8 comments · Sep 04, 2020

words matter

A misty morning image of a mountain that is a previously undiscovered rainforest in Mozambique's Zambezia province. The word eco-friendly appears over the rainforest in quotes because the post is about the authors dislike of the term eco-friendly.

Until today, we've avoided using the term eco-friendly in our website copy or social media posts because it makes us uncomfortable.

When we hear eco-friendly, we imagine the absence of products. The absence of extraction, transportation, manufacturing, packaging and shipping.

To go "there": The planet is better off without us.

I KNOW, that's dark. I assure you we are not advocating for the end of humans, we just believe that words matter.

When we condition children to use language about products that make it sound like the product is giving the earth a hug, we turn off their natural instinct for critical thinking (the endless string of "but why?"), and that's a mistake.

For the sake of everyone involved (and that's literally everyone), we should be marching the opposite direction. Where does that come from? Who grows it? Who replants the trees? Where does it end up? What happens when it washes down the drain? How does it get here? What makes it blue?

Ask, learn, and let it inform authentic thinking about what is necessary, what is "beautiful", what is the best choice, what is sustainable, and what is eco-friendly.

In order to appear in the searches of people looking for:

Eco Friendly School Supplies

Eco Friendly Office Supplies

Eco Friendly Binders

Eco Friendly Pencils

Eco Friendly Folders

Eco Friendly Weekly Planners

Eco Friendly Markers

Eco Friendly Dry Erase

and

Eco Friendly Companies

We'll just say that we prefer to call them:

Sustainable School Supplies

Sustainable Office Supplies

Sustainable Binders

Sustainable Pencils

Sustainable Folders

Sustainable Weekly Planners

Sustainable Markers

Sustainable Dry Erase

and

Sustainable Companies

Zero-Waste School Supplies

Zero-Waste Office Supplies

Zero-Waste Binders

Zero-Waste Pencils

Zero-Waste Folders

Zero-Waste Weekly Planners

Zero-Waste Markers

Zero-Waste Dry Erase

and

Zero-Waste Companies

Because words matter.

*The image in the header is of a previously hidden mountain rainforest in Mozambique that was found with Google Earth.

Image (and discovery) by Dr. Julian Bayliss via

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/mount-lico-mozambique-discovery

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