A month or so ago, David French took issue with my knowledge of Plastics in my Perf Go Green review.  I offered to team up with him and give him a voice on the site to speak on the issue.  Below is his submission.  Thanks David!

It seems every single company and or consumer product has a green, sustainable, biodegradable, or compostable story they are peddling. But, what can you believe? Scott McDougall of Terrachoice concluded that “of 2,219 consumer products in Canada and the U.S…. 98 percent committed at least one sin of greenwashing and that some marketers are exploiting consumers’ demand for third-party certification by creating fake labels or false suggestions of third-party endorsements”

With that said let’s review a couple of products that are at the top of people’s mind. The following is based on my 15 years experience wrestling with being responsible, doing the right thing, studying consumers, watching costs and using sustainable, recyclable or degradable materials whenever possible… and then wrestling with certification, new laws and what happens to our stuff when we throw it away.

Biodegradable Plastics? A lot of news on new plastic garbage bags out there with great claims. Some main points.

-There is no 100% biodegradable, compostable bag on the market that meets all current definitions and standards of the term period!

There are bioplastic bags made from plant base polymers (BioBag) that do 100% biodegrade in controlled composting. They however do not naturally biodegrade in nature or in your little backyard composting. Current PR blitz is for ‘new’ OXY degradables (Perf Go Green) which have actually been around for ages and were chased off the market previously because they just fall apart into little bits of plastic and not truly biodegrading. What happens when those little bits get into plants, animals such as the trout in the river out back here is beyond me….and everyone else at this point.

Green Alkaline Batteries?

- Zero-mercury, or heavy metal and recycled material alkaline batteries have also been around for ages.

Duracell introduced its first no mercury alkaline in 1992! Batteries made from recycled materials have also been around for that long and the major players have the ability to manufacture these any time they so choose in this massive $400 billion market in the US. So some new entries, Perf Go Green again, are marketing a set of products that we already have and they don’t actually manufacture anyway. Laws in states such as California going back to early 1990’s have resulted in reduced mercury content of 96% in your household alkalines with an actual increase in power! Still, people will throw them in the trash. The best solution is still to use rechargables in place of alkaline where possible and take spent ones to local rechargeable battery recyclers.

All in all….you use literally hundreds of dollars in bags and batteries a year so don’t believe the hype. There is a lot of great information from independent groups who have the consumers, and our planet’s, best interest at heart.

Thanks David! As always, Green Gear WELCOMES guest writers and will feature any well written and relevant work!

In addition to the numerous comments our review of Eco Canteen received,  as well as on the youtube video page, I’ve received many emails directly telling me of less than pleasant experiences with the people who sell ecocanteen. People have also voiced concern over what they feel are excessive shipping and handling expenses.

 Since I have not had personal experience I will not render a judgement on that aspect of the customer experience, as that would be unfair. I cannot verify the statements in the comments to be fact. Similarly, I cannot repudiate these experiences. But, I can recommend that you take them into consideration in your own way, using them as you would in other similar situations.

On the issue of price, I am at fault for claiming that this product is cheaper to the consumer, it is my understanding now that the total cost (product plus shipping and handling) is roughly 18-20. This represents a price in line with klean kanteen, but more than no name store brands. As it stands today, the ecocanteen is not a “bargain.” When I upgrade to my next series of criteria and rescore all my reviews I will likely reduce ecocanteen one gear (the price one). I do this with all products at the same time but wanted to indicate here sooner as this page sees more hits.

Also, as a general statement to the producer and consumer of this product. This product is a “green” product being sold through the “as seen on TV” or “direct response” ethos. This means that in the “as seen on TV” world rules, expectations, and pricing is different. In that set of rules it is okay to make money off of shipping because that is just what happens.

To the “green” consumer, authenticity, and communicated practices are highly important.The two are not in concert. If ecocanteen wants to have “green cred” they’ll need to accommodate, in some ways, the expectations of this culture… Similarly, green consumers will have to be more attune to buying products in unfamiliar marketplaces (TV).

Thanks for visiting Green Gear and go check out my other reviews… they’re good!

Mr. Green Gear is enjoying a lovely summer.  It’s nice to take a break from the reviews.  Earlier today I was reading the model blog The Truth About Cars and noticed a part II to their editorial on the government program Cash for Clunkers. 

Once in a while, borrowing from regional peculiarities of grammar and syntax throws especially apt light on a situation. For instance, what Americans call a “program,” the English call a “scheme.” America’s cash-for-clunkers scheme is a dazzling success, right? Americans are falling over themselves to partake, as it seems; so much so that its (initial?) billion-with-a-B bucks got snapped up within days. Whether the apparent boon to the automakers turns out to be significant and substantial in the long run remains to be seen; I have my doubts, but either way this scheme reeks of myopia, hypocrisy, greed and snobbery.

Whatever its putative and real goals, and whether or not it achieves them, C4C is the biggest, gaudiest emblem we’ve yet devised for the extent to which our society prizes disposability and thrives on waste.

While many praise the rash of marginally higher MPG vehicles purchased through the program, it seems to this green blogger that the program does little more than pad the pockets of automobile companies.  All the while, embracing the waste culture that drove us straight into the environmental wreck we’re desperately trying to AAA our asses out of now. 

What do you think?

Adding a bit more commentary to the site

Moons ago, I tuned my television to CNN to watch “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines.” Despite Anderson Cooper’s Jack Bauer-esque reporting and Soledad O’Brian’s sassy temperament I found myself quickly annoyed with the unending cry me a riverthesis that planet earth is under a direct threat. In a world with nearly unlimited problems I lament the fact that so much time, money, and concern are being wasted on a very old rock, floating weightlessly in an unfathomably large universe and not, instead, on this rocks inhabitants. 
My frustration with the green community and it’s central mission, to “save the earth”, has been building for some time. I’m not sure when the purpose of being green shifted from preserving resources for further generations to treating the earth as a person, or dare I say deity, that we should make daily sacrifices for, but it seriously needs to stop for the sake of the green movement. We lose our ability to sell the notion of sustainability when we submit the earth as the sole benefactor. I cringe whenever I hear or read someone selling “green” products or activities by saying “we need to save the earth!” because the concept of saving (as in rescuing) our planet is so asinine it redefines absurdity. 

Message to my fellow “greenies”: The Earth Does Not Need Saving

I sense that part of this compulsion to rescue the earth, from certain disaster no doubt, comes from a lack of perspective. The earth is 4.5 billion years old. The average human lives maybe seventy years… longer if they have a dog.  Nothing that humans come into contact with on a daily basis is older or more resilient than the planet earth. Many years ago it was pummelled by an asteroid off the coast of Mexico, even that didn’t spell an end for our perilous planet.  It survived and we came later.  If we were to continue our non green ways and continue to use earth’s resources without regard for future generations, what would happen to planet earth? Would it cease to be the 3rd planet in the solar system? Would the activity at it’s core stop? From the earth’s point of view would anything notable happen to it that could compare to its violent past? No, No, and No.  (For more info on this, check out the “life after people” shows on the history / discovery channels… our earth recovers from us in a mere 250 years!)

But, if our ways aren’t a threat to earth what are they a threat to? What will happen if we continue to use resources the way we do now?  Imagining this scenario reveals the true reason to use earth’s resources wisely… to preserve and protect humans.  Our unwise use of earth’s riches are not and never will be a threat to our planet, but they will assuredly, be a threat to our children and their children, and so on and so forth.  If we continue to take and use more than we need, there will be less for future generations. This, coupled with increasing population, will cause famine, disease, drought, fire, and all sorts of human suffering.

The Planet is not in Peril, We are. This is the message that members of the green community should adopt and use to promote sustainability.  People rightly have more compassion for other people than they do for the earth and if we make people the reason to recycle or waste less water, we will be much more successful. But if we continue to prioritize the earth before people, we will fail.

So lets all come together and redefine our mission and our cause.

We are not a threat to nature, but subject to it.

The Earth does not need saving, We do.

and…

The Planet is not in Peril, We are.

Sorry CNN.