Sierra Club partners with Clorox

Clorox is no friend of Mama Earth. It’s what Auntie Ruth calls a full-out foe. The company has demonstrated such questionable anti-environmental behavior that it was named one of a “Dangerous Dozen” chemical companies by the Public Interest Research Group in 2004. The PIRG report claimed that the company’s handling of chemicals at U.S. production facilities left 14 million people susceptible to possible accidental contamination. So what does the Sierra Club do? The group partners with Clorox for a share of its profits. The environmental organization agreed to promote a new line of eco-friendly Clorox products, according to a recent Associated Press article. Five cleansers made from natural, biodegradable ingredients in recyclable bottles will bear the Sierra Club name and logo. Several of the club’s executive committee members recently resigned over the partnership. While this sponsorship may increase sales of “Green Works” products, unfortunately for Clorox, inner cleansing isn’t quite so simple.

On a more humanitarian sidenote, our Auntie Ruth just bought a pair of fantastic new shoes. These new Toms Shoes are lightweight, extremely comfortable and come in all sorts of lovely colors and designs. But these hand-sewn canvas slip-ons aren’t just some new kicks; for each pair purchased, the company sends a pair to a child in need overseas. By purchasing these shoes, Americans have already helped get shoes on the feet of at least 60,000 children since the program’s start in 2006.

In a region knee-deep in the green movement, a new player has stepped into the game. Enfinity, a Belgian renewable-energy company, opened an office in Sacramento on July 14, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. Enfinity was attracted to California’s incentives for solar-energy development and mandates for renewable energy, which call for investor-owned utilities to meet 20 percent of energy needs through renewables by 2010. Enfinity provides solar-panel and wind-energy projects to large businesses and residences, and has already financed 122 megawatts of solar-panel projects around the world, enough to power more than 30,000 homes. The company plans to expand its renewable-energy programs into 20 countries, including Canada, China and India.