What is Mazda thinking? Dr. Suess’ The Lorax was created to introduce children to the environmental issues of the early 1970′s. The Disneyfied version from the soon-be-released film now hawks the Mazda CX-5, a compact SUV worthy of a Certified Truffula Tree Seal of Approval, mostly, we are told, (about “one billion times”) because of Mazda SkyActiv Technology.

There’s information on Mazda’s website about SkyActiv technology, with a slick intro film describing it as “innovating the emotion of motion.”

Whatever SkyActiv technology really is, it seems particularly cynical to usurp the message of the Lorax to an unsuspecting and uncritical audience made numb by a barrage of meaningless messages designed as pure greenwash. For the Lorax to grumpily (but lovably) endorse the CX-5 with the “Certified Truffula Tree Seal of Approval” is a reason to buy a Toyota Prius and feel sad for Dr. Suess.

Mazda and Universal Pictures, you oughta be ashamed of yourselves.

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Look around you. Everything you see right now is biodegradable. From the flat panel large screen TV to the plastic fork in you fast food bag. It’s the perfect term for the greenwasher because “biodegradable” only means that a material will break down “over a period of time.” It could take a year, ten years, or ten thousand years. It’s all biodegradable.

On the other hand, “compostable” actually means something. To use that term a product or material must adhere to specific scientific criteria. Essentially, a material must break down into measurably tiny and environmentally benign parts within a specifically limited time frame. The following video from VivBizClub spells out the difference between biodegradable and compostable. Don’t be greenwashed!

Related articles

• 5 Things You Might Not Know About Composting (casasugar.com)
• Bioplastics Debate: Could They Harm The Environment? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Compostable vs. Biodegradable (vivbizclub.com)