, people often see that green marketing refers to the advertising of objects or products with environmental characteristics to them (Like the Nestle bottle, for example). Terms like “Environmentally Friendly”, “Refillable”, and “Recyclable”, are some of the things people associate with green marketing. In reality
53% of consumers expressed desire to switch to eco-friendly products as of 2007. In today’s more environmentally conscious culture, that number has probably increased.
Many people say that recycling is a waste of time or that they just don't have the time.”Yes it’s popular in affluent neighborhoods like Park Slope in Brooklyn and in cities like San Francisco, but residents of Bryon and Houston don't have the same fervor for sorting garbage in their spare time’(“The Reign of Recycling”). The world needs more people to recycle no matter where they live. It seems that even if more people have started recycling things have not changed much.”While it’s true that the recycling message has reached more people than ever, when it come down to the bottom line,both economically and environmentally, not much has changed at all”(“The Reign of Recycling”). People need to work harder to make a change that will account to something. The goals are being set higher and higher but with little success. ”While politicians set higher and higher goals, the national rate of recycling has stagnated in recent years”(“The Reign of Recycling”). This rate has ceased to flow. If something changes how people feel about recycling then the nation may be able to meet its
Recycling is a very essential and crucial process in our world today. The term recycling means that waste can be converted into new products instead of being discarded. As the population continues to grow, humans are using more and more products. In order to reduce the amount of waste on planet Earth, and to preserve its resources, recycling is significant. Not only does recycling allow the environment to thrive, but it also allows living people to thrive as well. There are many materials that can be recycled. Plastics, electronics, aluminum, food and glass are only but a few products that can be recycled. Recycling can benefit our environment in numerous amount of ways. However, without recycling, negative impacts on our environment can occur. Some of these effects include pollution whether it is air, land or sea, depletion of natural resources and even an increase threat to global warming. Therefore, recycling is extremely important to sustain our environment.
The rise of green products and the want of consumers to become more environmentally friendly has been increasing. In 10 Green Marketing Milestones, the reading mentioned how the “rise of the Toyota Prius: It may not have saved the world, but at 1 million cumulative vehicle sales the Prius became the predominant fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle” (Neff 2). This is an example of how companies are actually wanting to go green in order to make more profit and rise above their competitors. Going off the Prius example, it was also mentioned how Hummer cars, which use an excess amount of fuel, sales have plummeted. This was because this model no longer appealed to the consumers and General Motor’s had to discontinue the model and even went bankrupt. This sale tactic works and is so successful because the consumer’s mindset have evolved to seek things that are better for the environment. Many would prefer Toyota over General Motor because of their company’s reputation with being green. Although this might not work for all companies, but for some, they have become more successful than their competitors by going green and so, convincing more and more to
As we have seen an increase in awareness around sustainability and climate change, with the help of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth documentary in 2006, we see organizations moving towards mitigating the effects of climate change in various ways (Al Gore, n.d). As this corporate social responsibility has become more prevalent, organizations are now pushing their green agenda by publishing sustainability reports, doing mass marketing and implementing sustainable business practices to portray the image that they too are working towards protecting the earth’s natural environment all the while focusing on their underlying goal of selling their products and
Companies that have gone green have gained profits. Recycling has become a multimillion dollar industry in a lot of countries. When looking at America’s statistics in recycling it shows
In the article “Are You Being Green Washed?” Robbins (2008) states the image of “greenwashing” which is that numerous number of companies promote their services and their products as environmentally friendly but in reality it is harmful for the environment. The author illustrates that by giving some example of companies that claim they are eco- friendly such as Palm oil and Rayon. He states the impacts of such claim on the environment and consumers in some ways. However, in order to protect the environment form the negative impacts of globalization and consumerism, government and individual must make a joint effort by enact laws and educate people and companies about the impacts of such problem.
Consumerism often causes people to identify with a product or brand on a personal level. Certain products have come to represent different levels of society, with swankier products like muscle cars indicating high class and such products as generic “store brand” shampoo indicating low class. People feel that they have relationships with their favorite brands and products and define themselves by what they buy and own. The mass production of cheap products uses precious fossil fuels at an alarming rate. This has an obvious negative impact on the environment.
We as a society have been presented with the question of whether or not individual action is a valid solution in the midst of the debate on “environmentalism.” Can we as individuals still contribute to reducing climate change with individual action such as riding a bike? In the article “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the world, the author Michael F. Maniates analyzes this question in regards to individuals participating in green consumerism. In response to the growing trend of green consumerism companies have started producing “green” products in order to keep up with consumer demand. On the surface this seems like a step forward to a sustainable future, however “green” products like to advertise their “eco-friendliness”
On your weekly trip to the supermarket it’s easy to find a number of products, from coffee to dishwashing soap, that flaunt their green attributes” (American Psychological Association, 2010). With such rumors of greenwashing, consumers are more confused than ever. However, some consumers know the tricks and are coming to find that there are companies whose marketing practices are legit, not exaggerated or deceiving. APA also found that, “people are willing to spend more of their hard-earned green on green products, according to a 2008 survey of 9,000 adults performed by the global business firm Boston Consulting Group” (American Psychological Association, 2010). Consumers who are willing to pay more for a product or service are assuming that they are purchasing a healthier, safer, and better quality product or service for the environment.
In a world full of competitive markets, companies take many risks in order to make the most profit. Businesses strive to make money off of satisfying customer demands. In recent years, a heightened awareness for the environment has caused customers to demand more natural products. Knowing how a product is made can help the consumer make informed purchases. Conscious consumerism can help further reduce the human impact on the environment. In response to this demand, companies have increased their effort in the manufacturing sector to "go green" by producing items more sustainably. However, the task of differentiating the companies who are actually “going green” and those who aren 't, is difficult. Those companies who
The participant illustrated this using the example that with the growing number of eco claims within the market, it shows this strategy to be working. According to the research participant the most obvious sign that a company is employing greenwashing tactics is the obvious use of environmental images, such as pure landscapes, with no context to the image. Additionally the participant pointed out that terms such as eco, or enviro-friendly would normally be used; however, the product will not supply evidence of this indicating the claim in unsubstantiated. Furthermore, companies may make broad claims giving consumers the perception that they possess an environmentally friendly element, without there being one, just the implication of one.
In the business world, companies compete for the lowest price because they want consumers to purchase their products. If consumers buy them, corporations generate money. Companies don’t care about the methods to obtain the lowest retail price for their products. They will do it even if it means that companies have to degrade working condition, paying worker less, or even ignoring regulation and unloading harmful waste straight into the environment. However, in recent times, more and more people are joining the “conscious consumerism” movement. People start to favor products and companies that are environmentally and socially friendly. This also propels the idea of “conscious capitalism”, which when companies choose to follow a path that can bring benefits to both the people and the environment. Some companies respond to conscious consumerism by producing more environmentally friendly products, while others respond by “greenwashing” their products and themselves. “Greenwashing” is when Companies start to shine their spotlight on their green side and hide their destructive and unpleasant side. Greenwashing is an easy way for the companies to associate themselves with an image of environmentally responsible and “conscious capitalism”. However, companies shouldn’t be allowed to “greenwash” their products because it prevents conscious consumerism from moving forward and harms the environment even more.
The earth’s environment in the year 2017 is in a vulnerable state that is believed to have been caused by humanity. Humans have impacted most, if not all of the environmental concerns we have today. These include overpopulation, global warming, the extinction of species and the loss of genetic diversity, deforestation, expansion of landfills and toxic waste, oil spills, and nuclear contamination. Interestingly, the countries who contribute to these problems the most do not experience the repercussions as much as the countries who are contributing the least. With the ecological crisis in full force, scientists and innovators are looking for ways to control the issues. Consequently, companies are trying to go about their business in a more environmentally friendly way. Not only is this good for the environment, but going “green” can also improve the businesses themselves as customers may choose their products instead of the competitor’s products which may not be as environmentally friendly. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that many companies have caught onto the “going green” trend with hopes of helping their own company. However, many companies are taking advantage of this trend by misleading people into believing a company is environmentally friendly, when in fact it is not. This kind of deception is called greenwashing.
One major problem as far as companies using green marketing and why it isn’t working is that the relatively vague definition of green marketing leaves a lot of room for loopholes. Green marketing, by simply being defined as “the marketing of products that are assumed to be environmentally safe,” allows companies to take advantage of this idea even if their products are not the best example of green ones (McClendon 1). Most companies also don’t practice what they preach in such