Wednesday, November 28th 2007
Nintendo, Microsoft and Philips Fail to Show Any Environmental Credentials
The latest edition of Greenpeace's quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics published yesterday, revealed that Nintendo, Microsoft and Philips completely fail to show any environmental credentials when it comes to e-waste. The Guide ranks companies according to their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and takeback. Along with mobile phone and personal computer companies, the latest report adds the biggest makers of TVs and games consoles. Old TVs are a large part of e-waste and the games console market is one of the fastest growing in consumer electronics according to Greenpeace.
Source:
Greenpeace
Nintendo has the dubious honour of being the first company to score 0/10 in the guide. Microsoft did little better, scoring only 2.7. Philips is the lowest TV-maker scoring only 2.
43 Comments on Nintendo, Microsoft and Philips Fail to Show Any Environmental Credentials
Anyways, Greenpeace is more about politics than environment...
It's the selfish attitude that Exceededgoku and people like him posses that is going to cause horrible living conditions for everyone in the future... maybe Exceededgoku is impotent and cannot have kids, hence trying to enjoy his/her/ce life... but there are still going to be children born who have to suffer on his behalf.
When all those products become obsolete, I sure as hope that no one here dies of heavy metal poisoning or any other ill effects associated with e-waste.
You can go on believing that pollution does not concern you, but one day your ignorance will catch up...
Remember that the criticisms of the above companies are to do with how they REPORT, not their actual behaviour, or indeed, their CONSUMERS or their OEMs behaviour. After all, if GP is worried about landfill with old TV sets, it has very much to do with local regulation. In many European countries, old electrical items CANNOT be thrown out in standard garbage, but require disposal in appropriate recycling bin. As such, local rubbish and tipping law and collection procedures make a lot of GP's criticisms moot. Perhaps better to turn to the governments and local governments and cities rubbish and recycling collection policies.
Does MS actually MANUFACTURE anything? I think its all OEM outsourced. In which case, the GP research should go a little deeper to see who is manuf. the stuff, and what THEY say about it.
In the end, I'm a bit worried about OVER-SPIN on green issues, just like the Body Shop, "bio", and "fair trade" spins the crap out of their products, but in fact, they have just jumped on a commercial bandwagon of "selling eco" when if truth be told, it really isnt much different at all, except for how its marketed.
You hippies need to chillax a little bit. Nintendo is not going to kill our grandkids. You know, you shouldn't base your religion entirely on Algore's movie.
and yes F-22 you do also have a point about the natural forms of waste. Still we humans arn't really helping the situation at the moment are we.
One positive thing that Nintendo is doing that may not be considered green, but makes me as a parent a little happier... they are making my kids do more then sit on the couch when playing video games. :) The Wii at leasts makes them get up and move around. Actually, it is not just Nintendo... Dance, Dance, Revolution gave my kids one heck of a workout!! :D
@ EVERYONE who doesn't think global climate change is happening, take general Chemistry in college (both levels) and then tell me global warming isn't occurring (to say global warming isn't occurring is foolish). Next, for those of you who think nothing can be done, well all I can say to you is "ignorance is bliss".
By the way Al Gores little movie has so many political overtones its just stupid. So many of his so called "facts" were old and not even close to what is happening. Its a fountain and of misinformation of course what do you expect from a man who claimed to have "invented" the internet.
And who the heck is bringing that Al Gore into the discussion? The world has always cycled in temperature, but I do agree that cutting back on carbon emissions is a great idea; when was the last time someone happily sucked on a tail pipe with the engine running? And sure volcanic eruptions could cause a great deal of pollutants, but it still does not give anyone the excuse to pollute.
I do not understand the negativity towards manufactures steering towards sustainable products? Is it really that bad to able to play video games, but not have to deal with poisoning our own children?
Search "Fairchild San Jose" and "Love Canal"; this was the past and with continued ignorance, it will be our future.
So what is global warming? Until recently, global warming referred to Earth's climate changes due to a number of NATURAL processes (like volcanic eruptions and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations). The RECENT global warming is found to be due to increased levels of greenhouse gases by human activity. Greenhouse gases cause 'greenhouse effect', a process by which infrared radiation is absorbed and then emitted by atmospheric gases. That process leads to an increase in atmospheric temps.
So... What are some examples of greenhouse gases?
Here are just several:
CO2
CH4 (methane I think)
Water vapor
ozone
N2O (nitrous oxide)
Naturally occurring greenhouse (as I mentioned before) gases keep our planet warm enough to sustain life.
BUT...
An increasing trend in global temperature is mainly due to the elevated concentration of greenhouse gases, mainly, CO2 (carbon dioxide), which is emitted to atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, etc...) through industrial emissions, coal power plants, automotive emissions etc...
In many of these processes hydrocarbon fuel is broken down to energy and CO2 *A BYPRODUCT* REMEMBER: Hydrocarbons have a lot of covalent bonds, these bonds are broken, energy is released, which is what we use for various apps. Global warming is also caused by DEFORESTATION, which prevents the consumption of CO2 by plants for photosynthesis. In other words, although we (humans) are producing more CO2, we are also preventing removal of CO2 by plants. Initial warming causes melting of ice, glaciers, which leads to various natural calamities and increases the water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO TO CONTROL GLOBAL WARMING?
One way to control green gas emission is to use alternative fuel (like hydrogen). There is an international agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol made to combat global warming by restricting green gas emissions in many countries. I think only 160 countries have signed the agreement. THE SADDEST PART IS THAT USA IS NOT ONE AMONG THOSE COUNTRIES EVEN THOUGH US IS THE #1 PRODUCER OF GREEN HOUSE GASES IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
That's the smallest summary I can give, if you want to know more about this subject just PM man, I'll be glad to talk about it. Global warming is truly a BIG problem and not many people take it seriously.
ALSO, Al Gore wasn't trying to say ANYTHING NEW. That's the point of the documentary my friend. He was trying to spread the word so everyone could realize what's happening before it's too late. He didn't spread any lies, and he didn't exaggerate anything, it was an excellent documentary, and that plus many more reasons are why Al Gore won the noble peace prize.
Also, as far as Al Gore inventing the internet goes, take a look here at the truth.
www.governmentexecutive.com/dailyfed/0399/031299t1.htm
Again if you want to talk about this, let me know. I hope you've realized the truth and try to open your mind to what is going on with our planet as a whole.
BUYING A NINTENDO WII IS NOT GOING TO POISON OUR CHILDREN!!!
Holy shat people are retarded.
It's not about natural pollution giving us an excuse to pollute.... It's about all of these little Hitlers telling us that every damn thing we do is AWEFUL polluting because they're on a power trip.
Global Warming is ENTIRELY Political! You libs blow things WAAAAAAAAY out of proportion.
1) How long do you think electronics take to decompose?
2) What do you think happens when chemicals from capacitors leak, or when lead leaches into the soil or water?
Why not stick a leaked capacitor or suck on some PCB while you try to answer those questions F-22?
And you are right, some people are what you would call "retarded," and if ignorant people like you continue to vote against or halt policies that can provide a healthier environment for children, there will be more people with handicaps that you are referring to.
I do not think it is just Liberals who are concerned about the environment as well, it is simply foolish and ignorant to think so. The environment concerns everyone! Democrats, Republicans, Neo-Nazis, Hippies, Whites, Blacks, Fat people, Skinny people, and even you F-22 need to breath clean air, drink clean water, and eat uncontaminated foods. Again, the environment effects us all.
Beleive or not F-22, there is a world beyond your bubble, so do not let your ignorance keep you in...