Corporate Greenwash

Robert Weissman

CHARGING THAT CORPORATE polluters are "trying to clean up their image but not their act," environmentalists denounced the Earth Tech '90 Technology Fair, held April 4-8 at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. Greenpeace, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), the Citizen's Clearing house for Hazardous Wastes and Earth First! joined in condemning the fair.

Advertised as showcasing "the technologies, products and strategies that may help achieve environmentally sustainable development," Earth Tech featured displays from dozens of companies, as well as several government agencies and environmental organizations. Among the exhibitors at Earth Tech were the American Nuclear Society, Arco, Bechtel Group, Inc., Chevron Corp., Du Pont, the National Coal Association, the Society of the Plastics Industry and Westinghouse Electric Corp. Earth Tech also included displays from several companies, such as U.S. Windpower, involved in the development of "clean" technologies.

By participating in Earth Tech, held in the weeks leading up to the April 22 celebration of Earthday, some of the nation's worst polluters sought to achieve "innocence by association," according to environmental critics. The environmentalists said the corporations participating in Earth Tech tricd to project the image of being ecologically minded, evcn as thcy continue their environmentally destructive practices. Thc largest corporate polluters "sure look good, all dressed up here in America's front yard," said Peter Bahouth, executive director of Greenpeace, but "at the same time it's business as usual with their pollution in our backyards."

The sponsors of Earth Tech dismissed such comments. Ken Murphy, the executive d irector of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the sponsor of Earth Tech, said the idea that corporations could obscure their poor environmental records through involvement with events like Earth Tech "assumes a level of naivete on the part of the media, politicians and the public which I just don't think exists." Earth Tech did not screen participating companies, Murphy stated. Instead, Earth Tech co-chairmen Senators John Heinz, R-Pa, and Al Gore, DTenn, "issued a challenge to American business, non-profit organizations and government agencies to come to Washington and show your stuff."

The plastics industry had a particularly large presence at the fair, touting plastic as a recyclablc substance. Bonnie Merrill Linebach, director of external communications for the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), said SPI attended Earth Tech to "spread the word on plastic recyclability and the exciting possibilities" it creates. David Rappaport, toxics campaign director for Greenpeace, said it is understandable that "plastics recycling is very exciting to the plastics industry, since it is used as a tool to ensure the industry's continued growth." He explained that the concept of plastics recycling is misleading, because it does not conserve resources in the way other forms of recycling do. "Because most recycled plastic is not used for its original purpose, but for lower grade and in many cases new purposes," he said, recycling requires the "continued generation of as much plastic as [was produced in] the first place."

Du Pont added to SPl's promotional efforts, displaying benches made from recyclable plastic. And Earth Tech itself encouraged visitors to separate their trash into two sets of trash cans: one for ostensibly recyclable plastic; a second for other trash.

Du Pont also highlighted its phase-out of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) production. A Du Pont spokesman at Earth Tech acknowledged that Du Pont had been slow to explore alternatives to CFCs, but claimed that scientific concern about the dangers of CFCs dipped in the mid-1980s and that no corporations realized the need to consider substitutes. Carolyn Hartmann, a staff attorney with U.S. PIRG, countered that Du Pont has been slow in phasing out CFCs and was especially to blame for the lack of alternatives. "Du Pont halted its search for alternatives for approximately five years in the early 1980s," Hartmann stated. "In 1980, Du Pont and other CFC producers and users joined together to form the Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy to fight against CFC regulations. This certainly does not support Du Pont's claim that regulatory concern was on the decline. Five years of important research was lost, and today Du Pont cites the lack of alternatives as a primary reason for why we cannot phase out CFCs before 2000."

The nuclear power industry also maintained a high profile at Earth Tech. At least 10 companies closely involved with commercial nuclear power either had booths at the technology fair or served on the Earth Tech organizing committee. The American Nuclear Society (ANS) handed out a question and answer booklet which attacked the idea of energy conservation by asserting that having "more energy and more electricity lisl very important. If we limit the amount of energy we have, we lose our freedom and our democratic society." The booklet went on to claim that "of all the electricity generating methods, nuclear is the cleanest and least damaging to our environment. This is true from mining of the uranium ore to final disposal of waste." Environmental critics blasted the views presented by the ANS, saying they directly contradict the record of the nuclcar power industry. "Nuclcar powcr is one of the dirtiest encrgy forms cver devised," stated Justine Gulledge of NIRS. "Nuclear power kills people and contaminates the environment at every step of the fuel chain: from mining and milling, through processing, enrichment and fuel fabrication, to electrical production and radioactive waste storage."

To counter the views of the worst polluting participants, Greenpeace activists donned white lab coats and tried to stand near targeted displays so they could speak to visitors. When security officers attempted to escort the protestors out, they handcuffed themselves to the displays. Nineteen were arrested for demonstrating without a permit.

Earth Tech's environmental critics view the event as a precursor to a burgeoning corporate strategy of capitalizing on and coopting growing public concern about the environment. "As environmental awareness increases and citizens everywhere begin to put polluters' feet to the fire, corporate America has engaged in a campaign to paint [itself] green," commented Bahouth. "To the polluters under the tents, you can be sure that there are those who will continue to track your records on the environment and won't let the public be fooled by your greenwashing."

Back...