Greenpeace Decries Lack of Environmental Progress From Console Makers

SwiftyNifty writes with an update to Greenpeace's 2007 criticism of game console manufacturers over environmental concerns. Their claim was that some of the chemicals used to make the consoles were toxic, and that the manufacturers' recycling practices were not up to snuff. Two years have passed, and Greenpeace now says that progress is either slow or non-existent. "... Nintendo has little plan to remove PVC and almost no plans to remove [brominated flame retardants]. Slightly further up the scale, Microsoft was again awarded a poor ranking due to the use of toxic waste materials. And Sony, who rank rather well in their mobile phone partnership with Ericsson (scoring 6.5 out of 10 for improved toxic waste and efficient energy usage) didn't perform as well in the console category, failing to eliminate PVC or BFRs from their gaming products."

Comments

Screw Greenpeace

[Goldberg's Pants]

Greenpeace have pulled this nonsense before. They lambasted Apple for not being "green" enough then came out and admitted they didn't really have a beef with Apple, they just went after them for the publicity as they were such a well known corporation.

Greenpeace are barely one level above PETA in the asinine self publicity stakes.

Re:Screw Greenpeace

[jellomizer]

That thinking is where it gets dangerous.

There is a balance that is needed to maintain. Enviromentalism and Personal Freedom. It is not one or the other. It is getting a good balance between the two. Greenpeace wants to dictate how people live, and make a huge fuss about any resistance, even if it is relatively minor.

The way that environmentalism works the best is threw education and marketing. Don't give the people these worst cases of dooms day scenario. This will only get a small group of people and when it doesn't go as plan they drop away and don't believe you any more. (Eg. Durring the 1970 they had predicted Global Cooling, that didn't happen so a lot of people won't believe in global warming. (Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me)) I like the trend that we are going in now for environmentalism. Put effort in research to make current technology more energy efficient. Implementing other sources of power, showing people that they can be green without breaking the budget.

If they are able to influence my Father to get a win turbine for his house (a staunch republican who still doesn't believe in global warming) then I think we are going in the right direction. Forcing people will only give push-back, showing them alternatives and good cost/benefit information will move to your goal much faster.

Incoherent Propoganda

[MrMista_B]

The incoherent propoganda, lies, and lack of science that Greenpeace shouts to the world does very little benefit, and very much harm to actual, real enviromental concerns.

They're as mindless, cultlike, and factually wrong as PETA.

Which is terrible and unfortunate, because they are wealthy and powerful, and if Greenpeace actually cared for the enviroment, at all, in any way, they have the capability to actually do enviromental good.

The only thing that

[twostix]

Greenpeace cares about is more money for Greenpeace.

Just like any other multinational.

greenpeace fighting for relivance

[timmarhy]

in a lot of ways they are a victim of their own success. after all the lobbying in the 80's greenpeace won most of their battles that they were going to win, so now they are in a position where they really should just go away, but won't ever be able to bring themselfs to do so.

people are waking up to them now, but they still have enough of an ignorant support base to keep them in stunt dollars for a while...

Nuts to Grenpeace

[SirDrinksAlot]

Their rating system is entirely biased and is not even remotely objective. Their admitting in the past that they will still give failing grades to some companies even if they are the greenest around just because they think it might influence them to do better. Basicaly saying regardless of how well you do you'll never be good enough.

Effectively they invalidated the entire program of rating companies meaningless. You cant hold everyone to wildly different standards and still expect to be taken seriously.

The Same Products Are Still Much The Same?!?!

[nick_davison]

The console industry works on five year cycles with a ten year lifespan for each product, a new version turning up halfway through its lifespan.

We're currently about two and a half years in to the current cycle for the PS3, a little more for the XBox360.

So, amazingly enough, the manufacturers didn't dump their hundreds of millions of dollars of investments, six months in to their ten year lives, just because Greenpeace told them to? Why that's just crazy.

Or, alternatively, it would've been blatantly obvious to anyone with even a cursory understanding of the console industry to know there couldn't be any significant change by this point (with the exception of the PS3 slim on the horrizon) and Greenpeace are simply showboating, picking something they know can't be changed but is mainstream culture enough to draw them column inches if they attack it.

It's cheap politics like that that lead me to ask, getting daily acosted by them to save the whales, "Why? Do they make good sushi?" When they can treat me with respect and stop trying cheap manipulation, I'll return the favor.

Re:Screw this hippie bullshit.

[John Nowak]

I've thought "damn hippies" ever since seeing the hysteria they try to throw people into over nuclear power.

Re:Screw this hippie bullshit.

[jedidiah]

> I'm guessing you saw the 'Green' in their name and just thought 'damn hippies'.

Nope. A lot of us have personal firsthand experience with these people or know
people who have. It's quite common for groups like Greenpeace to shout down anyone
with anyone with any real technical expertise or experience or anyone that doesn't
buy completely into the groupthink. This is not merely limited to Greenpeace and
also afflicts a lot of other sort of "activist" groups.

This also is true for "gooder" parts of the government like the EPA.