I have noticed recently, that a number of companies are jumping on the big green environmental machine. While i believe that the more companies who understand thier environmental impact can only have a positive effect, many seem to be Green washing and just trying to use natural materials in thier products in the hope that the public will see this as a good thing, rather than investigating the full impact.

 An examples of this is the use of bamboo. The growing of bamboo is environmentally friendly but the manufacturing of bamboo into fabric raises environmental and health concerns because of the strong chemical solvents used to cook the bamboo plant into a viscose solution that is then reconstructed into cellulose fiber for weaving into yarn for fabric. Then there is also the transport issue as the plant is usually grown in China & India. Bamboo could also be considered unsustainable because more farmers are cutting down naturally bio-diverse forests to grow bamboo to get a piece of the action.

I get frustrated when there are well known outdoor brands out there pushing Bamboo as a substainable fabric, with one quoting in a recent advert "by choosing a product made from bamboo you are helping to reduce your environmental impact" - Really??!!

What are other people's views on this?

There's an awful lot of green wash going on at the moment; some of it simply due to people not having the understanding of all the steps involved between raw materials and your cupboard.

I still think that the Klattermusen homepage is one of the most refreshing:

That should apply to all our outdoors gear spending, but I am as guilty as the next consumer in being tempted to buy stuff that I didn't really need.

NEED!???

slap that man immediately!