What makes a company "green" in your opinion?

[Statler]

I really don't care to be honest, I just think it is silly to advertise yourself green when you damn well know your products end use is not used for that.

sure you do.  Otherwise you wouldn't have posted.  But it was an opportunity to point out where someone else is wrong/stupid/etc.

Got to see some of the farms our local co-op uses for our granola crunchy liberal hippie organic veggies.   Lots of big farm type equipment.  Didn't look close enough to see the manufacturer and wasn't paying attention to color....but it doesn't get much "greener" than that.


But I'm with the crowd that thinks it's more about how something is produced and the circumstances around that than the use for the product.

And it's all marketing anyway so it's whatever the consumer believes.
Clearly they did not persuade you.

[lethe]

It's all nonsense.
My guess is that we exist to "pollute" and "destroy" our environment. Perhaps we are actually just setting it to it's ideal state for whatever dominate life form that is to replace us.
So everyone go out and burn a stack of tires tonight and look to the sky.

[Grampa]

It's all nonsense.
My guess is that we exist to "pollute" and "destroy" our environment. Perhaps we are actually just setting it to it's ideal state for whatever dominate life form that is to replace us.
So everyone go out and burn a stack of tires tonight and look to the sky.

with your a/c running 

[NorDog]

Mods - if "green" is considered political, just delete the thread

Everyone else - keep politics out and strictly to the subject at hands


What makes a company "green" in your opinion?

A discussion of "green" without a politics is like a day without sunshine.

The term "green" IS political.

[mitt]

It is all relative.  A global tractor company can't have as little impact as a local bakery, but maybe compared to their competition or industry, they do meet more green criteria. 

mitt

[Howie]

New York City has changed the color of it's apple from red to green.  I guess we don't pollute any more

Back to John Deere.  If they are following manufacturing processes and engineering principals that are beyond legal requirements and ahead of what most of their competition practices they are relatively "green". 

[RAT900]

It's all nonsense.
My guess is that we exist to "pollute" and "destroy" our environment. Perhaps we are actually just setting it to it's ideal state for whatever dominate life form that is to replace us.
So everyone go out and burn a stack of tires tonight and look to the sky.

Dead-on......absolute "Green" practice would be to recognize that the human species itself is the "pollutant"

likewise an absolutely correct green company would cease commerce and shutter its doors with the employees inside and do a Heaven's Gate/Jonestown check-out

If you want to be a militant carbon footprint absolutist you are ethically compelled to eliminate yourself and all others within reach

I think it is all delusional since we have China cranking away on their side of the planet like Mordor picking up the slack for any country that thinks it is cleaning up the environment...

and then there's those pesky volcanoes spewing all sorts of gasses and matter into the atmosphere...the nerve!!....and cow farts killing the ozone layer!!!! oh dear God can't we put Beano in their feed???

Let's face it...Planet Earth is God's Comedy Channel and we are "The Human Show"....I know he/she/it is up there on the throne stamping its feet and slapping its legs and shaking its head in paroxysms of laughter

and we are sitting here sorting out plastic and metal....like polishing the deck rails on the Titanic as the species steams toward the ice

Who was it on TOB who had the "Humans Suck" tag line?

Short of us cracking the world apart with sufficient destructive energy,,,,the planet will survive us and all our notions and conceits

[lethe]

Dead-on......absolute "Green" practice would be to recognize that the human species itself is the "pollutant"

likewise an absolutely correct green company would cease commerce and shutter its doors with the employees inside and do a Heaven's Gate/Jonestown check-out

If you want to be a militant carbon footprint absolutist you are ethically compelled to eliminate yourself and all others within reach

I think it is all delusional since we have China cranking away on their side of the planet like Mordor picking up the slack for any country that thinks it is cleaning up the environment...

and then there's those pesky volcanoes spewing all sorts of gasses and matter into the atmosphere...the nerve!!....and cow farts killing the ozone layer!!!! oh dear God can't we put Beano in their feed???

Let's face it...Planet Earth is God's Comedy Channel and we are "The Human Show"....I know he/she/it is up there on the throne stamping its feet and slapping its legs and shaking its head in paroxysms of laughter

and we are sitting here sorting out plastic and metal....like polishing the deck rails on the Titanic as the species steams toward the ice

Who was it on TOB who had the "Humans Suck" tag line?

Short of us cracking the world apart with sufficient destructive energy,,,,the planet will survive us and all our notions and conceits

Even if we could manage to destroy our little ball of dirt, I fail to be impressed. In the grand scheme of the universe our little planet is really just as relatively insignificant as a dust bunny under your bed.
If it was even noticed it would be by some alien species somewhere that would just note down "Another failure in step 10 of the evolution of civilization, what a shame that 90% don't make it beyond that point" as our ashes get swept away in the solar wind.

[Le Pirate]

Never said that.

I just said I don't know how you are a green company when your buyers are farmers who use un-green materials.

I really don't care to be honest, I just think it is silly to advertise yourself green when you damn well know your products end use is not used for that.

How does a green company make a farm implement specifically designed to dump pesticides and herbicides?

NOTE: I am not really all that green outside recycling at home. Therefore, my opinion on the use of chemicals in farming is fine. Gotta keep the produce free of bugs, weeds, and keep it growing.

Yeah, I get that......but that implement they design and make to dump chemicals isn't exactly environmentally friendly.





I don't know. I just think it is pretty funny they consider themselves green when they make products not used in green activities.

I have a feeling it's more about their production practices.


....however, using your arguement, you should also know that their tractors are used to grow thousands of trees, manage wildlife habitats and forest in state/national parks. They are used in habitat restoration projects where they are trying to restore the land back to natural after years of being mined or where a dam has been for 50 years. Not saying they aren't used to spray pesticides...obviously they are, but that is not the ONLY thing they are used for.

[erkishhorde]

Green is just a hype word, plain and simple. I learned a lot while I was at a large "green build" firm in Irvine for only 5 months. They had all sorts of spiffy little green things like a compost bin with worms for your biodegradable trash and corn-plastic utensils. They touted all the green stuff like recycled plastic name tags on the desks and eco friendly lights. They also got a lot of news about green conferences and whatnot.

At one green conference, an architectural firm did a presentation about their first "green" school that they built. It had enough solar panels to have net 0 electricity consumption as well as other spiffy green concepts. What was the result? Not only was it absurdly expensive, it used 50% more electricity than the old school did. Yup, it was more expensive and yet everyone still calls it a green school and a green project. Reality doesn't matter. It's all about what you sell yourself as.

[badgalbetty]

I would wager that the dirty green diesels that John Deere puts out use less diesel fuels than they did several tears ago. They may even run them on biofuel.
As large a company as JD are they probaly use a lot of recycling in the their paperwork flow and I would bet they use a lot of post consumer paper.
Perhaps they have a green powered office with solar panels? I would think that they use recycled steels for there parts in fact I can tell you that they do. ESCO in Portland Oregon uses recycles steels of various types to make parts for John Deere. I have seen pallets of castings in their Shipping dept. Esco is a huge foundry in North west Portland. JD probaly uses recycled rubber for their tires and their electrical systems are probaly used copper wire resmelted. I know that they do not have to make exhaust stacks for quite a while because now that Buell is out of business, they can just use those mufflers.
Green? I bey JD is more green than anyone here knows.
I work in a green job, in fact I have 2 green jobs. One is my work at a florists and the other is I am a gardener on 7 acres in Portland. I work with plants and flowers all day and am pretty much my own boss. I know what I need to do.
I get paid to work outside with plkants and wear sunglasses all day. My ride to work is on a super twisty road,I go to a job I love and get paid to do. Life is off the effing hook!
BGB

[GAAN]

Green is just a hype word, plain and simple. I learned a lot while I was at a large "green build" firm in Irvine for only 5 months. They had all sorts of spiffy little green things like a compost bin with worms for your biodegradable trash and corn-plastic utensils. They touted all the green stuff like recycled plastic name tags on the desks and eco friendly lights. They also got a lot of news about green conferences and whatnot.

At one green conference, an architectural firm did a presentation about their first "green" school that they built. It had enough solar panels to have net 0 electricity consumption as well as other spiffy green concepts. What was the result? Not only was it absurdly expensive, it used 50% more electricity than the old school did. Yup, it was more expensive and yet everyone still calls it a green school and a green project. Reality doesn't matter. It's all about what you sell yourself as.

How does cost negate green?

and

if it is consumption 0 with it's solor panals, why does it matter what its increased consumption rate is?

[SacDuc]

It's all nonsense.
My guess is that we exist to "pollute" and "destroy" our environment. Perhaps we are actually just setting it to it's ideal state for whatever dominate life form that is to replace us.
So everyone go out and burn a stack of tires tonight and look to the sky.

We are hear to eat the sandwich.

Joe Rogan's Theory on Life and People

[Kopfjager]

  Rogan is a funny mothermake the beast with two backser.

[NorDog]

How does cost negate green?

and

if it is consumption 0 with it's solor panals, why does it matter what its increased consumption rate is?

Cost does not negate green.  However, the point is that "green" at any cost is not reasonable.

Zero consumption?  Obviously the school consumed electricity.  What else would the solar panels be for other than the generation of electricity for consumption.

I suspect what Erik meant to write was that the design was intended that the school would consume zero electricity from the "grid" whereas in reality its "grid" consumption went up 50% instead of going down 100% as promised.

Remember, you can't store electricity for grid use (or personal use).  We don't have battery technology to store the levels of electricity needed to run buildings.

So, for every solar, wind, or whathaveyou alternative form of electricity you must have traditional grid sources online AT THE SAME TIME to take up the slack with it rains or the winds die down.  Otherwise the power would just go off.  You may be drawing power from a windmill out in the valley, but there's a coal plant somewhere still generating equal energy to step in when needed.  Just because you don't use that traditional energy doesn't mean that it's not being made, and more importantly, it doesn't mean that coal is not being burned at the usual rate.

Alternative sources of electricity for the grid are a scam.