Greenwashing: St. Ives lotion with natural moisturizers

About two years ago, St. Ives introduced a new line of moisturizers made with "100% natural moisturizers". The website description for the Naturally Soothing oatmeal and shea butter lotion says "Non-irritating • With 100% natural moisturizers • Formulated without parabens and phthalates • Dermatologist-Tested • No Animal-Derived Ingredients • Made with natural ingredients". It lists the key ingredients as Oatmeal, Shea butter, and 100% natural moisturizers. (Link). Although it has a link that says "see all of this product's ingredients", when you click it, it shows a picture of the back of the label with the list of ingredients suspiciously absent.

The idea is to lead people to the assumption that the lotion is entirely natural, without actually claiming that it's entirely natural. Being someone who is interested in natural products, I bought some. I made the mistake of not looking at the list of ingredients until after I got home.

If you turn the bottle around and look at the ingredients, it becomes immediately obvious that these lotions are far from "100% natural".
Here are the ingredients for St. Ives 24 hour moisture lotion (copied from the back of the bottle I have on my desk, which was purchased just before they began marketing their "natural" lotions) compared with St. Ives Naturally Soothing oatmeal and shea butter lotion, with identical ingredients highlighted in red (Since St. Ives won't list them on their website, I had to find a list of ingredients on the website Paula's Choice):

St. Ives Naturally Soothing oatmeal and shea butter lotion
Water, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Stearic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol, Mineral Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Urea, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Avena Sativa (Oat) Meal Extract, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Dicetyl Phosphate, Carbomer, Cyclohexasiloxane, Cetearyl Glucoside, Disodium EDTA, Ethylhexylglycerin, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Yellow 10, Red 40, Blue 1


St. Ives 24 hour moisture
Water, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Stearic Acid, urea, Dicetyl Phosphate, Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Cetearyl Glucoside, Triethanolamine, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Gelatin/Keratin Amino Acids/Lysine Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate,Helianthus Annuus, Chamomilla Recutita, Sambucus Nigra, Primula Veris, Butyrospermum Parkii, Propylene Glycol, Sorbitol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Petrolatum, Olive Oil PEG-7 Esters, Sodium PCA, Disodium EDTA, Methylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Carbomer, Fragrance/Parfum


As you can see, the ingredients of the "100% natural" moisturizers are nearly identical to St. Ives' non-natural moisturizers. However, they are telling the truth when they say "100% natural moisturizers", as the main moisturizing ingredient is Shea Butter, and that is a natural ingredient.

Why I will never own a car

Let's put aside all of the obvious reasons, like they cause pollution, both in operation and manufacture; the fact that people work 2 hours a day just to pay for their car; the fact that driving causes an increased risk of heart attacks; peak oil; the cost of the car, insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs, etc; and the fact that when you sell it after let's say 10 years, you'll get approximately one third of what it's worth.
I will never own a car - not an electric car, not one run on biodiesel, nor one run on ethanol. Even if it were possible to create a car that had no environmental impact in the manufacturing process or in operation, I still wouldn't own one.

Image from How To Live Well Without Owning A Car

 by Chris Balish

The reason for that is because the more cars are on the road, the more highways they need to build (or expand). The more highways they have to build, the more land they have to clear. The more land they clear, the more animal habitat they destroy.
The more land is paved, the less water can get back into the water table. It flows off the land and into the sea where it becomes salinated. Ever expanding highways also lead to urban sprawl, which also destroys animal habitat, and causes people to live so far away from work and amenities that they need to drive everywhere.
Car culture is not sustainable. We need to find a better way.

So-called "Ethical oil"

Licia Corbella of the Edmonton Journal writes about Ethical Oil in her article titled "The true alternative to our oil isn't pretty".
Like the concept of clean coal, there is no such thing as Ethical Oil. We're completely aware of the damage it does when it's spilled into the environment. We're aware of the damage emissions do to the atmosphere when it's burned in vehicles. We're aware of the damage emissions do to human health. Knowing what we know about the damage that the use of oil does, how can you call it ethical to keep using it?

From her article:

The ads juxtapose grim visuals of the outcome of conflict oil next to cheery photos from Canada's ethical oil.

One ad shows two men with nooses around their necks as they prepare to be hanged for the "crime" of being homosexuals in some Middle Eastern country with the word "persecution" running across the photo on a red banner. Next to it, the arms of two men holding hands with rainbow bracelets and the word "pride" running across the image on a green background.

So, because Canada is more accepting of homosexuals, we should use Canadian oil? That's a ridiculous and completely illogical assertion.

Another shows a distraught woman in a hijab buried up to her waist with a message that reads, "Conflict oil countries: Women stoned to death," contrasted next to a smiling photo of Melissa Blake, mayor of Wood Buffalo, Canada's geographically largest municipality, with the words: "Canada's oilsands: Woman elected mayor."

So, if we stop using oil from the Middle East, they'll stop stoning their women to death? Unless you're trying to say that unless we use Canadian oil, more women will be stoned to death in the Middle East, this is another completely illogical assertion. Whether we use Canadian oil or Saudi oil, women will still be stoned to death in the Middle East. Where the oil we use comes from has absolutely zero impact on that. These ads are nothing more than an appeal to emotions.

"When they're thinking about the oilsands, they shouldn't be comparing the oilsands against some magical, plentiful, renewable, clean fuel that doesn't exist because at the end of the day when you fill up your gas tank, you're filling it up with an oil product," Velshi says.

So we should keep using oil because that's what we use? Sorry, that's another illogical assertion.
We need to fund alternatives so we can stop using oil.

"When you look at it from that perspective, it's either ethical oil from Canada and its oilsands and other liberal democracies like the U.S. and Great Britain, or conflict oil from politically oppressive, environmentally reckless countries."

So our choices are oil or oil? There are other options out there, but it doesn't surprise me that you're so myopic you can't see them, considering you're (Alykhan Velshi) the one behind the absurd ads that helped the Conservatives win a majority.

Put another way, if you're a woman looking for a mate, it's not very useful to compare every guy you meet to Superman, because Superman doesn't exist. It would be nice if he did, but you'll never get anywhere relationship-wise if you keep waiting around for that perfect, fictional character to fly into your life and sweep you off your feet.

Do you seriously believe that alternatives don't exist?

Indeed, the oilsands employs a lot more than aboriginals and is expected to increase employment almost exponentially over the years.

Creating jobs is a good thing, and we all know Canada could use more jobs. But do you know what will create even more jobs? Creating infrastructure for solar or wind power. Electric cars have a sufficient range for 90% of the population. The only thing keeping people from using them is scare tactics from oil corporations.

And while the oilsands produce only about five per cent of Canada's total greenhouse gases - or 0.1 per cent of the world's GHG emissions...

That's a nice little statistic that trivializes the impact the oil sands project has on local wildlife and local water sources.

The Alberta oil sands project will produce a maximum of 3 million barrels per day, but not until 2018. Canada consumes 2,151,000 barrels of oil per day, (Nationmaster.com) so the oil from the oil sands project would be enough oil for Canada's needs. The only problem with that is that most of the oil from the oil sands is being pipelined to the US, which uses 18,690,000 barrels of oil per day. (Approximately 6,000,000 barrels per day are produced domestically). The maximum amount of oil produced from the oil sands wouldn't even make a dent in America's oil use. They would still need to import 9,000,000 barrels of oil a day from the Middle East. So much for Ethical Oil.

Toxic chemicals freed in the Canadian Arctic: Study

Just weeks before Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s annual trip to the Arctic, researchers have released a study stating climate change in Canada’s North has unleashed toxic chemicals once frozen in the ice.

A team of scientists, including two Canadian researchers from Environment Canada, published the report Sunday in the scientific journal, Nature Climate Change.


http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/25/toxic-chemicals-freed-in-the-canadian-arctic-study

Coolest summers of 21st century could be hotter than hottest summers of 20th century

Here in Southern Ontario, we've been having a heat wave (as has been most of North America). Yesterday it was 48°C (118°F). It's been in the 40s for the last couple of days. It's starting to cool off a little bit today, but it's still 37°C (98°F).
It got me thinking about an article I read a while ago: Coolest Summers By Mid-Century Could Be Hotter Than Hottest Of 20th Century. I have asthma, so when the temperatures get up into the high 30s with lots of humidity, I feel like I can't breathe, and like I'm going to pass out. I can't imagine having to endure 48° temperatures without air conditioning. It's the only thing that has made this heat bearable. I'm sure I would have either ended up in the hospital or dead if it weren't for air conditioning.
If summers like this become the norm, and a heat wave is when the temperatures get up into the mid 50s, I don't think I'd be able to survive it.

The end of the world on December 21st 2012

I don't believe anything significant will happen on December 21st 2012, but I'm starting to hope something will because I'm getting sick and tired of the way things are run in this world. I'm getting sick and tired of governments screwing over poorer people so they can give more money to rich people. I'm sick of political leaders making laws based on their religious beliefs. I'm sick of being at the mercy of employers for the money I need to have in order to have a place to live and food to eat. I'm sick and tired of money - period. Especially never having enough of it. I'm sick and tired of loans and credit cards. I'm sick and tired of banks and corporations wanting to take what little money I do have away from me.
I'm sick and tired of all of it, and I hope this fucked up system crumbles to pieces around the people in power.

President Donald Trump Would Keep Gas Prices Low by Stealing Iraq's Oil

So, Donald Trump's plan is for the US to "reimburse" itself for going to war in Iraq by taking Iraq's oil. Reimbursed for what, exactly? It's not like Iraq owes the US anything. They didn't ask the US to come over and bomb their houses and schools. That's kind of like painting your neighbour's house when they didn't ask you to, and then telling them they owe you $500 for the paint.

Secondly, this will not bring down the prices of gas. I believe that the prices of gas will never go back down. According to Fatih Birol, Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency, peak oil could hit as early as 2014. Taking another country's oil isn't going to stop peak oil.
What we really should be doing is beginning to use some of the alternatives to oil that scientists have come up with, instead of pretending that the oil we have left will last longer than it actually will.