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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From a reader tip:

Most major retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, have electronics recycling programs for consumers to safely dispose of their electronics gadgets and appliances. Home Depot ostensibly offers one as well, but you might not know that if you talked with a Home Depot customer service representative.

A reader tip from John tells the following story:

John wanted to recycle an old microwave so he called Home Depot’s customer service department to get recycling information. John contacted one and then a second representative, neither one, John reports, had any idea of what to tell him.

John finally got an answer from Micaiah Holley from Home Depot’s Customer Support Center, informing John about their partnership with 1-800-Cleanup, a recycling hotline offered by Earth911. The problem is two out of three customer reps at Home Depot knew anything about it. At least that is John’s experience.

It may not rise to the level of full-blown greenwash, but how well a company, or any organization, disseminates information about its sustainability and environmental stewardship programs is a true reflection of how important those values are to that organization.

Image credit: The Lazy Environmentalist (image is not that of our tipper. Thanks John for the tip!)