Here’s a different kind of rewards card, instead furthering more material consumption, the Brighter Planet Visa card lets you earn “EarthSmart” points. These points are automatically used every month to fund renewable energy projects. Every 1,000 points funds about 1 ton of carbon offsets. (Carbon offsets are a way of breaking the cost of planting trees, reclaiming methane, building windmills, etc, into purchasable units). There’s a 0% introductory APR for the first 12 months, 9.99% or 15.99% APR thereafter, depending on your credit score. You get to feel good, renewable energy gets funded, and Visa and Bank of America get good PR –win-win-win-win. Gotta wonder, if you default on your payments, will they pull the trees out of the ground?
environmentalism
Congratulations, You've Earned $0.00 Borders Bucks!
By 11.3.07
Remember Allison? Borders refused to sell her a copy of Harry Potter without a plastic bag to serve as a proof of purchase. Allison recently received an email from Borders inviting her to print out a certificate to redeem $0.00 Borders Bucks. How lucrative wasteful. Allison writes:
Reverend Billy Exorcises "Clear-Cutting Demons" From Victoria's Secret Cash Register
By 5.1.07
Like some other activists, Billy and his gang are mad that Victoria’s Secret mails over a 1 million catalogs a day, 25% of the paper for which comes from the Great Boreal Forest in Canada, one of the world’s largest endangered forests, as reported by TIME in 2005.
Kudos For Dell’s Free Part Recycling Program
By 10.6.06
We received our replacement keyboard for our Dell laptop today.
McDonald’s Opens The Debate With Hummer Opponents… When Pressed
By 9.12.06
McDonald’s Corporate Responsibility Blog made lofty promises when it went live to be transparent and engage with customers about things McDonald’s was doing. They seem to be doing a good job with that, if you replace “transparent” with “obtuse” and “engage” with “control.”
Get a Hummer With Your Happy Meal!
By 8.17.06
To the spittle-spraying vehemence of environmental groups, McDonald’s is giving away a free Hummer with every Happy Meal.
Eco-Furniture Sells Mass Produced Beds
By 1.11.06
We’re not sure which of these mass-produced bed are “exemplifying symmetry, balance, and harmony with the natural world,” but we’re assured that the “peace & tranquility” are much more abundant when you buy from GreenCulture Furniture. On GreenCulture’s EcoFurniture.com the ‘Sensay’ bed is made of “kiln-dried sustainably harvested solid merbau” with “rails … constructed of plywood with merbau veneer.” Every other retailer that sells the bed calls it the ‘Edo.’
Department of Agriculture Fails To Quarantine Genetically Modified Crops
By 1.4.06
There’s a compelling argument that genetically modified crops is the only way to adequately feed a world population of which a large percentage is starving. For people in some countries, the creation of a drought or locust resistant crop might be the only thing standing between farmers and financial ruin or starvation. Luckily, in America, this isn’t a problem most people have to face. Consequently, the sales and production of organic foods is on the rise as many consumers avoid what they feel to be unnatural, which is a totally valid and important choice for a responsible consumer in a first-world country to make… especially given the controversy surrounding G.E. foods.
Victoria’s Secret Sucks: 1 Million Catalogs Mailed Per Day
By 1.2.06
TIME.com reports on the efforts of Forest Ethics, an environmental advocacy group, to curtail the 1 million catalogs a day that Victoria’s Secrets mass mails out. Since 25% of the paper that Victoria’s Secrets uses comes from the Great Boreal Forest, that’s a lot of endangered trees chainsawed down to feed the pitiful boners of millions of lonely 13 year olds looking for a cheap source of pubescent titillation.
