RSSMotorola puts a green jacket on a carbon-neutral handset
By Sharon Fisher | Published January 6, 2009, 5:42 PM
In the latest attempt to assuage consumers into buying more new stuff by telling them it's good for the environment, Motorola has announced a cell phone that it says is made out of recycled water bottles and is carbon-neutral.
"Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation," reads a company statement this morning announcing the company's new Motorola W233, dubbed the "Renew." "The phone has earned Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree Product Certification after an extensive product life-cycle assessment."
Though Carbonfund gave Motorola a certificate, the extent of what it certifies may be in dispute. "Carbonfund.org does not provide detailed explanations of how the projects work," explained muckraking Mother Jones Magazine in a blog post earlier this year. (For more on Carbonfund, check out its Form 990, a required IRS document for nonprofit organizations, from this PDF file.)
Motorola also reduced packaging by 22% and used 100% post-consumer recycled paper in the packaging, as well as including a postage-paid envelope for recycling one's previous phone. The phone, which reportedly has nine hours of talk time, is due out in the first quarter for an undisclosed amount of "green."
Paging Al Gore... give me a break with this crap.
Score: 0
|the only good thing coming out of all this BS is all the green products. i mean literally...painted green lol. looks good on pocket devices and clocks.
Score: 0
|Reforestation is a farce. It was probably thought up by the same geniuses who invented corn-based ethanol.
Score: 0
|What?
Granted, corn based ethanol, rather than true non-petro fertilizer and water intensive cellulosic fermentation of such materials as sedge grasses or cane, is simply a fancily packaged farm subsidy entitlement program that should be killed and tariffs lifted to allow importation of cheaper SA and African sources of ethanol. And ethanol is not a significant solution...
But reforestation in terms of sustainable pulp harvest most definitely works. Not sure what your gripe is there...
Score: 0
|oh no....now we get to listen to 'carbon neutral BS.
Yup, recycing requires no energy. And the original production of the material that is recycled required no energy usage.
But then I guess all of the dweebs who actually believed in the Rorshach blot "change" slogan will snap this hype up just as quickly without batting a critical eye at the claims.
"Carbonfund.org does not provide detailed explanations of how the projects work"
Stated just as well 70 years ago as "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"....
Indeed.
Score: 0
|