In today’s world, the food we eat, the products we buy, and how we get them are vastly different from the way things used to be. No longer do we grow our own produce, or even buy fresh ones from local farmers. Most people go to the supermarket and buy a few fresh items, and a bunch of packaged ones. Some people, myself included, are willing to spend a little more if we know the food is organic, additive free, or responsibly sourced. However, lately many companies are coming under fire for false—or misleading—information on packaged foods. This is called “greenwashing”—a term made up of “whitewashing,” or deliberately concealing unpleasant facts, and “green,” a buzzword for sustainability and earth-conscious decision making.
There are different kinds of greenwashing. Some companies talk big about green practices, but behind the scenes, they lobby against green initiatives. Some companies advertise and brag about green practices, but only after they have been forced to implement these practices by law or by standards. Others brag about green products, but use unstable, polluting practices during production. And still other companies have “boutique” level green products that they show off, but fail to use green practices with the rest of their products. So there are a lot of issues here, but the one people are most susceptible to is called "greenbaiting." Did you know the term “natural” is completely unregulated and therefore relatively meaningless when it comes to foods? Just about anyone can slap that word on a package and charge you a little extra. With all this hogwash, how do we determine which products are safe enough (and worth the cost) to bring home? The only thing we can do is educate ourselves before we go to the grocery store.
First thing: meat. A study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said that humans are now eating more meat than ever. This means that more meat is being processed than ever, and the processing of meat is not green-friendly. Many meat companies use phrases like “wholesome,” “premium quality,” and “all natural,” but the animals being described are fed GMO corn, injected with saltwater and antibiotics, and in some cases like chicken farms, they are not allowed in the sun. Could you live without the sun?
A report by the National Resources Defense Council shared: On most factory farms, animals are crowded into relatively small areas; their manure and urine are funneled into massive waste lagoons. These cesspools often break, leak, or overflow, sending dangerous microbes, nitrate pollution, and drug-resistant bacteria into water supplies. Factory farm lagoons also emit toxic gasses such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane. What's more, the farms often spray the manure onto land, ostensibly as fertilizer -- these "sprayfields" bring still more of these harmful substances into our air and water.
Delicious.
Next we have soft drink companies. It takes 2.02 liters of fresh water to make 1 liter of Coca-Cola. It is estimated that Coca-Cola uses 40 billion gallons of water a year. In some places like India, Coca-Cola bottling facilities have almost been shut down for exhausting water resources so quickly and completely. So, to compensate, Coca-Cola partnered with the WWF to preserve some rivers (that they may have helped extinguish). The company has also started using a new green can to promote their green image. Progress requires more than a paint job, Coke. Coca-Cola, the beverage, is bad for your health too, but they market it as if you should drink it like water. There is a reason people link obesity to soft drinks all the time, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Another company to mention is a bit ironic. “Bottled at the source, untouched by human hands,” but at what cost? Today about 53 percent of native Fijians do not have access to clean water. Fiji is the top imported bottled water in America. We are importing something we have access to here, taking it away from someone else, and feeling awesome about it because it’s in a rectangular bottle and is a natural fresh water. Taking naturally fresh water (which is rarely available), putting it into plastic bottles—and then throwing it away—is not green by any definition of the word. Which brings me to another faux-green product: paper plates. There is nothing green about using something once and then throwing it away. No matter how green a paper plate/cup/plastic silverware/whatever claims to be, they are not helping solve any environmental problems. Being green requires you to do the dishes a little more, deal with it. And plates that are biodegradable or compostable are often not able to decompose correctly because in a landfill (where these fancy plates end up), trash piles up extremely high, so the ethical products are not next to the earth like they’re supposed to be.
And finally, one for the ladies: tampons. So I just found out there is something called applicator-less tampons? They claim to save up to one pound of plastic landfill waste per year, per woman. But what these companies (and tampon companies that do provide applicators) fail to mention is what is in the plug itself. The cotton in a tampon comes from plants covered in herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, fungicides, and other chemicals. These create the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, which, in many cases, can lead to T.S.S. Awesome. That time of the month just got even better.
It’s hard to wrap your head around all the different ways companies can lure you to buy products with simple language. Even green or green-like packaging (like the biodegradable Sun Chips bag) can make us think companies care about sustainability, but the only thing being sustained is the inflated number in their bank accounts. Don’t be a sucker. The best way to avoid putting random harmful chemicals in our bodies is to buy local or avoid packed foods altogether. Overall: educate yourself. Understand what you’re eating. Understand what you can do to reduce waste. The biggest problem is a lack of understanding.
And one more thing: there is a mass of plastic waste the size of Texas floating around the North Pacific. Do your part.
