Aveda is a pioneer in the use of natural ingredients – but are all its beauty products created equal?

The history of Aveda is one of sustainability firsts: the first beauty company to use 100% post-consumer recycled PET packaging, the first beauty company to manufacture with 100% certified wind power, the first privately-owned company to sign onto the CERES Principles, a groundbreaking 10-point code of corporate environmental conduct created in 1989.

But despite Aveda’s impressive eco-credentials, the company has its critics, who say that its line of haircare and beauty products isn’t as “natural” as marketing materials imply.

Aveda’s roots lie in the Himalayan region of India, where founder Horst Rechelbacher, a German hairstylist, traveled in the early 1970s. There, Rechelbacher was introduced to ayurvedic practices and developed an intense interest in holistic health and the use of natural, plant-based solutions. When he returned home, he developed a Clove Shampoo and Cherry Almond Bark Conditioner in his kitchen sink, and in 1978, he founded Aveda.

Today, the Aveda brand encompasses hundreds of natural products, including hair care, skin care, cosmetics, and “pure-fume.” The company was acquired by Estée Lauder in 1997 for $300 million, but it continues to operate as a separate entity.

The Good

Our mission at Aveda is to care for the world we live in, from the products we make to the ways in which we give back to society. At Aveda, we strive to set an example for environmental leadership and responsibility, not just in the world of beauty, but around the world.

Aveda doesn’t just talk the talk; it walks the walk too. Over the past decade, Aveda has improved its environmental track record even more, increasing its purchases of organic raw herbal ingredients and organic essential oils from 20-25% of total tonnage to 89-90% of total tonnage. With its Green Ingredient Policy, Aveda aims to incorporate more ingredients that are defined by one or more of the following:

• Sourced from organic, sustainable or renewable plant-based origins
• Represent ecological and cultural diversity by being sourced from different habitats all over the world
• Provide fair compensation to suppliers
• Do not negatively impact the ecosystems from which they are sourced
• Are biodegradable
• Involve environmentally responsible processing
• Are animal friendly 

To implement this policy, Aveda has partnered with the EPEA, an environmental research institute run by Cradle to Cradle co-author Michael Braungart. The company has also embraced other elements of C2C philosophy, which focuses on creating things that are “eco-effective” (good for people and the earth) rather than “eco-efficient (things that are simply less bad). Among Aveda’s fundamental principles are eliminating waste and creating good, using renewable energy, and celebrating diversity. A handful of Aveda products have received Cradle to Cradle^® certification, signaling that they have been created with this rigorous approach to production.

Aveda has also pioneered a new way to trace the ingredients in its supply chain, which it calls Soil to Bottle^SM. Central to Aveda’s sourcing policy is developing long-lasting relationships with suppliers in certain communities, such as Nisarga, a firm based in Maharashtra, India, from which it sources turmeric and amla. Aveda also works with producers to source urukum and babassu from Brazil, argan from Morocco, rose and lavender from Bulgaria, sandalwood from Australia, and cistus from Spain.

The Bad

While Aveda is transparent about where its natural ingredients come from, what about everything else in the bottle? A beautifully designed natural ingredient glossary showcases the nuts, seeds, and herbs used in select Aveda products, but online ingredient lists for individual products are nowhere to be found.

Skin Deep, a cosmetics database run by the Environmental Working Group, has audited a select number of Aveda products, assigning health concern ratings from 1 (low hazard) to 8 (high hazard).

Aveda Control Paste Finishing Paste, which received an 8, was rated as having high health concerns for allergies and immunotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and occupational hazards, among other things. Its ingredient list includes:

Aqueous (Water, Aqua Purificata, Purified) Extracts: Althaea Officinalis (Marshmallow) (Organically Grown), Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed) Seed Extract, Organically Grown), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, (Coconut), PEG-25 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Tribehenin, (Rapeseed), Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, (Coconut), Glycerin, (Coconut), Cetearyl Alcohol (Coconut), Dipalmitoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate (Palm), Fragrance (Parfum), Citral, Geraniol, Linalool, Farnesol, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Eugenol, Limonene, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Disodium EDTA, Chlorphenesin, Methylparaben, Isopropylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Annatto (Cl 75120), Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Cl 77891).

Even products with lower ratings had extensive ingredient lists, like Aveda Shampure Conditioner, which received a 6.

Aqueuos (Water, Aqua Purificata, Purified) Extracts, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Extract, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract, Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) Leaf Extract, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearalkonium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Brazil Nut Protein, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Wheat Amino Acids, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Pathenol, Fragrance (Parfum), Cetrimonium Chloride, Distearyldomonium Chloride, PEG-100 Stearate, Polyquaternium-4, Glycerin, Disodium EDTA, Methylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin, Benzoic Acid.

That’s a whole lot of extra ingredients for a product marketed as “pure.” But then, there’s the question of effectiveness: are natural ingredients alone able to achieve the effects that chemical products can? Stylist Manuel Villarreal told the Minnesota Public Radio that his salon recently had to switch from Aveda to other non-natural lines that style and hold better.

“Suddenly you realize [that if] you put in a little bit of chemicals, it works better. You have to go, I guess, to the dark side in order for it to work,” Villarreal told MPR.

The Questionable

Once you start looking closer at the labels, it becomes clear that not all of Aveda’s products are as simple as one might derive from its marketing. But each product has a different intended use, and as a result requires a different chemical makeup and ratio of natural to unnatural ingredients. This is to be expected. But it also means that you can’t assume that Aveda’s emphasis on natural ingredients extends equally across its product line. Some products are going to be more natural than others. To really go “behind the label” on Aveda products, you have to start by actually reading each label. If only Aveda would make that information more readily available to consumers.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

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West Elm loves stamping their products “green,” but what exactly does that mean?

Brooklyn-based home decor store West Elm caters to urban design lovers with its aspirational blend of minimalist furnishings, global influences, and sustainable practices. Indie artist collaborations and eco-friendly materials play a large role in West Elm’s marketing, with the chain proclaiming that it aims to “get a little greener every day.” But what exactly does that entail? In this week’s Behind the Label, we take a look at West Elm’s sustainability practices – at least those that are visible to the public.

Launched in 2002 by the Williams-Sonoma group – which also owns Pottery Barn and Rejuvenation – West Elm is a relatively recent addition to the home furnishings scene. But with a popular mail-order catalog, strong online presence, and 40 retail locations in cities like Seattle, Austin, Denver, and New York, West Elm has quickly become a go-to destination for decorators who want a step up from IKEA but can’t yet afford high-end contemporary design.

West Elm has been particularly successful at securing great partnerships. Its ongoing collaboration with Aid to Artisans has yielded fair trade papier-mache sculptures from Haiti, handspun silk pillow covers from India, and found handmade rugs from Morocco, while its alliance with the 20×200 gallery makes framed artwork from emerging artists available at affordable prices.

West Elm also maintains close ties with its Brooklyn roots, working with DUMBO neighbor Etsy to highlight handmade products, collaborating with the Pratt Institute on lines of eco-friendly furniture, and featuring curations from BK-based design blogger Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge.

The Good

In addition to partnerships that support independent and local designers, West Elm also highlights the ecology of its products. Throughout its online catalog, you’ll find items stamped “Green” indicating that the item is either sustainable, organic, or made from FSC-certified wood or paper. Many of the “Green” items that aren’t FSC-certified are made from reclaimed or rapidly renewable materials, like jute, bamboo, hemp, bankuan, and abaca. Much of the remaining furniture is constructed from engineered wood – a composite material manufactured from a mix of wood particles and adhesives, such as plywood. Often, engineered wood is cheaper to manufacture and easier to fashion, and some would call it more sustainable than solid wood since it makes more efficient use of the wood particles.

The Bad

While West Elm’s heavy use of engineered wood may be better for forests, it can sometimes result in quality that is hit-or-miss – and furniture that falls apart after a few months certainly can’t be called sustainable. A few years ago, popular blog Apartment Therapy published a rant from a West Elm customer who claimed that her new bedframe broke after just two months of use, and that several of her friends had experienced the same issue.

Sure enough, the wooden slats under the mattress had caved in and were no longer supporting the mattress. Horrified, I looked under the slats and found, much to my disappointment, the middle piece which is the ultimate support system of the bed, was completely bent and in a word: useless.

The post kickstarted more than 150 comments echoing issues of poor quality, lousy customer support, and frustrating return and warranty policies. Granted, such incidents are often isolated, but quality does seem to be a recurring sore point among West Elm customers who choose to be loud about it on the Internet.

The Questionable

Apart from such quality issues, West Elm’s record is relatively clean, and the Williams-Sonoma group hasn’t been the subject of any major scandals in recent years.

That said, I can’t help being bothered by the lack of substantive information about sustainability and corporate social responsibility on West Elm’s corporate website. Very little is showcased about West Elm’s product supply chains, and apart from the sustainable capsule collections, it’s difficult to find a country of origin for the majority of items (most are labeled “imported”).

It seems that West Elm is doing great work by offering great design at decent price points with what we assume are eco-friendly practices. But it’s not enough to just stamp a product “Green” without showing customers why. I want to read, watch, and hear more about what exactly West Elm is doing to become more sustainable.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

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A closer look at Chipotle’s ode to sustainable eating.

For the past decade, Chipotle Mexican Grill has distinguished itself from fast food competitors by emphasizing Food With Integrity, a commitment to serving customers “the very best ingredients, all raised with respect for the animals, the environment, and the farmers.”

As a result, Chipotle has become that rare fast food brand that is trusted by sustainable foodies for using fresh, natural ingredients. But it’s certainly not perfect. The burrito chain has also been criticized for its approach to improving workers’ rights, as well as its unhealthily large portion sizes. 

Chipotle’s Food With Integrity commitment encompasses the use of naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones, with an emphasis on local sourcing. Funny enough, though, most patrons are unaware of Food With Integrity. In a 2007 Business Week interview, founder and CEO Steve Ells estimated that only 5 percent of customers know anything about the campaign. “The rest come in because Chipotle tastes great, or they like spicy food, or they think it’s a great value, or it’s convenient, or the place looks cool.”

In fact, Chipotle only just recently started emphasizing its sustainable values in its marketing. Last year, it created a stop-motion animated short film called “Back to the Start,” which was recently broadcast as the company’s first ever national television ad during Sunday’s GRAMMY Awards. Set to a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” by country star Willie Nelson, the animated short depicts the growth of a factory farm, before its owner has a change of heart and decides to operate more sustainably.

Though his green marketing budget is slim, Ells himself is an outspoken advocate for sustainable farming and ethical animal treatment, and he frequently expresses his hope that Chipotle’s efforts will spur an industry-wide revolution:

Finding sustainable sources for food in each region can be difficult. But we are committed to serving food made with the finest ingredients available. The more consumers understand the benefits of eating food from more sustainable sources, the more they’re going to expect it from everyone.

It’s evident that Ells and his Chipotle empire are mighty good at talking the talk. But do they walk the walk? Here, a look at the good, the bad, and the questionable aspects of one of the country’s quickest growing fast food restaurants.

The Good

Today, Chipotle serves more “naturally raised” meat – defined as open-range, antibiotic free, and with a vegetarian diet – than any other restaurant chain. The company sources 100 percent of its pork and “much”  (approximately 80 to 85 percent) of its beef and chicken from suppliers who adhere to these values, including the highly respected Niman Ranch in California.

In addition, 40 percent of Chipotle’s beans are organic, with a small percentage grown using conservation tilling methods. And in 2011, the company announced that it would use more than 10 million pounds of local produce from farms within 350 miles of the restaurants where the produce will ultimately be served, including bell peppers, jalapenos, oregano, red onions, and romaine lettuce.

To prove Chipotle’s freshness point, none of their restaurants have freezers, microwave ovens, or can openers. They do, however, have open kitchens for even further transparency.

The Bad

Since 2006, Chipotle has faced protest from sustainability advocates because of its refusal to join other fast food chains in a coalition to improve wages and conditions for Florida tomato pickers. In 2009, 33 individuals and groups, including Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and Food Inc. director Robert Kenner, signed a public letter to Ells, calling on him to support the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a grassroots farm worker organization, by signing onto the Campaign for Fair Food. The letter challenged:

Your company has shown admirable leadership in working with – and incubating – meat suppliers willing to meet your higher standards. But your failure to do that same hard work in the Florida tomato industry – together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change.

Ells responded that the CIW “doesn’t see the bigger picture” of fundamentally changing the fast food world, though CIW has made landmark progress in improving workers rights, even earning a Hero Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award from the U.S. State Department in 2010.

Ultimately, Chipotle entered into an agreement with East Coast Farms, Florida’s largest tomato producer, where it agreed to pay an additional penny per pound of tomatoes picked. Despite repeated pleas from big names in the sustainability community, it still hasn’t signed onto the Campaign for Fair Food to address other workers rights.

The Questionable

Though the ingredients are fresh and more-or-less well-cultivated, the Chipotle Burrito has become an object of controversy because of its nutritional content, landing on lists of both the best foods and the worst foods.

On Chipotle’s website, nutritional facts are broken down by ingredient – helpful for build-your-own-burrito aficionados. However, this breakdown disguises the fact that a basic pork burrito with rice, vegetables, cheese, guacamole, and salsa can top out at more than 1,300 calories – more than twice that of a McDonald’s Big Mac. The burrito also contains 31 grams of fat, 105 milligrams of cholesterol, 102 grams of carbohydrates, and a whopping 2600 mg of sodium – more than your average daily allowance.

Experts remind us that even fresh, organic food must be consumed in moderation. Though Chipotle’s past efforts have made it a pioneer in sustainable fast food, the next step might be to adjust portion sizes to make them more in line with a healthy balanced diet.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

The post Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity appeared first on EcoSalon.

Green jean, baby.

In 1873, Levi Strauss & Company invented the first blue jeans, a durable pair of trousers that could hold up to the task of constructing America. The rest is history. Today, Levi’s 501 jeans are the world’s best-selling item of clothing, and the blue jean, whether skinny or bell-bottomed, has been a global fashion staple for as long as most of us can remember.

Levi’s commitment to social responsibility has similar historical clout. During the Great Depression, for instance, Levi’s instituted shorter work weeks to prevent the massive lay-offs that were happening around the country. Levi Strauss factories were racially integrated long before the Civil Rights Act mandated it. And in the 1980s, Levi’s became the first American corporation to publicly address the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the nation. The fight against HIV/AIDS continues to be an issue central to the company’s not-for-profit Levi Strauss Foundation.

In addition to its social responsibility efforts, Levi’s has also been a pioneer in the world of sustainability. Their current eco-efforts are founded on an intensive study of the entire product lifecycle of their best-sellers – the Levi’s 501 jeans and Dockers Original Khakis – conducted in 2007. From this study came the idea to further evaluate – or “E-valuate”, as they call it – 11 of their most popular items using primary data across several categories: contribution to climate change, energy use, renewable energy use, water consumption, land occupation, qualified sustainably grown fiber content, waste generation, materials efficiency, recycled content, land transformation, eutrophication, and restricted substance list adherence.

The Good

From the product lifecycle analysis, Levi’s had a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses as a company. They made the decision to hone in on two key phases – cotton production and consumer use – and they have aimed to reduce their impact in the energy, water, chemicals, and materials aspects of apparel manufacturing.

By making the decision to focus, Levi’s has taken a “do less, but better” approach to sustainability marketing. Over the past five years, they’ve made particularly significant strides in the area of water preservation. In 2010, they introduced the Water<Less jean collection, which used up an average of 28% and up to 96% less water in the finishing process than traditional jeans.

“What’s different about the Water<Less collection is that we’re still using the same materials and techniques to create finishes for our jeans but we’ve substantially reduced water’s role in the equation,” said Carl Chiara, Director of Brand Concepts and Special Projects. “Sometimes, the way to achieve a more sustainable design is to rethink a traditional process and find a way to do it better.”

A typical pair of jeans consumes 919 gallons of water throughout its lifecycle, including what’s needed to irrigate the cotton crop, produce the pant, and wash them at home. For Water<Less jeans, Levi’s made simple changes like reducing the number of washing machine cycles by combining multiple wet cycle processes into a single wet process, incorporating ozone processing into the garment washing, and removing the water from the stone wash.

Levi’s also aims to change how customers use their products, after finding that nearly 60 percent of energy use involved in a product’s lifecycle happens after the jeans are taken home. Their “Care Tag for Our Planet” campaign instructs Levi’s owners to wash less often, use cold water in the cycle, air-dry jeans on a line, and donate old jeans to Goodwill, using innovative methods like a crowdsourced design competition for air-dry solutions.

The Bad

Apart from some backlash over a handful of tasteless ads, Levi’s reputation has been pretty pristine for the past few decades. That’s not to say their conscience is completely clean. In the 1990s, Levi’s was embroiled in a scandal involving factories in the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth territory of the United States located in the Pacific Ocean. Though jeans from these factories were branded “Made in the USA,” they were produced primarily by imported laborers operating under “slavelike” conditions: 12-hour work days, seven-day work weeks, poor living conditions, payment well under the minimum wage, and an atmosphere of fear and control.

The high-profile case spurred Levi’s to establish a workplace code of conduct for its manufacturing suppliers. In 1991, the company released the first version of their Terms of Engagement, which spells out the ethical standards, legal requirements, environmental requirements, and community involvement that all of their suppliers and contractors must agree to and abide by.

The Questionable

Levi’s has a strong track record of operating responsibly, and is considered a pioneer in sustainability by many in the industry. The company has compiled an impressive body of information, literature, and resources surrounding its operations, and has been transparent both with its failings as well as its dedication to improve.

However, much of this information isn’t necessarily translated to Levi’s customers. The other day, I popped into a Levi’s retail store in lower Manhattan, expecting significant promotion around the Water<Less campaign, or the Better Cotton Initiative jeans shipped out just a few months ago. Within the store, I couldn’t find any information concerning sustainability, and when I asked a salesperson for information about their sustainable jeans, she said she had no idea what I was talking about. When I mentioned water, she said that most of the denim in the store was made using 96% less water than usual – a pretty big exaggeration of the truth, which is that the Water<Less process uses on average 28% and up to 96% less water than usual.

It was only when leaving the store that I finally stumbled upon a mention of Levi’s sustainable initiatives: a wooden “Care Tag for the Planet” sandwich board placed just outside the front entrance. Funny enough, the actual care instructions faced the wall, while an advertisement for a 30% off sale had prime real estate.

Levi’s is one of the few major apparel brands making waves in the world of sustainable manufacturing. That’s a major accomplishment, but it also comes with a major responsibility. Levi’s is missing the opportunity to educate a wider audience about the importance of sustainability by leaving its efforts out of its mainstream marketing.

A November New York Times article described a recent scene at Levi Strauss HQ:

After being briefed on the cotton initiative by the sustainability team, the new Chief Marketing Officer, Rebecca Van Dyck nodded her approval, then asked, “But do our customers know?”

They won’t if you don’t tell them.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

The post Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program appeared first on EcoSalon.

Do we really want to see what McDonald’s is made of?

As the world’s largest hamburger fast food chain by sales, McDonald’s serves around 68 million customers per day in 119 countries. Founded in 1955 by Dick and Mac McDonald, and later run by legendary businessman Ray Kroc, McDonald’s is the best known franchise in the world, with golden arches spotted from Lebanon to the Louvre.

McDonald’s history of controversies and lawsuits is nearly as old as the company itself. Since its founding, McDonald’s has come under fire for everything from environment to health to labor practices, inspiring terminology like McJob (a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement) and critical food industry documentaries like Super Size Me. What else would you expect from a restaurant founded upon and organized around factory assembly line principles?

McDonald’s latest marketing campaign addresses the quality of their ingredients, and more specifically, the people behind those ingredients. Under the headline “See What We’re Made Of,” the campaign, created by Omnicom DDB, is heavy on video, with feel-good “Supplier Stories” from potato, lettuce, and beef growers, as well as informative looks “Inside Our Kitchens” to see how staples like the Big Mac and Egg McMuffin are made.

“We thought putting a face on the quality of the food story would be a unique way to approach this,” McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Neil Golden told AdAge. “We acknowledge that there are questions about where our food comes from. I believe we’ve got an opportunity to accentuate that part of our story.”

But how much of the story is real, and how much is just marketing? Let’s look at some of the facts.

The Good

While McDonald’s certainly isn’t the poster child for corporate social responsibility, the company has taken a number of steps toward greater transparency and more sustainable business practices in recent years. Nutritional information and ingredient lists for most of their standard menu items are available online, as well as answers to frequently asked questions like “What do you feed the cows that the beef comes from?” (answer: mostly corn). In 2008, McDonald’s opened a pilot LEED-certified “green” location in Chicago, with energy efficient equipment and lighting, high efficiency plumbing, and permeable pavement and rainwater collection for irrigation. They followed up with a North Carolina location in 2010 and a LEED-driven sustainable overhaul of their Global Headquarters. McDonald’s has also tackled packaging, cooking oil reuse, and customer awareness campaigns.

With this particular campaign, it looks like McDonald’s aim is to tap into the fresh/organic/locavore movement by presenting its ingredients as fresh and its farming partners as real people, just like you and me. The farmers chosen for “Supplier Stories” are secondary sources, contracted through McDonald’s suppliers, and they represent a cross-section of backgrounds and locations.

The Bad

McDonald’s has long been criticized for working with large-scale suppliers who have questionable environmental and animal welfare policies. Just in November, ABC News revealed that Sparboe Farms, which supplied the majority of eggs used in McDonald’s popular Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwiches, was guilty of horrific violations related to animal cruelty and hygiene. Soon after, McDonald’s ended the supplier relationship, and Sparboe vowed to “do better.”

But McDonald’s has yet to take action in response to PETA’s recent “McCruelty: I’m Hatin’ It” campaign, which calls the corporation out on inhumane treatment of chickens by their suppliers.

Says PETA: “Chickens who are raised for McDonald’s are killed using an old-fashioned method that causes millions of birds to have their wings broken and many to be scalded to death in defeathering tanks. A less cruel slaughter method—and one that is already used by McDonald’s European suppliers—is available, but the company refuses to require its U.S. suppliers to upgrade to it.”

And those are only recent scandals in a long list of controversies.

The Questionable

“Supplier Stories” presents a romantic view of American agriculture, with soft lighting, panoramic shots, acoustic background music, and farmers who emphasize the values of hard work and perseverance. In the world depicted in these videos, conventional factory farming isn’t a practice that’s harmful to the environment; it’s the American dream. The feel-good nature of the campaign glazes over many of the issues involved in McDonald’s supplier relationships, like the pesticide and migrant worker issues in the Salinas Valley where lettuce producer Dirk Giannini farms.

Plus, while the base ingredients in McDonald’s meals may come from the fairytale farms depicted in the videos, what happens to them after they hit a McDonald’s kitchen cancels out all the purported purity. McDonald’s famous french fries, for instance, contain much more than just home-grown potatoes:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK. *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

For McDonald’s to highlight the stories of the people behind their products is a step in the right direction. However, McDonald’s has yet to address in a significant way how its factory farm suppliers are harming the world they so romanticize.

The post Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Bible. It’s consistently the best-selling book on the planet and now it’s gone green. Publishing company Harper One recently released the Green Bible, a new environmentally-friendly version of the Bible, and it’s selling well. In fact, more that 25,000 copies sold in the first few weeks of its release.

Printed on recycled paper with soy ink, the Green Bible has a sustainable beige linen cover embossed with a green picture of a tree.

Covering both the Old and New Testament, this eco-friendly Bible has all text that mentions something about the environment printed in green (as opposed to the “red letter bible” where all the believed words of Jesus are printed in red). In all, over 1,000 verses throughout the Bible have been printed in green. And to make relevant issues (air, pollution, gardening) easy to find, there is even a Green Subject Index.

Endorsed by secular organizations such as the Humane Society and The Sierra Club, the Green Bible has been making waves among some Christian evangelical circles who are concerned that introducing environmental activism into the Bible could lead to people being distracted from their mission to follow and spread the word of God.

But while some are not happy with the Bible going green, others, particularly those involved in the Creation Care Movement, are more enthused by the emergence of a green ‘Good Book’. They are hoping that, with essays about global warming and other environmental issues written by well-known religious leaders such as Desmond Tutu, the new version will generate a lively theological debate about environmentalism. I guess time will tell.

The post The Bible Goes Green appeared first on EcoSalon.