GayWashing

So yesterday we went to LA Pride in West Hollywood . . . walked around, and naturally my eyes gravitated to a bunch of tents that were pitching “green products.”

  I was dubious.  I avoid Earth Day events like Styrofoam—I made the mistake of going to the Earth Day fair at USC this past April, full of vendors giving out plastic tchotskies—but I think the worse offender was a bottled water vendor that bragged about how green their product was—even after shipping from New Zealand.

I approached the tents apprehensively.  Let’s see, who was there . . . okay . . . Method, which makes cleaning products from plant-based surfactants.  I’ve bought their products before, they work, they’re not harsh.  I’m not happy about some of the work outsourced in Mexico, but no one’s perfect.  I read the ingredients and I was convinced.

Water bottles with a removable filter.  They demo was fun, despite the dancing 18 year old who seemed more consumed with shaking his hiney instead of pitching the product.  For $15, you get a water bottle with a filter, it lasts a long time, and they were drinking the finished product that looked originally like motor oil.  I guess it works.  It’s great for travelling.  I wish this was a product that would catch on, however . . .

Another booth featured large sacks for your dry cleaning . . . instead of those nasty plastic bags that are wasteful (and not really good for your clothes), you put your dirty laundry in the bag and then your clean laundered clothes are returned.  Well, great idea—though I’m dubious my dry cleaners would get the concept, and I don’t know how many consumers would be willing to spend $30 bucks on this.  Perhaps dry cleaning shops could be convinced to give them to their customers, ensuring loyalty and saving them the cost of plastic bags at the same time.

Next, a German cosmetics company.  No parabens, not tested on animals, made in Germany, shipped to the USA . . . I get it . . . although I can’t help snickering when companies boast they don’t test on animals, because . . . well, they didn’t have to since someone else did that nasty research already.

An empty booth pitching solar and another with a hybrid motor bike.  Nice thoughts . . . I’m just not sure they were preaching to the right crowd.

I will tell you what bothered me, though.  Any festival I attend, I always see the large cardboard bins where all trash ends up—most of it empty water bottles.  This event was no different—I saw “recycling” on the boxes, but hmm . . . I really doubt someone is filtering through the garbage separating it . . . and forget about taking in your own reusable water bottle—apparently the security guards were confiscating them.

So over all, the “green” effect on Pride would deserve a grade of oh, a C+.  Most of the “green” products were nice but not really scalable--“feel good” would be a more accurate description.  And why not have more recycling containers?