WATCHING THE COLBERT REPORT WEDNESDAY EVENING, I got a chuckle—like a maddening ride-it-out charley horse (it hurts-it’s funny-it hurts-it’s funny)—witnessing Stephen Colbert’s “ThreatDown” faux putdown of environmentalists “attacking” manufacturers of triple-ply and extra-soft toilet tissue. It was both ludicrous and enlightening, with both Greenpeace and Seventh Generation 100% Recycled Bathroom Tissue (see image to left) on the receiving end of Colbert’s mock ire (Richard Dawkins, promoting his new book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, was the evening’s guest, so you can imagine how he fared!).

Okay, I thought, here’s wiseacre Colbert poking fun at the banality of eco-friendly TP, which is at one end of the eco scale, let’s call it “eco geek,” where people are making informed everyday (small) decisions and changes that don’t hog the look how green I am! spotlight; actually you wouldn’t even be aware these decisions and changes were being made unless perusing their shopping lists or standing behind them in the checkout line. What an antipodal contrast to the more A-list-marketed world of next-gen hybrids, platinum LEED certification and designer bamboo blouses—what I’d like to call “eco chic,” definitely the other end of the eco scale. Both good for the world? Yes. Both needing a mainstream beyond-the-converted push? Again, yes, but with the often below-the-radar eco-geek products and services much more so. Read More »