Green Satire & Greenwash

I stumbled across this site via the feedback page of Greenfoot. The site is called “COyou2 – saving the planet, one breath at a time”. In my humble opinion, it has to be a very big piss take, and there is no such product! Here is a sample of the marketing blurb;

“The COyou2 patented technology works by filtering the air you breathe out, capturing the carbon in a convenient lightweight backpack.

As you breathe out into the tube, the carbon dioxide passes through a solution of ammonium nitrate and the reaction allows the carbon to be isolated. The carbon is then stored in exchangeable inner bags that can then be sequestered in any nearby location including your own backyard.”

It is very clever satire, and although I did not sign up for the supposed catalogue because I am wary of this kind of rubbish, it is obviously meant to suck people in. It must be used to either gain their email address for some ulterior motive (spam, direct marketing of some other product), or some time down the track, your name will appear on a list of very stupid people.

What clinched it for me was the little ad on the FAQs page for COyou2 Petz. What a crack up! I did a google search, and only found similar posts, similar to that one I found on Greenfoot. All targeted sites were sustainable living or green blogs and companies, via their comment pages.

I reckon the Romans had it right with the phrase, “Caveat emptor!” or in English, “Let the buyer beware!”

So, avoid greenwash where you can, but sometimes it is just not that obvious unless you dig a little deeper.

Gav