Green Living Tips 03.15.10
eBay Launches a New Portal for
Conservation Minded Shoppers
 Going green" may be turning into a tired refrain for those that have been working hard to decrease their environmental footprint for years. To corporate America, however, the phrase has just as much vibrancy as ever. At the end of February, Wal-Mart announced a plan to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from the lifecycle of its products by 20 million metric tons by 2015. Now, eBay has launched a new portal to help shoppers make eco-minded decisions.
To promote the flashy new site, eBay is offering to protect one acre of rainforest for the first 250,000 people that pledge to reuse through their online auctions. Buying pre-owned items, of course, fits nicely with what eBay has always done, but wrapping something a company is already doing in "nice green marketing" is nothing new. The greenwash sniff test for corporate commitment, then, must evaluate whether new initiatives are measurable or exceptionally practical.
Though eBay's offer to protect 250,000 acres of rainforest is measurable—and commendable—the real addition the company is making with this latest effort is in providing and publicizing a platform for responsible consumerism.
For long-time upcyclers and professional vintage vultures, eBay's new portal is worth a look. The real hope, however, is that it will show the thousands of other eBay users who are already bidding on pre-owned items how easy it is to reduce their impact on the planet—simply by continuing what they have already been doing.
Source: www.treehugger.com
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