Yes! The bigger a company gets, the more people will point their finger at it. As one of the biggest online retailer in the US, Amazon is facing unprecedented pressure on its bad green image. September 2010, the nonprofit environmental organization ForestEthics released the 2010 edition of their Green Grades Score Card on sustainable paper practices in the office supply sector. The organization score companies based on many factors which includes how well they performed on a variety of criteria like chain of custody; controversial paper sources; support of the timber industry backed SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative); recycling and reduction etc. Among dozens of company who got scored, Amazon.com got lowest score----receiving a big F+!
Forest ethics:
Amazon.com does not have a meaningful paper policy or other basic safeguards and goals. Indeed, the company appears to have no problem with buying and selling paper from endangered forests and other controversial sources, including the US South. Some Amazon.com subsidiaries are also using the SFI green wash logo on the paper-based packaging, and Amazon.com had publicly expressed support for the SFI.
Bad news travels fast. It didn’t take long for other environmental group like treehugger.com started posting the score on their sets. People appealed for Amazon to do more to save the environment. As one angry granola posted on socialyell.com:
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| if FedEx is so much greener, why not?!! |
For all of Amazon's "kaizens," their small efforts here and there don't amount to much. Like Greenbillow mentioned, they are the #1 online retailer in the U.S. - so shutting off the lights at times here and offering a green product there have little impact compared to the millions of tons of CO2 they're responsible for producing by shipping their products via UPS. Kind of like Wal-Mart, since they're so big and have so many resources at their disposal, we should expect them to do more - much more. The environmental gains from substituting, or in most cases, supplementing shopping with home delivery are dubious at best. If they were truly committed to having a positive environmental impact they'd partner with a delivery system that utilizes new electric drivetrains for their trucking fleet. It's about time a global shipping company stepped up and started making the transition.
As of today--- one year after this bad publicity what have Amazon done to be greener? The end of 2010, Amazon.com began moving into its new corporate headquarters in Seattle. Four out of the eleven buildings has LEED gold certification for the project’s sustainable design and construction methods. On top of that, Amazon.com started Amazon Green (www.amazon.com/green), a cross-category program that helps customers to discover Amazon’s entire green product selection. “Customers can easily find products that meet U.S. environmental rating systems, including EPEAT® (the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), ENERGY STAR®, Water Sense and USDA Organic, when shopping on Amazon.com.”(amazon.com)
Maybe LEED building and “kaizen” program is still not enough as of “saving the environment” but it sure is a start. By communicating with customers on Amazon Green and ask for the masses’ green ideas, Amazon.com is walking toward its “green path”.
where did i get my info:
and all links above
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