Omnipave Goes Green

Ain’t this the truth?

“Most of what you see today in the green movement is voodoo marketing,” he added. “If they say their product makes the sky bluer and the grass greener, that’s just not good enough.”

Here’s a good example:

They are currently considering a rug that is made out of corn fiber instead of nylon, one that the manufacturer is heralding as a natural, earth-friendly product. Corn is natural, Mr. Jarvis acknowledged, but he said he was concerned about the buildup of phosphates in the Gulf of Mexico coming off the Mississippi River from corn farming, as well as the fuel it takes to run the tractors in corn fields and to transport the corn.

“When you look at the entire life cycle, nylon could have less of an environmental impact,” he said.

Yep, and distantly-farmed food may have less of an impact than locally-farmed food, and gasoline might be less harmful all round than corn-based ethanol. But while the superficiality of the claim is what’s important, sales of environmentally-friendly snake oil will increase.