Everyone has a favorite brand. Be it a tennis shoe, makeup, or coffee brand, it doesn’t matter; life without it just wouldn’t be the same. So, what do you do when you’re not sure about just how green that company actually is? If you’re one of the growing number of people for whom this matters, then you need to do some research.
Yes, you can always Google it, sure. However, unless that company has had some major disaster, the results can be kinda murky.
One place to start is the company website. See what they’re claiming “officially” to be their green policy. Many corporate websites proudly put this info on display. Then you can compare this to the Google search results to see what overlaps.
Another reason a company might publicly proclaim what their eco status truly is, would be due to them having to tell their shareholders. If you specifically search for corporate finance info, that might give you a different perspective. For example, if you were looking into a mining company, their website might say they comply with all federal regulations; but their financial announcements to shareholders might talk about how the cost of that compliance, during a cleanup, was affecting their bottom line. Now you know there was an incident.
There are also watchdog groups out there that keep naughty-and-nice lists regarding corporate behavior. If you’re not sure how to go about doing these various types of searches, just check your local library. The librarians there have access to subscription databases, government documents, corporate histories, and can even help with choosing the right search terms. Sometimes it’s just a matter of know how to look that matters more than anything else.
As the saying goes, “seek and ye shall find.”
Practically-Green.com 