Eco-Friendly

I had a lovely evening out with some friends tonight. We ended up at Barnes & Noble, which to me is like a non-edible candy shop, where we enjoyed rifling through the 50% off clearance bins.

In the non-book bin I found a small set of colored pencils. These aren't just any colored pencils. They are eco-friendly colored pencils. Now, I have absolutely no problem with the idea of being eco-friendly. I enjoy not polluting the river. If I have a choice between something that is toxic and something that is non-toxic, believe me, I will pick the non-toxic option. Maybe even when it comes to colored pencils! So, wondering how these colored pencils could be eco-friendly, I flipped over the package for more information.

"These pencils are made from handmade paper..."

Oh, that's nice.

"...from the Daphne bush,..."

Sounds so clean and eco-friendly!

"...a plant locally grown..."

Fantastic! That reminds me, I want to hit up our local farmer's market tomorrow for some locally grown produce.

"...in Nepal."

Oh, in Nep-- IN NEPAL?? How is that local? Yeah, I know Nepal is the capital of mountains and nature and goats and Eastern wisdom and everything, but is it not as blindingly obvious to the general population as it is to me that Nepal is on the other side of the world? And these colored pencils probably got here by airplane? And airplanes have OMG HUGE CARBON FOOTPRINTS?

It's all marketing, people. "Eco-friendly" is the new "low carb." Are there health benefits to eating less sugar? Yes. Five years ago, did people buy things just because they were labeled "low carb"? Yes. Environmentalists are so happy that eco-friendly has become the "in" thing to be, but it's just a fad. People are sheep who go where the wind takes them, and right now they are paying through the nose for some false peace of mind.

Oh, and so, apparently, is Congress. Great job, Congress. Way to pull us out of this recession!

And no, I didn't buy the colored pencils. That's just silly.