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Green News
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Are you being greenwashed? |
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Written by asunsun
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Thursday, 28 January 2010 00:06 |
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Are you being greenwashed? M. Taufiqurrahman , WEEKENDER | Fri, 01/22/2010 4:00 PM | Cover Story  Courtesy of Greenpeace
As the specter of global warming looms, most of us want to do our part to turn back the tide of environmental destruction. As with everything, M. Taufiqurrahman finds, it’s still a case of buyer beware when making green choices.
It has become de rigueur for Jakartans in the know to look for “eco-friendly” labels on products and listen up as corporate talking heads speak of “sustainable development” and “green business”.
What they don’t know, however, could hurt them, or at least their belief in all those promises of environmentally friendly products and green business. It’s inevitable that as consumers demand more environmentally responsible choices, there are some businesses out there all too ready to exploit their guilt and make money off their fears.
It’s called greenwashing, the action by which companies mislead consumers on their environmental practices or their products’ eco credentials.
Many companies have a long track record of riding green consumer interest and staving off criticism with advertising campaigns, distracting unwanted attention with green PR, denying the impacts of their activities or products and working behind the scenes to sidestep environmental regulations.
The term greenwashing may be relatively new – coined by biologist Jay Westerveld in the mid-1980s to describe attempts by members of the hotel industry to pass themselves off as adopting green policies – but the practice has gone on since the early 1970s, when corporations had to deal with heightened public awareness of their operations.
While corporations in the developed world have graduated to carrying out substantial eco-friendly programs, many in the developing world spend substantial amounts of money to pad their thin green resumes through slick advertising and PR campaigns to hide environmentally harmful practices.
The campaign against greenwashing has apparently just begun in the developing world.
It’s no easy fight, especially in Indonesia, where consumers are mostly ignorant about the practice and the government lacks the political will to implement regulations.
Greenpeace recently staged a campaign in Riau to highlight alleged greenwashing by the Sinar Mas conglomerate, the country’s largest palm oil and pulp and paper producer.
In November last year, a Greenpeace activist chained himself to the anchor of a Rotterdam-bound tanker to prevent the ship from loading Sinar Mas palm oil.
“What we’re doing now is highlighting the problems that this company has caused: the huge amount of deforestation, CO2 emissions, social conflict and biodiversity loss that it’s responsible for,” contends Martin Baker, an activist for Greenpeace in Southeast Asia.
Greenpeace accuses the company of clearing large swaths of virgin and peat forests all over Indonesia, including in Kalimantan and Papua. Sinar Mas counters that it reforests as much as it fells, and that it has set up protected forests in some areas.
“This is when the green-wash comes in; this is a big misconception and the source of their greenwashing,” Baker says.
“They cut down the intact forests, they profit from the timber, they destroy the peat land, pollute the local environment … and in its place, they plant only acacia trees – which aren’t native – because they grow quickly.
“You do see trees, but there’s nothing on the forest floor. Sure, the acacia trees emit a little bit of oxygen and absorb CO2, but in the process of planting the acacia trees, there is a huge amount of CO2 emissions.”
Sinar Mas recently embarked on a new media campaign. A subsidiary, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), in coordination with Cable News Network (CNN) International, launched several 50-second advertorials for North American, European and Australian audiences about its aspirations for sustainable paper making.
“Some people may attack these ads as greenwashing or insincere,” company spokeswoman Aida Greenbury says in a statement. “However, let there be no doubt; while APP wishes to be a world leader in the pulp and paper-making industry, we will do so in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
In another press statement, Greenbury insists APP abides by Indonesian government policies on the protection of high conservation-value forests.
“We share Greenpeace’s objectives,” she is quoted as saying. “In Riau, our pulpwood suppliers allocate around 18,000 hectares [close to the size of Greater London] purely for conservation purposes. Among these are the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program-supported Giam Siak Biosphere Reserve, and a deep peat conservation forest in the Kampar Peninsula.”
Greenpeace challenges the content of the advertisements and the media statements.
“They can’t seriously tell you they’re interested in protecting the environment,” Baker says. “Other companies like Shell and BP may be, but not Sinar Mas.”
He adds environmental representatives can sit down with Shell and BP to discuss issues because they have gone through stages in their environmental awareness, including Shell’s infamous Brent Spar snafu (see box).
“They started off with greenwashing, but then they realized it didn’t mean anything, and now they’re getting serious,” he says.
But BP’s fiercest critics continue to accuse the company of engaging in green-washing. Fred Pearce, in the UK newspaper The Guardian, called the green campaign mere confection.
“Delve a little deeper and it turns out that BP’s alternative energy division includes not just wind and solar and biofuels, but also natural gas-fired power stations,” Pearce says.
He argues that natural gas may be less polluting than coal and oil, but at the end of the day it’s a fossil fuel filling the atmosphere with C02.  Courtesy of Greenpeace
BP rejects any notions of greenwashing, saying its green campaign predates those of others.
“We were among the first oil companies to recognize, more than 10 years ago, that it was time to take precautionary action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” says BP spokesman David Nicholas.
In 2005, BP launched an alternative energy program aimed at developing new low-carbon businesses with the potential to grow in significance in the future, he adds.
The alternative energy program comprises four businesses: wind, solar, biofuels and carbon capture. BP has a major portfolio of wind projects in the United States, and has been in the solar business for more than 30 years. It has also invested in first-generation biofuels – ethanol from Brazilian sugarcane and UK wheat – and spent $500 million over 10 years on biofuel research at the University of California in Berkeley. BP also claims to be the leader in developing the world's first combined power and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, expected to be built in Abu Dhabi and California.
“We have already invested more than $3 billion in these businesses and expect to reach $4 billion by the end of this year,” Nicholas says. “This is only a fraction of BP’s total global expenditure, but for these young fast-growing industries it is a significant investment – we have invested more in these areas than our oil company peers.”
But major corporations’ efforts to conceal their environmentally harmful practices should not distract us from the fact that on a smaller scale, many companies’ green claims are nothing more than a ploy to lure us into buying their products.
The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) says many producers in the country have long committed a number of cardinal green-washing sins, which, as defined by Canadian-based consultancy TerraChoice, include the sins of vagueness, of no proof, of worshipping false labels and of irrelevance.
“Some of the products we’ve found in supermarkets in Jakarta, such as mosquito repellent, claim to contain no chlorofluorocarbons [CFC], which is irrelevant because there’s a government ban in place against CFC use,” says YLKI research department head Ilyani Andang, referring to the 2007 ban by the Industry Ministry.
But the sin of making irrelevant claims pales next to the action of simple outright lying, or what TerraChoice calls the sin of worshipping false labels.
Ilyani, also a member of a government-sanctioned team tasked with drawing up regulations on organic products, says her team has discovered products being sold at upscale Jakarta grocery stores that lay false claim to being organic.
“We found that the ‘organic’ rice sold at some upmarket grocery stores is grown in Karawang in West Java,” she says. “This is a scam, as we’re fully aware no farmer in the area practices organic farming.”
Taking advantage of the government’s lax oversight – and middle-class consumers’ heightened environmental awareness – these fraudsters go a step further by stamping the logos of the Agriculture Ministry and private surveyor PT Sucofindo on their product packaging to bolster their organic claims.
The tags also give the producers a pretext to jack up their prices – despite a government regulation outlawing the unauthorized use of the two institutions’ logos.
“The most worrying thing is that these upmarket retailers are so easily convinced into putting these products on their shelves,” Ilyani says. “They don’t have the resources to check the veracity of the claims. The retailers can only go by what’s printed on the label.”
So if the stores aren’t doing it, then consumers had better read the fine print – and do a double check – before buying a product in a bid to save the planet.
Consumers Count
Corporations in the West have learned that the consumer is too powerful to ignore, especially when it comes to environmental concerns.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Martin Baker cites the example of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, which experienced a consumer backlash to its plans to dump the 14,500-ton, 463-foot Brent Spar oil rig in the North Sea at the end of its shelf life in 1991.
It eventually became the first oil company to decommission one of its rigs, and the decision would earn it a reputation as one of the most environmentally sensitive natural resources company.
Shell appealed to science and rationality in the decision, something that many environmentalists played off as a mere ploy for the most financially advantageous and not the most environmentally responsible disposal option.
At the time, Baker was with Greenpeace Amsterdam, which spearheaded a campaign against the move, including having activists occupy the oil rig. It gained momentum when millions of consumers in Western Europe began steering clear of Shell stations in droves.
Shell suffered a heavy financial cost and damage to its reputation from the campaign; Brent Spar was eventually given temporary moorings in a Norwegian fjord before much of the facility was recycled for a port there in 1998.
Greenpeace itself did not emerge unscathed from the campaign. Commentator Jon Entine, in Shell, Greenpeace and Brent Spar, writes that Greenpeace’s reputation suffered from exaggerating the potential damage the oil rig would have on the environment.
Baker acknowledges that Shell, as well as BP, are putting serious money into environmental research.
“In the late 1990s and early 2000s, both put half a billion dollars each into solar panel research and other renewable energy.” + M. Taufiqurrahman
Seven Sins of Greenwashing
Green is the new black. It has now become trendy – and profitable – for companies to flaunt an environmentally conscious image. Some companies get serious about changing their environmentally harmful practices, but for some others going green is nothing more than a smokescreen, a cover-up to conceal their eco-unfriendly ways.
Canadian green marketing consultancy TerraChoice helps identify which companies are serious about going green and which are just tagging along for the ride. The latter can be recognized through one or more of the following infractions:
1. The Sin of the Hidden Tradeoff: One environmental issue is emphasized at the expense of other potentially more serious concerns.
2. The Sin of No Proof: Environmental assertions are not backed up by evidence or third-party certification.
3. The Sin of Vagueness: A marketing claim is so lacking in specifics as to be meaningless.
4. The (new) Sin of Worshipping False Labels. Marketers create a false suggestion or a certification-like image to mislead consumers into thinking that a product has undergone a legitimate green certification process.
5. The Sin of Irrelevance: An environmental issue unrelated to the product is emphasized. One example is the claim that a product is “CFC-free”, whereas most countries have long banned CFCs.
6. The Sin of the Lesser of Two Evils: An environmental claim makes consumers feel “green” about a product category that is itself lacking in environmental benefits.
7. The Sin of Fibbing: Environmental claims are outright false. One common example is products falsely claiming to be Energy Star-certified.
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AR Mecer: Road to better living the Kalimantan way |
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Written by asunsun
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Wednesday, 02 December 2009 12:43 |
AR Mecer: Road to better living the Kalimantan wayEdi Petebang , Contributor , Pontianak | Wed, 12/02/2009 11:05 AM | People  Courtesy of AR Mecer
Ask him about credit unions, and Anselmus Robertus Mecer’s face will break into a beaming smile.
Since 1982, the man has dedicated his life to developing credit unions, cooperative units that provides loans and other services to their members. The 65-year-old could not help but feel proud, as he is finally reaping the benefits of years of hard work. Until the middle of this year, he has helped set up and developed 58 cooperative units across the country, from Papua to Batam on the Riau Islands province. Overall, his credit unions include 547,965 members with total assets of Rp 3.6 trillion. His success made him popular among the union’s members, earning him the nickname of the “walking credit union”. The secret of his success lies in his ability to create financial products suited to the needs of locals, their lifestyle and philosophy of life. The four activities – engrained in locals’ everyday life – he decided to use as founding blocks for his products consist of religious rituals, daily consumption, providing seeds for farming activities and social activities. “Whether they aware of it or not, the four activities are their road to safety,” said the father of six.
The resulting products include loans for old times (ritual), loans for daily activities (consumption), loans for investment (providing the seeds) and social loans, such as for healthcare and burial purposes. The product names are then customized to match the characteristics of particular members. For example, financial products for unions whose members come from Dayak tribes are given Dayak names. The same goes for other products. Mecer’s strategy has helped develop credit unions in Kalimantan faster than in any other island. According to data from the Inkopdit, the national umbrella organization for credit cooperatives, Kalimantan’s unions ranked first to third in terms of number of members and asset value, out of 187 credit unions surveyed in September. The biggest is Pancur Kasih credit union in Pontianak with 72,906 members and assets worth Rp 619 billion. The second was Lantang Tipo union, with 80,858 members and Rp 610 billion in assets; and the third place went to Keling Kumang with 59,783 members and Rp 271 billion in assets. The success of credit unions in Kalimantan has brought many visitors to the island, local or from Malaysia, The Philippines and Vietnam, eager to set up their own cooperatives at home. Mecer then helps them with creating their own credit unions until they can run them independently. Mecer’s system has helped create credit unions designed on the same model in Papua, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java and all over Kalimantan, but he has yet to help individuals from overseas. “I have received requests to help establish several units in neighboring countries but due to limited resources, I have not been able to fulfill these requests,” said the former high school teacher and lecturer at Tanjungpura University in Pontianak. Credit unions established in West Kalimantan have not only boosted the economy but following the 1997 ethnic clashes, they also helped promote peace and reconciliation. “We realize that within the credit unions, we blend in regardless of religion, race or status. Our basic principle is democracy, solidarity and no discrimination.” The union’s work made the Brussel-based Coopération Internationale pour le Developpement et la Solidarité (CIDSE) select Mecer in 2007 as one of 17 people in Asia who dedicated their lives to promoting peace. Mecer said many people initially held prejudices against credit unions, mistakenly believing they belonged to Christians who were using them to convert people to Christianity. He said the prejudice was understandable since credit unions were first introduced in the country by Catholic priest Albrecth Karim Arbei SJ in 1967, and brought to Kalimantan by Dayak people who were also Catholics. “But credit unions are absolutely not connected to any religion or ethnic group. Do we ever get asked about what religion our money is associated to, when we go shopping to the market?” he said at his home. In Kalimantan’s villages, especially in West Kalimantan, banks are losing ground to credit unions, he added. He said most people preferred credit unions because they put people, not profits, first, like most banks, and they also provided training for members. “The credit union’s philosophy is to help ourselves through cooperation, solidarity, trust, learning, independently… The principle behind a credit union is that money is just a means but the most important thing is the people…,” said the former member of the West Kalimantan Legislative Council and former representative of Kalimantan’s Dayak minority ethnic group at the People’s Consultative Assembly. Born and raised in a simple family in Kepatang regency, West Kalimantan, Mecer left his hometown after graduating from elementary school to attend a high school in Singkawang. After finishing his bachelor’s degree at Bandung’s Teachers Training Institute in 1978, he became a lecturer at Tanjungpura University while teaching at several high schools. Since his university days, he and several of his friends were already concerned about the rampant poverty among tribal communities, which they agreed resulted from poor education. In 1982, he set up the Pancur Kasih social work foundation, which manages junior and senior high schools in 1982 and then founded Pancur Kasih credit union in 1987. “The founders and members were teachers. We initially only invested thousands of rupiah, and many people laughed at us,” recalled Mecer, who is now chairman of the Kalimantan Credit Union Coordination Board, the main credit union organization in Kalimantan. Between his time as a lecturer and teacher, Mecer and his colleagues continued developing credit unions in villages. After all these years, he still tirelessly promotes credit unions. “The biggest failure of government-sponsored cooperatives is that the government is never really involved, standing on the sidelines merely supervising, so it’s not responsible for the organization’s life or death,” he said. Although the credit unions he helped developed have improved people’s wellbeing, Mecer still has another hope. “I’m sure that if 50 percent of people in West Kalimantan and in Indonesia become credit union members, the number of poor people will decrease. This is the biggest contribution credit unions can make to the nation. |
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Written by asunsun
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Sunday, 26 July 2009 09:47 |
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Madonna loves it. Sienna Miller swears by it. Even Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice go for it. All over the world, famous people and beauty enthusiasts everywhere are coloring their cheeks with mineral makeup. Yes, here it is, the latest cosmetic trend, and this time it isn’t about what colors are in or whether the look of the day is glossy, matte or shimmering. Instead, it’s about how pure your makeup is. Put the words “pure” and “makeup” together, and many of us might get confused, thinking: “Is there any chance makeup can be pure?” Well, if you’re among those who are wondering about this, then you’ve never heard about mineral makeup — which is responsible for making women fall in love with their own glowing reflection in the mirror. Mineral makeup is the cosmetic world’s response to the “green” movement. Since most people nowadays are paying more attention to their chemical intake and its effects on the body, there is now a growing trend for healthy lifestyles – and mineral makeup is filling the gap between beauty and health. Mineral makeup is inspired by the minerals that exist in nature. These minerals, such as mica, titanium dioxide, zinc and iron oxides, are finely milled and purified, then treated or coated with pigments to create different colors and effects. Some mineral pigments are matte, others have a slight shimmer, while the rest are completely sparkly. Endless combinations of these beautifully colored minerals make for all sorts of powder cosmetics from foundation to eye shadow to blush. And then we get to perhaps the most exciting part. Unlike conventional makeup, mineral makeup is not made using chemicals such as perfumes, dyes and preservatives, or even oil and talc, which are often behind those nasty breakouts. “Makeup so pure you can sleep in it,” as the Bare Escentuals tagline for
its mineral makeup products goes. This marketing statement has sent thousands of women crazy for this new cosmetic trend, with great reviews coming from every angle possible. And the craze doesn’t stop there: Big mainstream cosmetic brands such as L’Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, The Body Shop, Neutrogena and AVON launched their own mineral makeup lines in response to the trend. “Mineral makeup has been the greatest trend so far in the US makeup industry, replacing the traditional makeup that uses chemicals,” says Cris Latief, CEO of US-based CieL Minerals, the first mineral makeup brand to make its way to Indonesia. What makes mineral makeup so popular, Cris says, are the benefits that come with it. The natural look and feel, as well as the skin-loving formula of noncomedogenic and anti-inflammatory properties are among the big draws. In addition, mineral makeup stays on the skin all day long and acts as a natural sunscreen. “A mineral foundation looks and feels much more natural, without sacrificing any of the coverage,” says Cris. “It smoothes and evens out skin tone, giving the look of naturally flawless skin, rather than the look of a thick mask [that you get with] traditional liquid foundation,” she adds. Cris explains that it is titanium dioxide, a highly reflective mineral, that works to minimize fine lines and skin discolorations. Along with titanium dioxide is colorless fine-grained mica called sericite that deflects light, and thereby minimizes the appearance of pores, fine lines and wrinkles. Sericite also adds to the mineral makeup’s water-resistant and fade-proof properties. As an Indonesian, Cris certainly knows what she is talking about when she says that mineral makeup is suitable for women who live in hot and humid countries like Indonesia, as “it doesn’t easily wear off or sweat off”. And if you’re like most women who suffer from redness after those painful beauty treatments such as laser treatments and face peels, don’t worry. Mineral makeup does a good camouflaging job on your skin, while at the same time helps heal it. “In fact, [many] plastic surgeons and dermatologists in the US recommend mineral makeup to their patients who have had laser treatments, microdermabrasion, [face] peels or plastic surgery because of its healing properties, which help reduce skin irritation,” Cris says. Cris’ statement is in line with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), which says that dermatologists do recommend mineral makeup to patients with rosacea (a skin condition characterized by inflamed, red, oily and acne-prone areas). These healing properties are contained in titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. These two minerals work as anti-inflammatory agents that help calm the skin, reducing irritation and redness. They both also offer natural sun protection against UVA and UVB rays. According to Cris, CieL Minerals also includes kaolin clay in its list of ingredients. Kaolin clay is a natural mild clay that provides great coverage, refines pores, absorbs oil and aids in clearing up breakouts. Thanks to its soothing properties, kaolin clay makes mineral makeup ideal for sensitive skin. Another natural ingredient, she says, is iron oxide, a natural opaque mineral pigment that is used to create the beautiful “earthy” tones in natural mineral makeup. Another big draw of the natural mineral ingredients is mineral makeup’s noncomedogenic properties – it doesn’t clog pores. Dermatologist Francesca Fusco tells American provider of health information services WebMD that because mineral makeup is noncomedogenic, it won’t aggravate acne or cause flare-ups, unlike some traditional products. So if you have oily skin, you won’t have to worry about emollients that might clog your pores. If your skin is sensitive, you won’t need to be concerned about a product containing fragrance. Mineral makeup allows your skin to breath. Sounds good, right? Nevertheless, if you’re ready to switch to mineral makeup, you do need to be careful: Not all mineral makeup brands stay true to the basic ingredients of mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and iron oxide. The battle lines between brands are drawn this way: Mineral makeup brands that don’t use synthetics and stay true to the basic ingredients of pure mineral makeup, and those that contain fillers, colors, binders and preservatives. Most of the brands in the second group, for example, still contain an arguably “natural” mineral known as bismuth oxychloride, a pearlescent agent that gives mineral makeup that “candlelight glow”. The thing is, although bismuth oxychloride is a mineral, it’s not found in the earth; rather, it’s a derivative of lead and copper processing. “For some people, bismuth oxychloride can lead to irritation and pimples,” says Cris, adding that CieL Minerals is free from this irritating agent. So, what does common mineral makeup look like? Because of the absence of binding agents, it’s usually in powder form. The writer trialed six mineral-based makeup brands, from the ones that use only pure ingredients (CieL Minerals, Everyday Minerals and The Body Shop) to big brands that include other ingredients (Maybelline, L’Oreal and Revlon) – all in the form of powder foundation and blush. At first, you can feel a bit skeptical about how this “powdery” stuff can cover the face as well as liquid foundation or compact powders. When you apply it, you’ll find it so light that you feel like you’re not wearing anything. However, after 30 minutes or more, when it starts to blend itself into your skin, you find it does provide great coverage, leaving your skin flawless, without the “trail” of makeup use. Although each of the above brands has a different outcome, the overall result is satisfying. The downside of mineral makeup is the application process – it does require practice. Why? Because mineral makeup is buffed into the skin using a wide, fluffy brush (like a kabuki brush) in a circular movement. And because mineral makeup powder is so loose and soft, it can be hard to handle: It tends to get all over the place. But with mineral makeup, less is more, meaning that you don’t have to wear too much to hide your imperfections. You’re supposed to layer it on lightly and build up color. And the fun thing is, you can experiment by combining one shade with another until you get the perfect skin tone. So, will you be one of those thousands of women who are ready to trade in traditional makeup full of chemicals for the increasingly popular purity of mineral makeup? Dian Kuswandini , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 07/25/2009 10:46 AM | Lifestyle |
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Written by asunsun
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Sunday, 03 May 2009 19:53 |
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London on a shoestring
Evi Mariani , The Jakarta Post , London | Sun, 05/03/2009 1:05 PM | Travel
How does it feel to fly halfway around the world on a budget airline for 14 hours?
Tiring, of course. But to be honest, flying budget airline Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to London was just as tiring as flying KLM-Air France or Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam.
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Daisuke Nakanishi - Around the World on Bicycle |
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Written by asunsun
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Saturday, 02 May 2009 13:39 |
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Daisuke Nakanishi of Osaka, Japan is a traveler in search of new friends and world peace. He worked and saved his money for six years and then he started to ride from Anchorage, Alaska on July 23, 1998. Daisuke has since travelled more than 100,000 kilometers (or 65,000 miles) using nothing but his own power. Daisuke has visited almost 100 countries on all continents, all on the same bicycle. He tries to visit 120 countries before he goes back to Japan. Daisuke received prizes of honorary citizenship in several cities. He met ex-presidents several times and he has many great friends all over the world. He is a member of Japan Adventure Cyclists Club (JACC). |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 02 May 2009 13:48 |
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