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The iPhone Takes A Greenpeace Beating

greenoptions.com — September of 2006 saw Greenpeace launch the "Green My Apple" website. Rather than asking for green iPods, they were asking for "green" iPods. The question they asked was this: why do Macs, iPods, iBooks and the rest of their product range contain hazardous substances that other companies have agreed to abandon?

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  • BigBlueCarbon, on 11/07/2007, -13/+2we love it! when liberals clash.
    Big Corn vs Big Ipod
  • i4mt3hwin, on 10/19/2007, -14/+19There's over 1,000X the amount of lead in your average car battery as there is in an iPhone, or any electronic gear made with lead solder. Yet even people who handle thousands of these batteries a day aren't coming down with lead poisoning. Doesn't that tell you something?
    • skidme, on 10/18/2007, -2/+10That they're smart enough not to suck on these batteries?
    • KLowD9x, on 10/19/2007, -0/+2Yeah, automotive batteries are covered in plastic.

      I, personally, like the feel of used engine oil on my skin than the taste of battery lead.
    • mikito238, on 10/19/2007, -0/+2don't make outrageous claims without stating sources...
    • cliffski, on 10/19/2007, -0/+1do you stick car batteries in your ears?
  • skidme, on 10/19/2007, -12/+5Isn't Al Gore on the board of directors? If I were him I would just be so angry that I could just...fall asleep!
  • Serak, on 10/19/2007, -14/+18Does anyone much care? Greenpeace has long gone the way of PETA: 95% Headline-Grabbing / Attention Whoring and 5% actually doing the stuff they preach to everyone else (although with less of PETAs *****-insanity), and stuff like this is just case-in-point.

    This hasn't the first thing to do with protecting the environment, and is entirely about attempting to associate Greenpeace with the latest 'hot topic' - the iPhone - to make them relevant again. Actually, I'm not a little surprised they haven't started claiming that the Wii destroys the environment too.
    • MajorJJH, on 10/19/2007, -6/+6The difference is that Wii owners aren't likely to turf their iPhone out in to the rubbish anytime soon. The ratio of iPhones to Wii's is significantly different as well. No, Greenpeace aren't whoring for attention, but maybe yes they are picking on a product that is high publicity, so that other manufacturers will also fall in line! Just my two cents worth...
      • MonkeyFarts, on 10/19/2007, -2/+1Actually, Greenpeace has a bit of a history of going after Apple when there are several other not-so-green companies out there. So yes, they're just going after the high-profile companies for attention.
        • nick111, on 10/19/2007, -2/+3Greenpeace go after a lot of different companies.

          Giving them a load of attention for going after Apple, then accusing them of attention-whoring is a bit duplicitous really.

          They're working to protect the environment - and you're a benefactor.

          How about actually getting off your arse and doing something - rather than sitting around criticising other people who do?
    • gfair, on 10/19/2007, -3/+2You're right Serak. I'm on the Greenpeace mailing list, and the majority of their action alerts are about nuclear power or weapons, or baby seals getting clubbed. They fell so behind in the world of social issues and now realize that other agencies and organizations have taken their place. They are too arrogant to become a "me too" agency, so they dig up anything that's new and juicy. They're as much affected by consumerism as we are - the high priority stuff gets the most head turns, but it's pollution from Asia and India, especially China and India, that the whole world needs to be focussing on, because their economic growth is going to result in amounts of pollution many times that of the US in the years to come. But there's Greenpeace harping about tiny amounts of plastic on iPhones, most of which gets vented into the atmosphere and dissipates into parts per billion, or trillion. Totally out of touch with the real problems the world faces.
  • dojonz, on 10/19/2007, -9/+3Greenpeace needs to STFU about some stuff, geez - can't they put money to more pressing matters?
    • Drood, on 10/19/2007, -3/+3These people need to go and get real jobs. Of all the ills and pollutions in the world, and they're going after Apple. Of ALL the corporate polluters, they go after Apple... Clearly someone knows they're not getting an iPod for Christmas, and wants to make sure nobody else does either.
      • MajorJJH, on 10/19/2007, -2/+2Yes... across all of the Greenpeace offices in all the world, their one and only concern is the iPod... how every insightful of you... *shakes head*
  • wwnexc, on 10/18/2007, -7/+2Site Down.
  • sdlvx, on 10/19/2007, -4/+25I think you guys are missing the point that these products are going to the landfill and these chemicals are leaking into the water table and all sorts of things like that.

    With car batteries and such, sure, there's lead. BUT, there's a key difference between a car battery and an Apple product, and it's that car batteries do not go to the landfill, and they don't end up in the water supply or the environment. They are taken and recycled. At least, that's how it's supposed to go.

    Now, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why we should care if we're destroying the lives of some third world country around the world, and I'll tell you that you should. Right now, the world hates us, and running around killing people who aren't as fortunate as us in the developed world isn't going to net us any points with the rest of the world.

    So, why don't you guys lighten up and open your minds up a little bit. I really don't think we need to be introducing lead into the environment where young asian kids play just because we want to have some cool hip device.
    • TremorX, on 10/19/2007, -3/+1Naw man, it's cool! It only goes into the parts of the environment where WHITE kids play!
    • acomj, on 10/19/2007, -2/+1as a former designer of landfills, I can say modern landfills are the worlds largest plastic bags. Some states require double liners and treat all trash as hazardous (NY). with clay /bentonite base matterial there should be very little leaching.
    • Drood, on 10/19/2007, -3/+1My mind is perfectly open to the consequences of pollution. There's already stuff IN our water that's bad for us. (Fluoride is increasingly being shown to cause more health issues than it solves, including increased cancer rates, fluorisis etc... Hydroflurosilicic acid is right up there with them using mercury in the 19th century to cure constipation) Not to mention the endless vaccinations of our children etc... Believe me, worrying about lead getting into the water table is the least of our concerns. It just sounds good. "I care" without really having any sense of perspective of how ***** things already are. Don't worry about the kids. With what's already being pumped into our kids, there won't be any healthy ones left anyway. Plus there's probably lead already in the water anyway, due to the lead pipes that used to be routinely used until a few decades ago. Unless the lead just, you know, upped and disappeared.
  • drlha, on 10/19/2007, -11/+9Greenpeace are just attacking the highest profile thing to get the most publicity.
  • Adalric, on 10/19/2007, -5/+17"In fact, Dell has turned a literal 360..."

    Geometry isn't in the job description for Tree Hugger apparently.
    • gkskillz, on 10/18/2007, -0/+0And when the literally turned 360, did all the employees get up and turn around? Or did they somehow manage to rotate all the buildings all the way around?
    • Firehed, on 10/18/2007, -1/+3Sure it is. A 360 brings absolutely no change, and possibly a slight headache. That seems to often be the case with Dells, although it more applies to Greenpeace.
  • Zal91, on 10/18/2007, -1/+6Captain Planet was a bitch anyway.
    • H0tKarl, on 10/18/2007, -0/+1I hated that ***** cartoon. When I was a kid, I swear it was on every time I turned on the tv.
  • srettaw, on 10/19/2007, -3/+16from apple's website:
    "Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and arsenic in its products by the end of 2008."
    "Apple’s free recycling program will take back your iPod or any cell phone — regardless of manufacturer or model."
    article is misleading at best, inaccurate at worst.
  • EntropyFan, on 10/19/2007, -4/+4I have 2 problems with this:
    1- I can't trust Apple. For all the BS and 'reality distortion' of the faithful, Apple is a company that is there to make profit, and would willingly put arsenic into the water supply in order to make margins, then spin a PR-fest to try and tell us why that was a good thing.
    2- I can't trust Greenpeace, as they are some of the nuttiest people on the planet, pushing an undo-able agenda down peoples throats and willing to nail to the cross someone who saved a billion acres of forest but didn't speak out loudly enough against the Hum-Vee

    I don't really know yet what to think of this
  • bingobongony, on 10/19/2007, -2/+2People don't even like green apples as much as regular ones.
  • mrboratsagdiev, on 10/19/2007, -1/+2One wonders if Greenpeace actually uses computers at all. Or if their suppliers do. Or their designers.

    In other words, Greenpeace should shut the hell up and stop attention-whoring.
    • Drood, on 10/18/2007, -2/+2I find it endlessly ironic that they have a website. Hypocrites. Think of the pollution they cause from running it. Not to mention the pollution caused from the power usage of all those computers VISITING their website.
      • cliffski, on 10/19/2007, -0/+1i guess they should give up and you can go back to when we painted buildings with lead paint and lined the walls with asbestos?

        without people like GP that kind of ***** would still be going on.
  • redears, on 10/20/2007, -2/+2Article is FUD. Apple has already addressed these concerns. BFRs will be removed by the end of next year. They offer free recycling for iPods at least and maybe for everything. Check it out for yourself. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/agreenerapple/
  • jonasf, on 10/18/2007, -0/+1http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/10/16/greenpeace ...
  • toetagger, on 10/19/2007, -5/+3***** Green Peace... let them go save an iWhale.
  • henhanson, on 10/19/2007, -2/+1But a group of research says Apple isn't ridding its products of nasty chemicals fast enough.
    Is Greenpeace Off the Mark on Apple?
  • choy, on 10/19/2007, -3/+1I understand electronics have chemicals that are considered hazardous, thats why the EU has the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROHS
    Apple complies with this, and is no worse than any other computer or electronics company.

    What I don't like is how GreenPeace single out apple - purely because it probably has the highest profile. If they want to highlight the issue, how about targeting the other 95% of computer users, or Dell for that matter? I have no proof but it wouldn't surprise me if Dell was worse.
  • effective, on 10/19/2007, -0/+2Finally some one understands Greenpeace campaign. Thank you for this very useful article. Great Journalism!
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