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PATAGONIA - ANTI CONSUMERIST OR GREENWASHING

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PATAGONIA - ANTI CONSUMERIST OR GREENWASHING

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Patagonia: The Paradox of an Eco-Conscious Company

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We're seeing more 'eco-friendly' and 'all natural' products on our shelves, as consumers demand more sustainable choices.

But as companies come under increased pressure to meet their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, how can we tell if some are twisting the truth?

When their sustainable claims are untrue or exaggerated they can be accused of 'greenwashing'.

This basically means they are misleading consumers to make them believe their products or services - or the business itself is sustainable, when that is not the case.
Are there laws to protect consumers from greenwashing?
There are no laws in Ireland that specifically challenge greenwashing.

However, there are more general consumer protections, such as the Consumer Protection Act 2007 (CPA), as Victor Timon, Partner at law firm Lewis Silkin explained.

"Under the CPA, a seller must not make false claims about any goods or services they are selling," he said.

The CPA now also incorporates the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices as part of that legislation.

"Under the directive, a commercial practice is unfair if it is misleading and is likely to distort your buying decision," Mr Timon noted.

The Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 also includes an implied term that goods will correspond with their description.

The Advertising Standards Authority in Ireland (ASAI) also sets rules and issues decisions in respect of false or misleading advertising.

However, Mr Timon pointed out that unlike its UK counterpart, it has no power to enforce those decisions.
What are the penalties for firms that do engage in greenwashing?
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is charged with policing consumer protection law in Ireland.

Mr Timon said the CCPC can issue compliance notices, apply to court for prohibition orders against traders to prevent certain practices, or ultimately prosecute a trader in court and ask the judge to apply a fine or even imprisonment in certain cases.

However, the CCPC does not get involved in individual cases between traders and consumers, which Mr Timon said must be pursued by the consumer through the courts.

"Penalties under the CPA for summary judgements (lower courts) are up to €3,000 or a prison term of six months, or both," Mr Timon said.

"Convictions on indictment (higher courts) are up to €60,000 or a prison term of 18 months, or both," he added.
What firms have been accused of greenwashing?
One of the most talked about cases is theVolkswagen emissions scandal.

In 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency found that many Volkswagen cars being sold in America had been fitted with a 'defeat device'.

Mr Timon explained that this was basically a piece of software in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, and then changed the performance to make the results look better.

"Volkswagen was making a big push to sell diesel cars in the US at the time.

"It subsequently admitted the offence which spilt over into car sales in Europe also - and paid billions of dollars in compensation and fines," he said.

Separately, in 2020, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint about a Ryanair advertisement, which claimed that the airline had the lowest carbon emissions in Europe.

"Ryanair has the lowest carbon emissions of any major airline - 66g CO2 for every passenger kilometre flown," the advert stated.

However, Mr Timon explained that the comparison to other "major airlines" only included four others - and there is no industry definition of what is considered to be a "major airline".

"Perhaps the nail in the coffin, was that the figures were based on efficiency rankings from 2011 - of little value for a substantiation claim in 2019," he said.

More generally at the end of 2020, the European Commission and national consumer authorities conducted a sweep of websites across the member states specifically targeting greenwashing.

Mr Timon said in more than half of the cases, the trader did not provide sufficient information for consumers to judge the claim's accuracy.

"In 37% of cases, the claim included vague and general statements such as 'conscious', 'eco-friendly' and 'sustainable', which aimed to convey the unsubstantiated impression to consumers that a product had no negative impact on the environment," Mr Timon explained.

He said in 59% of cases the trader had not provided easily accessible evidence to support its claim.

In their overall assessment, they believed that in 42% of cases the claims may be false or deceptive - and could therefore potentially amount to an unfair commercial practice under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
Were any Irish companies fined after the EU sweep last year?
Three traders in Ireland were approached by the Competition and Consumer Protection Agency in relation to their green claims following the EU wide sweep last year.

However, no penalties were issued.

A spokesperson for the CCPC said in all three cases, the companies engaged with the CCPC and provided the additional information sought.

As a result, the firms carried out a number of actions.

These included amendments to their websites and the removal of errors relating to product details.

They also amended their websites to provide clarifications and 'additional substantiation' regarding environmental claims.

A spokesperson for the CCPC said they were satisfied with the actions taken by the traders and did not deem that there was a need for enforcement actions to be taken.

The CCPC did not provide the name of the companies in question.

"Due to the nature of the CCPC's enforcement role and ongoing market surveillance in this area, we are unable to provide any further details relating to the traders in question, at this time," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the CCPC "regularly" participates in European 'Consumer Protection Cooperation Network' (CPC Network) sweeps, which are a set of market surveillance checks that are carried out by the CPC Network across Europe.
How can I spot companies that are greenwashing?
If you are unsure as to the authenticity of a business or brand's 'green claims', a spokesperson for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission suggests you follow a number of steps before you buy.
1 Look for proof of claims
If you are unsure about a brand's 'green claims', do some quick research online or via social media to find out more.

Be wary of businesses with vague or superficial references to sustainability.

Most genuine brands will want to share details of their ethical and sustainable approach to doing business, so, instead, look for brands with sections of their website or social media pages, dedicated to outlining their 'green credentials'.
2 Research the parent company
Although one particular brand or product may prove genuine in terms of their 'green claims', it's important to examine the bigger picture, including any parent company it may be owned by or affiliated with.

Research the parent company's green credentials and look to the overall sustainability lifecycle.

For example, a particular brand may use 90% recycled packaging materials, but what about the other processes of the wider business group - such as manufacturing, logistics or sourcing materials?
3 Don't judge a brand by its packaging
Watch out for vague language such as 'eco-friendly' or 'all-natural', as well as 'green' imagery which can be used to convey the product or brand as being sustainable or ethical.

Don't judge a brand by its packaging alone.

Be sure to read the list of ingredients and check the labels thoroughly before you buy to ensure you are satisfied that the claims are genuine.
4 False certifications
Look out for fake 'approved by' seals or standards marks by institutions that may not even exist.

If you're unsure about a certification seal, do some quick research to find out more before you buy.

Instead, look out for approved seals such as EU Ecolabel, EU Organic Logo, Fair Trade Certified, and Rainforest Alliance Certified.
What should I do if I suspect a company is greenwashing?
The CCPC monitors compliance with consumer protection law on an ongoing basis.

Their enforcement work is based on information they obtain through a range of channels including; contacts to their consumer helpline, research, and market surveillance.

"If a consumer believes that they have been misled about 'green claims', we would ask that they contact us so that we can assist them in addressing their issue," a spokesperson for the CCPC said.

You can call the helpline on 01 402 5555 or log on to ccpc.ie for more information.
Are stronger laws on the way to protect consumers?
With the focus growing on sustainability, it is inevitable that specific legislation dealing with green labeling is on the way.

In December 2019, the European Commission published the European Green Deal to tackle environmental challenges.

Mr Timon said this will result in an EU regulation requiring manufacturers to be able to prove any statements they make about the sustainability, eco-friendliness, or other "green" attributes of their products.

"The new regulation has been expected this year - probably to come into force two years after that," he said.

It is expected that this will be followed by specific legislation to empower consumers to pursue greenwashing claims.

In the meantime, in respect of a consumers' general rights, Mr Timon said the 'New Deal for Consumers' published by the EU in 2018 contains GDPR type fines for breaches of consumer law.

"Regulators like the CCPC will have the right to make test purchases and evaluate products against a manufacturer's or seller's claims about their performance - including any green credentials," he said.

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How to tell if an 'eco-friendly' firm is greenwashing

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We're seeing more 'eco-friendly' and 'all natural' products on our shelves, as consumers demand more sustainable choices. But as companies come under increased pressure to meet their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, how can we tell if some are twisting the truth? When their sustainable claims are untrue or exaggerated they can be accused of 'greenwashing'.

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Back to Market and Insights

Carbon credits take many forms, but the term generally refers to a tradable certificate which gives its owner the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide (or an equivalent amount of another greenhouse gas).
The EU's Emission Trading Scheme was launched in 2005 as the world's first carbon market and it remains the largest. The scheme issues carbon credits (European Union Allowances), and until 2021 also allowed for the use of carbon offsets. While credits represent the right to emit carbon, offsets are generated through projects which reduce emissions. So if a company running a factory in Germany wished to exceed the emissions permitted by its allowances, it could buy more allowances in the market, or could purchase offsets (generated by a renewable energy project in Spain, for example) to maintain the overall emissions equilibrium.

The Emission Trading Scheme (and others like it, including California's cap and trade system) take a market-based approach to pricing carbon credits. The price of the allowances is set by the market and allows firms to determine whether it is cost-efficient to emit more CO2. Firms will bear the costs of having to buy further credits if they exceed their allowances or can generate profits from reduced emissions by selling allowances. Electric carmaker Tesla has generated in excess of $4.4bn through carbon credit sales since 2008, including sales of $2.4bn to its petrol-powered competitor Fiat Chrysler.

A lot of hot air?

This revolutionary approach to emissions management is a key pillar of energy policies worldwide but has also created tradable commodity assets which are open to speculation. Buyers can take positions based on their views that credit prices will rise - perhaps due to government policies or industry developments. For example, the price of EU credits rose over 130% in the last year as economic activity rebounded. Today, the EU's carbon market includes not just the c. 11,000 regulated entities which receive the allowances, but a host of hedge funds, pension funds and other investors. This broad range of participants increases the efficiency of the market overall, and has embedded carbon markets as a workable response to global warming.

Carbon markets are growing - China is launching its own scheme this year, and the UK is creating a standalone market after its exit from the EU - so investors are eyeing them up as a potential source of returns. Our view is that this relatively efficient solution to energy management should not be considered as a core asset for building out an individual's investment portfolio. The carbon markets are established and managed with the primary aim of controlling emissions - not to serve as a reliable market for investment. For example, liquidity can be patchy (it peaks at year end in line with industry cycles but is thinner in other months). And industry concerns trump market concerns, for example in 2011 when the theft of €28m of allowances forced the closure of EU carbon markets for a number of weeks. There is also the matter of determining which carbon credits you are holding - only a handful of credits are recognised by the major systems, with dozens of others being created and traded outside of the required allowance programmes.

So, carbon assets may fit into portfolios alongside other commodities, in limited scenarios where they are stewarded by experienced investment managers, or in carefully designed structures which ensure investor protection. But, for now, simply playing the carbon price is speculation rather than investment.

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Fighting climate change: what are carbon credits | Davy

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Back to Market and Insights Carbon credits take many forms, but the term generally refers to a tradable certificate which gives its owner the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide (or an equivalent amount of another greenhouse gas). The EU's Emission Trading Scheme was launched in 2005 as the world's first carbon market and it remains the largest.

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Ireland has spent €121m on carbon credits due to failure to reach emissions targets

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The government will have to pay out additional funds next year.

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New urban challenges

Of course, swift urban development has consequences and presents challenges. As new industrial complexes go up, affecting air quality and liveability, the city is rethinking the direction of its development and has prepared Thailand's first provincial-level charter - a multi-stakeholder process that has involved civil society and municipal actors. The charter aims at a sustainable and inclusive future for the city, with a focus on nurturing the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) industry and being an eco-friendly and greener city.

One initiative already underway is an effort to make the city walkable. A multi-directional "pedestrian scramble" crossing, similar to the Shibuya crossing in Tokyo, has been piloted at one of the city's most heavily trafficked intersections, demonstrating a new way of using the city's streets.

There is also an increasing amount of motor vehicle traffic on Udon's streets. Until recently, the city's only mass transit system consisted of taxi pickup trucks.

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Udon Thani - a model for sustainable cities in a growing Asia-Pacific

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Of course, swift urban development has consequences and presents challenges. As new industrial complexes go up, affecting air quality and liveability, the city is rethinking the direction of its development and has prepared Thailand's first provincial-level charter - a multi-stakeholder process that has involved civil society and municipal actors.

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Copy of Case Study 1 - Urbanisation - Develop in Harmony with Nature Essay_

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Mexicola: Diabetes spike in town where Cola used as drinking water, currency & religious offering

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Locals in rural Mexican town fault Coca-Cola for depleting water resources

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Copy of Case Study 2_ Coca-Cola sucking wells dry in indigenous Mexican town - forcing residents to buy bottled water

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Coca-Cola’s Shenanigans in Mexico Are Another Sign of the Coming Water Wars

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Coke: the official soft drink of corporate greed.

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H&M and Zara: Can fast fashion be eco-friendly?

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Copy of Case Study 3_ Fast fashion quick to cause environment...tainability - University of Queensland

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Farming in Harmony with nature - World Bank video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4tMNNFZkI

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Farming in Harmony with nature - World Bank video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4tMNNFZkI

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Living and Working in Harmony with Nature: A Story of Two Farmers in Ethiopia

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Aoife Leader is a Walsh Scholar working with Teagasc while completing a Masters in Agriculture Innovation Support. She is currently liaising with the eleven farmers participating in the Glanbia Ireland/Open Source Future Farms Group. Matt O'Keeffe, editor of the Dairy Ireland magazine recently chatted with Aoife about her study and how Future Farmer, Francis Nolan has benefited from his participation.

Aoife's particular study is focused on biodiversity, as she explains: "A baseline assessment study of the eleven farms has been completed. This study includes a record of the biodiversity features and management practices on the farms and this has been followed up with the development of plans for each farm which fit into the overall farm systems. Each of the plans is unique to a particular farm and place an emphasis on what the farmers want to achieve in terms of biodiversity on their farms. Currently, the farmers are implementing these plans and early in 2021 there will be an assessment of what has been completed and what has not worked, identifying the reasons in each case."
Productivity and biodiversity
Francis Nolan is one of the participants in the Future Farms Programme. He is dairy farming in Coolcullen, in north Kilkenny, not far from the racehorse training facility of renowned trainer Jim Bolger. The 140-cow, Spring-calving dairy herd has been bred to be one of the most productive herds in the Glanbia catchment area, despite the 70-hectare farm being on an elevated site over 900 feet above sea level.

Calving on the Nolan farm begins in late January with most of the herd calved within a month. Because of the high elevation, the cows begin their grazing season towards the end of February, somewhat later than on lowland farms, depending on ground and climatic conditions, and graze into late October/early November. The high EBI (Economic Breed Index) herd is Holstein/ British Friesian bred to deliver high milk solids (490 kgs/cow) from large quantities of quality grass (13 tonnes of grass produced per hectare).

Francis gives his reasons for participating in the Biodiversity Study being undertaken by Aoife Leader: "Our dairy farm is comparable to many across the country. We have a stocking rate of 2.5 cows per hectare and that allows us to maximise the use of grass to produce milk across the growing season. I think what Aoife is working on ties in well with what we are doing on the farm."

Aoife is adamant that there is no cherry-picking of the farms she is studying: "I took on the group of Future Farms that was in place. The grouping gets refreshed every couple of years so I was happy to take on the study as a random sample of farms in the region. Apart from biodiversity, they are great examples of what can be done on farms in terms of adopting a range of environmentally positive practices including Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) and using Protected Urea, which greatly lower nitrogen losses to the atmosphere. Along with biodiversity initiatives, these all tie into the concept of farming sustainably. These are not insular initiatives. The idea is to spread knowledge and best practice among the farmers' peers. Taking the Nolan farm as an example, we mapped the biodiversity on the farm, scoring each relevant feature or initiative and used the Teagasc Biodiversity Management Practices Index to score management practices. 9.5 per cent of the farm has features which directly lend themselves to biodiversity.

These include commonly found features such as hedgerows, grass banks and watercourses as well as area-based features which we listed including a grove of trees and a swampy area that has been fenced off to protect it as a multi-faceted habitat. The farmyard itself has also been managed with a view to managing and protecting biodiversity features. The average score across the Group was 8.5 per cent with a spread running from 4.5 per cent to 18 per cent. Average field size is a good proxy for biodiversity. The target size for ensuring strong biodiversity on a farm is 5 hectares. Francis's field size averages 3 hectares and the hedgerow boundaries or linear features ensure that biodiversity potential is strong on the farm."

Francis is adamant that a positive environmental balance is achievable: "I think commercial dairy farming can be in complete harmony with biodiversity. We haven't had to make many changes. Fencing off waterways to prevent livestock access, completed at the same time as installing a drinking system across the grazing paddocks, was one of the major changes and that hasn't interfered with management of the farm. Maintaining hedgerows and developing buffer zones haven't affected production on the farm while they do help to protect biodiversity."

The Walsh Scholar is well aware that farmers have been the focus of criticism around their environmental credentials: "Every farm is a living habitat and farmers work alongside nature every day of the year. There are regulations in place to ensure compliance with environmental protection standards. Most farmers I work with have an interest and enthusiasm for biodiversity and, with an adequate support structure in place, even more can and will be done to enhance biodiversity on farms. The reality is that the levels of biodiversity, even on highly stocked farms, are quite high already, especially by comparison with other countries across the world. Maintaining and improving that high standard is the priority. The Nitrates Derogation, allowing high animal stocking levels per hectare, has been contentious. I have found in my studies that these farms are capable of maintaining high levels of biodiversity in tandem with high stocking rates. It should be recognised that most of these farms are actively engaged in increasing biodiversity on their farms."

Environmental care can enhance productivity
Many of the environmental protection measures introduced on the Nolan farm have improved production efficiencies, as Francis confirms: "The Low Emission Slurry Equipment we use has helped to get more value from the nutrients in the slurry. This is especially the case in the springtime when grass is growing strongly. I'm all for developments that allow me to farm efficiently at the same time as protecting the environment and biodiversity on my farm. This is all going to be part of farming in the future so having a biodiversity plan for the farm will run alongside having a nutrient management plan, for instance.

Communicating the message
We have to be prepared to look at new developments and see how we can accommodate them on our farms." Francis Nolan is confident that his farm can accommodate the much-signalled changes coming in the next version of the Common Agricultural policy (CAP): "Our field size and the surrounding hedgerows are a big positive. The hedgerows and watercourses add up to 18 kilometres in total. That provides a lot of room for biodiversity on the farm."

Aoife Leader's Masters in Agricultural Innovation Support will be a template: "We are piloting a biodiversity plan that combines with the overall workings of a farm. From my study, I hope to have identified a communication strategy that informs farmers and encourages them to implement robust biodiversity plans on their farms. The long-term aim is to get the message around biodiversity more widely spread to all stakeholders, including the general public, so that they can appreciate that is being achieved."
First Published 17 November 2020
*Note: Walsh Scholarships are awarded in memory of Dr. Tom Walsh, first Director of An Foras Taluntais (precursor of Teagasc) and a world leading authority on soil science.

For further information on the Glanbia Ireland /Teagasc Open Source Future Farm Programme please contact your local GI Farm Development Manager.

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Aoife's particular study is focused on biodiversity, as she explains: "A baseline assessment study of the eleven farms has been completed.

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Copy of Case Study 4- Farming should work in harmony with nature, not kill it _ Friends of the Earth Europe

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Copy of Case Study 5 - Kinsale as a transition town

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Develop in Harmony with Nature Essay Case Studies

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India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police

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Internet access remained blocked Monday in several districts of a state bordering India’s capital following violent weekend clashes between police and farmers protesting controversial agricultural reforms.

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india farmers' protests: why you should care about thousands of people protesting - cnn

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Thousands of people are protesting with farmers in India. This is why you should care

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The farmers of India have reached a stalemate with the government over proposed amendments to laws the farmers feel will ravage their livelihoods and create an opportunity for large, private companies to enter and exploit the entire agriculture sector.

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During 1999, in the Central Hotel in the city centre of Dublin, […]

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Vandana ShivaAlthough Vandana Shiva’s work, theories and Point of view can be hard to understand I definitely believe that she is a brilliant mind. While nearly everyone including those in the scientific community nowadays seem to blindly follow any goal or “advancement” especially when eco-friendly/green is used to describe or associated with this, Vandana Shiva seems to be one of the only people challenging these ideas with actual science and a level of understanding. One of her biggest issues with what is known as the green revolution it's a very valid point. She argues that even though yes, these movement towards genetically modified foods and the production of extremely efficient edible plants specifically grains is good to feed people but it has larger downside the outweigh these benefits. She argued that this international movement is Creating a western ideology in terms of food production that is being pushed upon nearly every country. She believes that this mechanical idea of food production destroys cultures, lifestyles, Increases pollution, decreases indigenous and cultural food products available and increases the dependency of poor farmers on the supply of costly chemicals from the western world to protect their GMO crops. she believes that this move towards mass production of food disconnects the find emails from their work and further pushes the ideologies constructed by the western worlds that technological advancement Trump's all other factors such as culture and further divides classes by increasing income gaps and allows what she sees as toxic globalization to rapidly increase in speed. 

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Vandana ShivaAlthough Vandana Shiva’s work, theories and Point of view can be hard to understand I definitely believe that she is a brilliant mind. While nearly everyone including those in the scientific community nowadays seem to blindly follow any goal or “advancement” especially when eco-friendly/green is used to describe or associated with this, Vandana Shiva seems to be one of the only people challenging these ideas with actual science and a level of understanding. One of her biggest issues with what is known as the green revolution it's a very valid point. She argues that even though yes, these movement towards genetically modified foods and the production of extremely efficient edible plants specifically grains is good to feed people but it has larger downside the outweigh these benefits. She argued that this international movement is Creating a western ideology in terms of food production that is being pushed upon nearly every country. She believes that this mechanical idea of food production destroys cultures, lifestyles, Increases pollution, decreases indigenous and cultural food products available and increases the dependency of poor farmers on the supply of costly chemicals from the western world to protect their GMO crops. she believes that this move towards mass production of food disconnects the find emails from their work and further pushes the ideologies constructed by the western worlds that technological advancement Trump's all other factors such as culture and further divides classes by increasing income gaps and allows what she sees as toxic globalization to rapidly increase in speed. 

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Activist and author Dr Vandana Shiva is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.

Soaring seed prices in India have resulted in many farmers being mired in debt and turning to suicide [Reuters]

Monsanto and its PR men are trying desperately to delink the epidemic of farmers suicides in India from its growing control over the cotton seed supply. For us it is the control over seed, the first link in the food chain, the source of life which is our biggest concern. When a corporation controls seed, it controls life. Including the life of our farmers.

The trends of Monsanto's concentrated control on the seed sector in India or across the world is the central issue. This is what connects the farmer suicides in India, to Monsanto v Percy Schmeiser in Canada, or Monsanto v Bowman in the US, to farmers in Brazil suing Monsanto for $2.2 billion for unfair collection of royalty. Through patents on seeds, Monsanto has become the "Life Lord" on the planet, collecting rents from life's renewal and from farmers, the original breeders. Patents on seed are illegitimate because putting a toxic gene into a plant cell is not the "creation" or invention of the plant. They are seeds of deception - the deception of Monsanto being the creator of seeds and life, the deception that while it sues farmers and traps them in debt, it is working for farmers' welfare and "improving farmers lives" - the deception that GMOs feed the world. GMOs are failing to control pests and weeds, and have instead led to the emergence of super pests and super weeds [PDF].

Keep reading

In 1995 , Monsanto introduced its Bt technology in India through a joint venture with the Indian company Mahyco.

In 1997-98, Monsanto started open field trials of its propriety GMO Bt cotton illegally, and had announced it would be selling the seeds commercially the following year.

India has had rules for regulating GMOs since 1989 under the Environment Protection Act. Under these rules, it is mandatory to get approval from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee under the Ministry of Environment for GMO trials.

When we found out that Monsanto had not applied for approval, the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology sued Monsanto in the Supreme Court of India. As a result, Monsanto could not start commercial sales of its Bt cotton seeds until 2002. But it had started to change Indian agriculture before that.
'Seeds of suicide'
The entry of Monsanto in the Indian seed sector was made possible with a 1988 Seed Policy imposed by the World Bank, requiring the government of India to deregulate the seed sector.

Five things changed with Monsanto's entry. First, Indian companies were locked into joint ventures and licensing arrangements, and concentration over the seed sector increased. In the case of cotton, Monsanto now controls 95 percent of the cotton seed market through its GMOs. Second, seed which had been the farmers' common resource became the "intellectual property" of Monsanto, for which it started collecting royalties thus raising the costs of seed. Third, open-pollinated cotton seeds were displaced by hybrids, including GMO hybrids. A renewable resource became a non-renewable patented commodity. Fourth, cotton which had earlier been grown as a mixture with food crops now had to be grown as a monoculture, with higher vulnerability to pests, disease, drought and crop failure. Finally, Monsanto started to subvert India's regulatory processes, and in fact started to use public resources to push its non-renewable hybrids and GMOs through so-called public private partnerships (PPP).

The creation of seed monopolies, the destruction of alternatives, the collection of superprofits in the form of royalties, and the increasing vulnerability of monocultures has created a context for debt, suicides, and agrarian distress.

I have always been critical of reductionism. I look at systems, and at contextual causation. It is this system that Monsanto has created of seed monopoly, crop monocultures and a context of debt, dependency and distress - which is driving the farmers' suicide epidemic in India. This systemic control has been intensified with Bt cotton. That is why most suicides are in the cotton belt. The highest acreage of Bt cotton is Maharashtra, and this is also where the highest farm suicides are. According to P Sainath, who has covered farmer suicides extensively: "The total number of farmers who have taken their own lives in Maharashtra since 1995 is closing in on 54,000. Of these, 33,752 have occurred in nine years since 2003, at an annual average of 3,750. The figure for 1995-2002 was 20,066 at an average of 2,508." Suicides have increased after Bt cotton was introduced. The price of seed jumped 8,000 percent; Monsanto's royalty extraction and the high costs of purchased seed and chemicals have created a debt trap.

According to data from the Indian government, nearly 75 percent rural debt is due to purchased inputs. Farmers' debt grows as Monsanto profits grow. It is in this systemic sense that Monsanto's seeds are those of suicide. An internal advisory by the agricultural ministry of India in January 2012 had this to say to the cotton growing states in India: "Cotton farmers are in a deep crisis since shifting to Bt cotton. The spate of farmer suicides in 2011-12 has been particularly severe among Bt cotton farmers."

Moreover, after the damning report of the parliamentary committee on Bt crops, the panel of technical experts appointed by the supreme court has recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all GM food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops.

And the ultimate seeds of suicide are Monsanto's patented Terminator Tecnology that create sterile seed. The Convention on Biological Diversity has banned its use, otherwise Monsanto would be collecting even higher profits from it.
Seed sovereignty
"Monsanto is an agricultural company. We apply innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more."

"Produce more. Conserve more. Improving farmers' lives."

This is the announcement on Monsanto India's website. All the pictures are of smiling prosperous farmers from the state of Maharashtra. However, we see that the reality on the ground is completely different. Farmers are in debt and in deep distress, and have become dependent on Monsanto's seed monopoly. Most of the farmers who have committed suicide in India did so due to being trapped in debt and are in the cotton belt - which has become a suicide belt now: The highest suicides are in Maharashtra. Monsanto's talk of "technology" tries to hide its real objectives of ownership, where genetic engineering is just a means to control seeds and the food system through patents and intellectual property rights.

A Monsanto representative admitted that they were "the patient, diagnostician, and physician all in one" in writing the patents on life sections in the TRIPS agreement of WTO. Stopping farmers from saving seeds and exercising their seed sovereignty was the objective. Monsanto has gone very far down the road of destroying biodiversity and seed sovereignty. It is now extending its patents to conventionally-bred seed - as in the case of broccoli and capsicum, or the low-gluten wheat it had pirated from India, which we challenged as a biopiracy case in the European Patent Office.

That is why we have started Fibres of Freedom in the heart of Monsanto's Bt cotton/suicide belt in Vidharba. We have created community seed banks with indigenous seeds and helped farmers go organic. No GMO seeds, no debt, no suicides. We save and share seeds of life and freedom - diverse, open-pollinated, GMO-free, patent-free seeds.
Dr Vandana Shiva is a physicist, eco-feminist, philosopher, activist, and author of more than 20 books and 500 papers. She is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and has campaigned for biodiversity, conservation and farmers' rights - winning the Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) in 1993. Follow her on Twitter: @drvandanashiva

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Seeds of suicide and slavery versus seeds of life and freedom

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Contrary to its claims, Monsanto's monopoly on seeds in India are the root cause behind the sharp increase in suicides.

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40% of India's workforce is engaged in agriculture

In 2011-12, investment in agriculture as a percentage of total investment stood at 8.5%.

average figure for outstanding loans in farming households rose by 59% between 2012 and 2019

farmers' incomes increased by just 2% a year in real terms between 2013 and 2016

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Is it Greenwashing or Free Market Enviornmentalism?

The company in 2011 put an add in the NY Times paper saying "Dont buy this jacket". They gave a list of the carbon damage done by its products.
To portray a morally grounded - Anti Consumerist sentiment.
As a result of this marketing ploy sales increased 40%.

To expand on this Anti Consumerist image the company has opened Americas largest clothes repair facility (45 employees). Encouraging consumers (through adds and its mission statment) to have their Patagonia clothes repaired rather than buying new ones.
They sell repair kits to these repair motivated consumers. The repair kits provide $600M of the companies revenue.
The CEO proclaims "this is a Radical Eniviornmental act"

HYPOCRACY?

This marketing strategy implements a company image embracing anti consumerism. However the company has not stopped its practice of selling enviornmentally harmful products. The company sold more products than ever after embracing this image. Similarly in the second case of the repair kits - it provides access to repeat consumers who might have otherwise opted for competitor products & retains consumers.

The company has increased its profits dramatically by embracing an enviornmentally consious image. But they have not stopped selling enviornmentally unfriendly apparel.

To me this is a case of Greenwashing. Why? Because I believe there is insufficent evidence to prove the company is rather engaging in free market enviornmentalism.
Your opinion however may be different.
But rememeber, this is a for profit corporation that relies on an ever higher rate of consumption of its products, but yet is promoting an anti consumerist sentiment.
The result - the company has increasing revenues & has avoided the neccessity to reduce the enviornmental impact of its products.

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During 1999, in the Central Hotel in the city centre of Dublin, Sustainable Projects Ireland Ltd had the idea of Ireland’s first ecovillage to the public.

They chose 67 acres of land off Cloughjordan town in Tipperary.

In 2005 they raised enough money and gained planning permission and began to build their eco village

In 2008 the recession hit and 50% of investors pulled out of the plan and in 2009 the remaining people became Irelands first eco village residents

In 2011 they planted 17000 trees

By 2012 the village had fibre optic, solar panels, a hostel an eco-enterprise

In 2013 they won the green oscars

In 202 they were finalists for the transformative cities award

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Castro Verde in Portugal,is an EU-funded nature-friendly farming scheme has created an ‘island of nature’.The scheme promoted traditional land use with one year of crops followed byseveral years of extensive grazing by sheep. This ensured that a unique flora and fauna was preserved. Castro Verde is now a UNESCO world heritage site

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One protected site where the impact of intensive farming is felt is Tablas de Daimiel wetland in central Spain.

The wetland, which has a high diversity of birds and aquatic life

has an excessive number of illegal wells that are used by farmers to irrigate fields.

These wells continue to drain this wetland dry.

despite being a protected site under EUnature laws.

Between 2006 and 2009, the wetland completely dried up causing  a severe underground fire.

This,  had dramatic consequences on the ecosystem.

There has been nothing done after the fact

What should European commission do?

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Companies are misleading consumers to make them believe their products or services are sustainable. This violates the Consumer Protection Act but there are no specific laws surrounding it. Past offenders have been Volkswagen and Ryanair.

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Fast fashion quick to cause environmental havoc

Fast fashion article summary -Vivienne

·      Fashion industry one of the biggest in the world, accounting for 2% of GDP.

·      After the  oil industry, fashion is the worlds second biggest contributor to pollution because of fast fashion.

·      Fast fashion- cheaply produces and prices garments pumped quickly

o   out of stores in order to maximise current trends.

·      Fast fashion retailers grew by 9.7% between 2010 and 2015

·      This is very worrying from a sustainability perspective.

·      Globally we now consume about 80 billion of new clothing each year.

·      This is 400% more the what we were consuming 2 decades ago.

·      The average U.K shopper wears only 70% of what’s in their wardrobe and throws out 70 kilograms of textile waste annually.

·      In Australia 85% of textiles bought are sent to landfill every year.

·      Australia are the second largest consumer of new textiles after the U.S.

·      On average 27 kilos of new textiles per annum.

·      Clothing and textile industry = depleting  non- renewable sources, emitting huge quantities of greenhouse gases and using massive amounts of energy, chemicals and water.

·      Synthetic fibres favourited by fast fashion brands e.g.- polyester, nylon and acrylic, are a kind of plastic made from petroleum.

·      This means they could take up to a thousand years to biodegrade.

·      According to a study in 2011 a single synthetic garment can generate more then 1900 micro plastic fibres in one washing machine cycle.

·      From a social perspective fast fashion industry is harmful.

·      April 2016 Oxfam report- more then 60 million people work in the garment industry to fuel fast fashion: more than 15 million of those are based in Asia and more then 80% are women, often from young and poor rural backgrounds.

·      Asia supplies more then 90% of the garments imported to Australia.

o   To tackle this issue and become a conscious consumer there are many steps you can take.

·      Recycle or repurpose your old clothing

·      Choose quality over quantity—avoid cheap garments made from synthetic

·      fabrics Support ECA-accredited brands

·      Encourage your favourite non-ECA-accredited brands to get accreditation

·      Participate in clothes swap events, or exchange old clothing with friends and family.

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Patagonia not dissimilar to Oil companies

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Patagonia not dissimilar to Oil companies

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Oil companies including Exxon Mobile, BP, Chevron and SHELL are being sued by 21 US states over alleged Greenwashing.
The oil companies in their respective manner have one way or another advertised or promoted their GREEN efforts. These include investing in renewable energy or reducing or making less enviornmenally harmful products.
The cases accuse the companies of attempting to dampen their percieved effect on the eviiornment by overly stating their green practices - (in order to avoid exposure to backlash and any anti fossil fuel sentiment.)

This is greenwahing - Is Patagonia any different?
Patagonia is doing the same. It distracts a consumer from the negative envirnmental impact of its product by focusing their attentions on their green efforts including repair and a percieved anti consumerism sentiment.

In my opinion the Patagoina is gettting away with greenwashing. Thats if the actions of the oil companies is indeed greenwahing. Why? Because Patagonia is doing the exact same but is just getting away with it.
Unlike the oil companies - (a bit difficult considering the fact they litterally take black stuff from the gound & it is visible to us).
Wheres we know little of Patagonias true enviornmental impact as they have a lower profile than oil companies.

To add it is my opinion that oil companies shouldnt have to act in a fashion of changing to green companies. They are black companies and it is consumers that keep them that way.

A bit of a rhetorical piece but greenwashing is all perception anyways. It is just important to understand the thoery and how it is implemented.

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Kinsale town outlines a pan on how they plan to deal with the estimated 2% reduction per year in energy once the peak of oil and natural gas harvesting has been reached.
Their plan shows the seriousness of the residents and community leaders. Food production is a main aim of theirs, Ireland currently imports 90% of its food. Kinsale hopes to become completely self sufficient in food production. they outline steps to achieve this such as the planting of orchards, having multiple school gardens & and a reward system of restraunts that buy their food locally.
In improving transport , Kinsale will adopt a eco & person friendly transport system, with walk to school initiatives, biodiesel stations. horse and cart taxi as tourist attractions and the centre of the town will be pedestrianized.

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Takes 2700 litres of water to make 1 cotton t-shirt the same amount of water one person drinks in 2.5 years.

Almost 50,000 tones of dye discharged into global water systems from the textile industry annually.

Fashion and textile industry is the 2nd most polluting industry in the world responsible for 10% of global green house emissions every year.

100 billion items of clothing produced globally per year with 60% of these items ending up in a landfill within 12 months.

Less than 1% of material in used clothing is recycled into new clothing with new technology needed to address this problem.

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The effect on public health has been devastating. The mortality rate from diabetes in Chiapas increased 30 percent between 2013 and 2016, and the disease is now the second-leading cause of death in the state after heart disease, claiming more than 3,000 lives every year.The plant has permits to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day as part of a decades-old deal with the federal government that critics say is overly favorable to the plant’s owners. The plant is owned by Femsa, a food and beverage behemoth that owns the rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola throughout Mexico and much of the rest of Latin America. Femsa is one of Mexico’s most powerful companies; a former chief executive of Coca-Cola in Mexico, Vicente Fox, was the country’s president from 2000 to 2006.Nafta has been beneficial for Femsa, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investment.But in San Cristóbal, Nafta is widely viewed as an unwelcome interloper. On New Year’s Day in 1994, the day the trade pact went into effect, rebels from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation swept into San Cristóbal, declared war against the Mexican state and burned government buildings.Laura Mebert, a social scientist at Kettering University in Michigan who has studied the conflict, says Coca-Cola pays a disproportionately small amount for its water privileges — about 10 cents per 260 gallons.Among the issues facing the city is a lack of wastewater treatment, meaning that raw sewage flows directly into local waterways. Mr. Carmona, the biochemist, said San Cristóbal’s rivers were rife with E. coli and other infectious pathogens.Last year, in an apparent effort to appease the community, Femsa began talks with local residents to build a water treatment plant that would provide clean drinking water to 500 families in the area.But rather than easing tensions, the plan led to more protests by locals and forced the company to halt construction of the facility.In San Juan Chamula, bottled soda anchors religious ceremonies cherished by the city’s indigenous Tzotzil population.Inside the town’s whitewashed church, tourists step gingerly across carpets of fresh pine needles as copal incense and smoke from hundreds of candles fill the air.But the main draw here for tourists is to watch the faithful, who pray over bottles of Coke or Pepsi, and also over live chickens, some sacrificed on the spot.Many Tzotzil believe carbonated soda has the power to heal the sick. Mikaela Ruiz, 41, a local resident, recalls how soda helped cure her infant daughter, who was weak from vomiting and diarrhea. The ceremony was performed by her diabetic mother, a traditional healer who has performed the soda ceremonies for more than 40 years.But, for many in San Cristóbal, the ubiquity of cheap Coca-Cola — and the diabetes that stalks nearly every household — simply compounds their anger toward the soft drink company.Local health advocates say aggressive marketing campaigns by Coke and Pepsi that started in the 1960s helped embed sugary soft drinks into local religious practices, which blend Catholicism with Maya rituals. For decades, the companies produced billboards in local languages, often using models in traditional Tzotzil garb.Although Coke has since discontinued the ad campaigns, Mr. Martínez, the Femsa spokesman, described them as “a gesture of respect toward indigenous communities.”

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The effect on public health has been devastating. The mortality rate from diabetes in Chiapas increased 30 percent between 2013 and 2016, and the disease is now the second-leading cause of death in the state after heart disease, claiming more than 3,000 lives every year.The plant has permits to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day as part of a decades-old deal with the federal government that critics say is overly favorable to the plant’s owners. The plant is owned by Femsa, a food and beverage behemoth that owns the rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola throughout Mexico and much of the rest of Latin America. Femsa is one of Mexico’s most powerful companies; a former chief executive of Coca-Cola in Mexico, Vicente Fox, was the country’s president from 2000 to 2006.Nafta has been beneficial for Femsa, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investment.But in San Cristóbal, Nafta is widely viewed as an unwelcome interloper. On New Year’s Day in 1994, the day the trade pact went into effect, rebels from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation swept into San Cristóbal, declared war against the Mexican state and burned government buildings.Laura Mebert, a social scientist at Kettering University in Michigan who has studied the conflict, says Coca-Cola pays a disproportionately small amount for its water privileges — about 10 cents per 260 gallons.Among the issues facing the city is a lack of wastewater treatment, meaning that raw sewage flows directly into local waterways. Mr. Carmona, the biochemist, said San Cristóbal’s rivers were rife with E. coli and other infectious pathogens.Last year, in an apparent effort to appease the community, Femsa began talks with local residents to build a water treatment plant that would provide clean drinking water to 500 families in the area.But rather than easing tensions, the plan led to more protests by locals and forced the company to halt construction of the facility.In San Juan Chamula, bottled soda anchors religious ceremonies cherished by the city’s indigenous Tzotzil population.Inside the town’s whitewashed church, tourists step gingerly across carpets of fresh pine needles as copal incense and smoke from hundreds of candles fill the air.But the main draw here for tourists is to watch the faithful, who pray over bottles of Coke or Pepsi, and also over live chickens, some sacrificed on the spot.Many Tzotzil believe carbonated soda has the power to heal the sick. Mikaela Ruiz, 41, a local resident, recalls how soda helped cure her infant daughter, who was weak from vomiting and diarrhea. The ceremony was performed by her diabetic mother, a traditional healer who has performed the soda ceremonies for more than 40 years.But, for many in San Cristóbal, the ubiquity of cheap Coca-Cola — and the diabetes that stalks nearly every household — simply compounds their anger toward the soft drink company.Local health advocates say aggressive marketing campaigns by Coke and Pepsi that started in the 1960s helped embed sugary soft drinks into local religious practices, which blend Catholicism with Maya rituals. For decades, the companies produced billboards in local languages, often using models in traditional Tzotzil garb.Although Coke has since discontinued the ad campaigns, Mr. Martínez, the Femsa spokesman, described them as “a gesture of respect toward indigenous communities.”