Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Day 162 of our Green Year: Boycotting Retailers

Yesterday, Layla and I went about boycotting various food companies and today we are moving on to the boycotts of retailers who have less than stellar records with the environment. Once again, we use the same website we used yesterday for our list. We focus on North American companies that are actually available to us and companies that actually have a play in our lives (hence no Mattel, since we don't buy toys)
  • Colgate-Palmolive: Dropping hazardous waste in New Jersey means we won't be using this company for anything in our lives. We use natural toothpastes anyways.
  • J. Crew: This company has been fined $1.4 million for discharging ten million tons of waste in the past two years.
  • Home Depot: This mega-company carries virtually no non-toxic, poison-free lawn and garden products in their stores. For all our home hardware needs, including making things for Our Green Year, we won't be going to Home Depot.
  • Disney: Disney plans to release disposable rental DVDs that stop working after 48 hours, which is a huge waste added to landfills. No more Disney purchases for us, including Disney DVDs.
  • L.L. Bean: This company has sold clothing with carcinogenic synthetic pesticides in them. It repels pests and gets into your body.
  • Canon USA: Canon comes into play on this list because they send small customer chips (Smaller than a dime) in a huge box of packaging. No more Canon for us, including for our company.
  • K-Mart: This company has sold outdoor furniture made from Endangered hardwood, so no more K-Mart or Sears for us.
  • Lowe's: This company does not use non-toxic or poison-free lawn and garden products.
  • Clorox: The former factory of Clorox in Oakland is heavily contaminated with mercury.
  • Costco: This company constructed one stop on top of wetlands that used to filter storm water, and provide a transportation corridor for 100 species of animals. Who needs a bag of 200 disposable razors anyways?
  • Wal-Mart: The biggest company in the world has done some environmentally important initiatives, but still fails in regards to inefficient shipping. We are not fans of Wal-Mart anyways and do not shop there.
Thank you again to Kelly for providing us with a list of 100 companies to boycott. Do you have a company we forgot? Let us know. E-mail us at crwbaird@gmail.com. We want to hear from you!