An important part of my work is seeking inconsistency. For example no arm muscle wasting despite alleged inability to move the arm much; or hand calluses despite alleged pain preventing much hand use. Therefore I’m pretty tuned in to inconsistencies in the non-work part of my life. Because Sweetheart Vivienne drives in Melbourne, she’s a roadside service member of the RACV which sends out a monthly magazine called Royal Auto. Last week I noticed that Royal Auto came in a plastic wrapper stamped in green lettering: ‘biowrap – 100% biodegradable. Get wrapped in the environment’. My inconsistency antennae twitched: An environmental gesture from a motoring organisation. Biowrap’s website states it’s environmentally friendlier than ordinary plastic, so I suppose the RACV should be applauded for using it. But I can’t help but think the RACV is rebadging itself as a green organisation. On the editorial page of the September Royal Auto, just below the editorial, is a frame containing the words in big letters: ‘77% – The percentage of newspapers recycled in Victoria. It is one of the best newspaper recycling rates in the world’. Oh that’s truly wonderful is a world in which our atmosphere’s CO2 concentration continues to rise even as we recycle. And what’s the newspaper recycling rate got to do with a motoring organisation, anyway? Folks, mark down another case of greenwash. Gotcha, RACV.
1 comment:
It's not just biodegradability that is essential, it's also avoiding petroleum-based products in the first place.
It's not just about what happens after we rip our items from their wrappers, it's also about the blood that has been spilled on the other side of the world in the name of our convenience packaging.
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