ecomorons.org

The Ecomorons Greenwashing Award for January goes to the café at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

This is why: I asked for a coffee at the counter. The woman behind it wordlessly passed me a paper cup. And the paper cup had these words printed on it:

I repeat: For a sustainable future.

What a nice touch to write this on a disposable item. This is one of the most elegant greenwashing jobs Ecomorons.org has witnessed so far. Congrats, De Young Café!

There is more. While sipping my drink I noticed signs on all the tables. Under the headline “The capacity of our planet is not limitless” they stated:

We are very mindful of the impact we are making on our environment and our intention is to tread lightly on our planet. (…) In the café, we use china every day to serve you and we encourage you to use paper only when you are eating outside of the café.

I looked around and saw that all guests who had sat down indoors with drinks were using paper cups. Then I looked around even more and my eagle eyes detected a neat row of porcelain mugs on a shelf in the staff-only area behind one of the counters. I assume they keep them up there as decoration. Which is a wise decision, because that way they’ll never break.

(photos: Marshall Astor via Flickr, Backhouse Images)

Hahaha.
Love your great sense of humor, guys. Especially, since you demonstrate such a firm grasp of environmental and energy issues by leaving your door wide open on a winter day when the outdoor temperature is 55 Fahrenheit / 13 Celsius. Thank you so much for heating the mall at Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, CA. All the people who hid their heads under woolen scarves that day (see pic below) certainly appreciated your efforts.

Note to Store Manager: When we first saw what you do, we were really pissed off. Then we tried to find explanations. Because there just must be some kind of reason for this. We finally came to the conclusion that you have obviously been held hostage in a mountain cave in Uruguay for the last, say, twelve years. Hence you were cut off from all news sources that luckier people like us had readily available. We are sorry about that. And now please get a newspaper subscription. Connect to the Internet. And shut that fucking door.

(photos: Backhouse Images)