Burt's Bees and Clorox

(image via nytimes.com)

Hello All,

For those who haven't heard, Burt's Bees, a company that produces a line of beeswax related health care products, was recently purchased by Clorox for 925 million smackers.

Folks seems pretty incensed about this, at least, judging from the forums on treehugger.

Not that anyone asked, but what do we think here at SFNYC?

We think: Great! Good for them both.

Here's the thing, I'm no fan of green-washing, but any movement in a green direction is just that: A movement in the right direction!

All things "green" or sustainable, environmentally mindful, impact-aware, are good for all of us. Even if it all turns out to be a sham, an empty promise, at least the company has signaled a change for the better. A signal that other companies will pick up on and act on.

Clorox buys Burt's Bees, Dow chemicals goes: "They did?! Who can we buy?"

Check out this crazy map, it shows which giant companies own which "organic" companies:


If large, formerly-polluting, animal-testing companies want to clean up their acts, great. We all win.

When you boil it all down, it's just people. Large company, small company, all run by people. There's no good or bad here.

Burt's bees being owned by Clorox doesn't make it a "bad" company now, not anymore than it was a "good" company before.

Here's the list of ingredients from a tin of Burt's Bees lip balm:
"beeswax, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, prunus amydalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, tocopheryl acetate, lanolin, symphytum officinale (comfrey) root extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil, tocopherol"

I don't see a lot of room on that list for chlorine bleach, or whatever. So why would the change of ownership mean anything if the ingredients list and the essential m.o. of the original company do not change?

It doesn't. And if it did, Clorox would alienate the Burt's Bees fan base and be sitting on a 925 million dollar nothing.

So Clorox is heading in a greener, more sustainable direction, and now they've got a vested interest in continuing that line of thinking. Sounds like a good thing to me.

It's all just people, people. If we treat each other with dignity and respect, we all succeed.

So Yay for growth! Yay for capitalism! Yay for the free market! Yay for more people being exposed to Burt's Bees lip balm (which is really great lip balm)!

Yay Clorox! Way to make a move. Yay Burt's Bees! Way to grow!


Love to all,

Jackson

Disagree? Please comment or write to: superforestnyc@gmail.com