A Darker Shade of Green

Recently, Alexander Goston posted on his blog, “ ‘Go Green’ for the Environment…and Their Pockets,” providing great insight on the issue of businesses reinforcing environmental policies to be more environmentally friendly. Steps and actions taken to better protect the environment is beneficial to society as a whole, but may come at the expense of consumers while corporations end up profiting. The example given in his blog looks at hotels encouraging guests to reuse towels as a way of saving water. As hotels “preach the importance of environmentally sustainable practices among consumers,” hotels are also widening their profit margins. Hotel guests are still paying the same prices for hotel rooms, and while they willingly take part in ways to conserve resources, they are essentially paying more for less. I agree with Alexander that socially responsible businesses  should be recommended for their actions, but it should not be achieved at the expense of consumers.