Some people are descended from the warriors of Persia, European nobility, or the heroes of American toil. Somewhere in my lineage there’s a dog. A red setter. Why else would I get continually excited about things that inevitably disappoint?
It also explains my fixed expression.
I don’t deliberately ignore lessons, I get excited about new situations and imagine they won’t apply. Like the move to green.
Clorox’s
GreenWorks cleaning products are accredited by the
Sierra Club.
Method’s cleaning products are not,
despite being as –
if not more – green. Why? Because the Sierra Club ‘
only partners with big companies with large distribution networks’.
Firstly, I have absolutely nothing against Clorox and thoroughly applaud GreenWorks, a competitively priced eco-friendly product range. Secondly, I have nothing ‘for’ Method. I own no shares, but I do like their all-purpose cleaner, which smells of lavender. It’s the dog ancestry.
What annoys me is the Sierra Club’s lack of long-term thinking. For want of a better phrase: their lack of sustainability.
A group of small companies ploughed the green cleaning furrow. They should be rewarded for doing so, especially by an organisation that purports to support the best of environmentally sound business. Instead, they were left to fetch their own drinks when a local celebrity arrived at the party, late and wearing the same clothes.
To stretch the analogy, it’s like Nike actively discriminating against the peloton to ensure that Lance Armstrong wins. Great for one result, lousy for the sport they are supposedly trying to support.
The sport from which they derive their revenues.
The GreenWorks endorsement was signed off in 2008. I hoped that in the meantime, the Sierra Club would create an award for service to an industry, for bravely going where none had gone before (the ‘Enterprise’ award), or some other form of accreditation so it can share the love with those who lead, regardless of their size? But they haven’t. They should. Then I’ll lick their face again.
On a side note: for those of you who wonder about the power of these supra-business organizations – I mean, does it really matter of you’re Sierra Club accredited or not? – I spoke with a group of people who all believed that GreenWorks was the only green cleaner that actually cleaned. Why? Because it got a nod from the Sierra Club.