Blue Flag to Durban: No Trumps Here.

“You’re NOT Fired!” - Durban South Africa is angry because Blue Flag just pulled eco-certifications from several of its beaches. They claim the local coordinator is pulling the certification because she is in cahoots with local advocacy groups.

Blue Flag shot back: “We trust our people in Durban, no we can’t fly out there because we don’t have any money.” Boo.

Does Blue Flag have an independent audit? According to our database the answer is yes, but there’s no mention of it in this article. This is why its important to have independent verification of your standards. Church and State don’t belong together.

Here’s the full juicy story…

No Comments » | Tags: tourism
Posted by Jacob on Monday, March 31st, 2008 | Permalink |

Friends of the Sea Asks YOU: What is an eco-fishery?

Friend of the Sea has just launched an online poll:

Can certified sustainable seafood originate from fisheries targeting overexploited or depleted stocks?

You can vote here.

According to Friend of the Sea, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) ‘Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from marine capture fisheries’ indicate among the “minimum substantive requirements and criteria for ecolabels” (art.30) that the “stock under consideration is not overfished”.

Friend of the Sea says its criteria requires categorically that in order for a product to be ecolabelled as sustainable it must originate from a stock which is not overexploited according to the updated information from FAO, regional fishery bodies or national marine research Institutes.

No Comments » | Tags: fisheries
Posted by Jacob on Monday, March 31st, 2008 | Permalink |

Aussie Regulator Reacts to Greenwash.

An Australian Magazine called Choice recently did a random survey of 70 grocery products and found more than 200 green messages on their packaging. Responding quickly, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC), the government watchdog, published a document last month called Green Marketing And The Trade Practices Act.

It warns business and industry that they can be taken to court by the ACCC, consumers and competitors for making false and misleading claims about the greenness of their products.

Here’s the substance on their warning:

1. Manufacturers should avoid using particularly vague terms in their labelling such as green, environmentally friendly, environmentally safe, recyclable or carbon neutral unless they can substantiate what they mean.
2. Explain which part of the product’s cycle is environmentally beneficial: its extraction, transportation, manufacturing, use, packaging or disposal.
3. Don’t use unqualified pictures that may mislead the consumer about the contents or the intentions of the product.
4. Don’t overstate the scientific significance of a product if the evidence is inconclusive, under consideration or disputed.

5. Don’t make irrelevant claims - for example, that a product isn’t tested on animals when it wouldn’t be, anyway.

No Comments » | Tags: standards
Posted by Jacob on Monday, March 31st, 2008 | Permalink |

“Hypocrisy is the first step to real change”
You spin me right round baby, right round

We are spinning out on spin these days.

“Yes, but I think greenwashing is good. Hypocrisy is the first step to real change.” says Hunter Lovins in reply to the question “is there more greenwashing now that green is popular?” in the recent Sustainable Industries Journal.

OK, interesting idea. Um, why?

“If a company makes a claim about something, then you can hold them accountable”

The logic is that once the company has made a claim, in order to avoid being called greenwashers, they will try to back up that claim with real action.”And then as they make steps to bring their performance in line with what they’re marketing, they actually see the benefit of that improved performance, and it becomes something they integrate into their business for real.” says Lovins.
Do all efforts at greening necessarily lead to business benefits?

Greenwashing still seems kind of risky as a marketing strategy. Very hard to bring consumers back with another campaign that says “this time we mean it”! Now that would be seen as hypocrisy, unless of course, we take another spin.

1 Comment » | Tags:
Posted by Anastasia on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 | Permalink |