"Eco" And All That

It's often difficult for even the most savvy consumers to distinguish a genuine green product or service from a gimmick. But their job may be getting harder. A New York Times report about Home Depot (June 25, 2007, "At Home Depot, How Green Is That Chainsaw?") says the Atlanta-based company put out a memo recently to suppliers soliciting products that might fit under the "green" category. Some 60,000 were submitted.

Of course only a fraction should have made the cut. Many environmentalists think Home Depot is too inclusive. For example, can paint brush makers have it both ways?: one company touts its plastic handle for saving trees; another one selling a wood handle says plastic hurts the environment.

Green marketing sells and so it's no wonder everybody is trying to jump on it. But a lot of the green movement has been given over to "voodoo marketing" in the words of a Home Depot executive quoted in the NYT (although the article clearly implies even Home Depot has been hoodwinked).

The problem is that this is new territory for everybody where no accepted broad-based standards seem to apply. Developing standards for what is truly "green" could become a profitable cottage industry for independent certifiers.

Home Depot is reportedly working with one company that will develop a "cradle-to-cradle" standard of "greenness" that rates, not just performance, but how well a product scores over its lifetime, from the sustainability of its production (how much "embodied" energy per manufactured unit), its actual efficiency and longevity and how recycable it is after its useful life.