Don’t Fall to Green Fatigue - Motley Fool
Don’t Fall to Green Fatigue By Matt Koppenheffer April 22, 2008Want to keep the planet and your portfolio green? The Fool shows you how in our special series on Earth-friendly investing.
It’s not easy being green, but there are still plenty of companies hoping to cash in on consumers’ growing interest in environmentally responsible lifestyles.
This can definitely be a good thing. Toyota (NYSE: TM) took the car market by storm with its iconic Prius hybrid, and carmakers like Ford (NYSE: F) have bowed to ensuing demand and beefed up their hybrid offerings. Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI) is using solar energy to generate part of the power for a handful of its stores. Heck, even Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) claims that it is able to save enough energy to power almost 150,000 homes per year simply by using skylights and light sensors in its stores.
But there’s a flip side to all of this. As green living gains momentum, more companies are seeing dollar signs, and more green products are coming to the market. I wouldn’t be surprised if another year or two finds us overwhelmed with marketers pushing green products on consumers from every direction, guilting us into spending more to save Mother Earth. We may risk ending up with mass “green fatigue,” never wanting to hear the word “green” again.
Shoppers are already growing skeptical. An article in the Las Vegas Review Journal noted that while more people are concerned about the environment, consumers are increasingly dubious about many products’ eco-friendly claims. The article specifically mentioned very mixed reactions to the new green line from Clorox (NYSE: CLX).
Read the entire article at Don’t Fall to Green Fatigue.
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