Businesses clean up their act

Big business, with its belching smokestacks, land-strippingmethods and "what, me worry?" attitude toward the Earth, was oncereputed to be the environment's biggest enemy.

Lately, however, corporation after corporation has embracedenvironmentalism with all the ardor of a glad-handing politician at aFourth of July church picnic.

Procter & Gamble uses recycled plastic for containers of Spic &Span. Kodak is recycling its disposable cameras. 3M is recycling itstoxic waste. Besides cleaning up their act, companies are cleaningup their image, touting themselves in earnest ads as ecologicallysensitive.

While part of the concern is calculated to win customers, it isalso sincere and deeply felt among some companies. Some of thedewy-eyed environmentalists of the '60s and early '70s have madetheir way into boardrooms as white-collar adults.

"Some see the environment as a great marketing opportunity, somesee it as a great business investment and some companies are trulyconcerned and are offering new products and services that really makea contribution to protection of the environment," said GordonDavidson, executive director of the Coalition for EnvironmentallyResponsible Economies, a Boston-based public interest group. "Notvery many people in business think the environment is an issue thatis going to go away."

Is the new push to be nicer to nature making a difference?

"It's too early to tell," said Sharon Newsome, vice presidentfor resources conservation for the National Wildlife Federation."Most of the efforts have started in earnest just a few years ago.The chemical companies, for example, have all come out withenvironmental pledges, but I think they haven't had enoughexperiences with those programs to know if they are going to meet thegoals they have set for themselves."

One reason for corporations' recent turnaround: the public'sgrowing intolerance of pollution and polluters as problems begin tomount - among them, global warming, the Exxon Valdez oil spill andhypodermic needles washing ashore on the East Coast.

Polls indicate most Americans rank pollution as a serious threatto their health and that of the environment and believe big businessshould be responsible for the cleanup.

Consumers also are making their feelings known where companiesare most apt to listen: in the supermarket. Recent polls showcustomers will pay more for recycled products.

Rather than face being stamped as polluters and sufferingdeclining sales, some companies are changing practices.Environmentalists point to DuPont as a good example. The company haspledged to reduce its pollution by 90 percent by the turn of thecentury.

Some efforts, however, have backfired as cynical ploys tocapture consumers. Mobil touted a new Hefty garbage bag asbiodegradable until environmentalists practically ridiculed it offthe shelves, saying the bags won't break down when buried inlandfills. And McDonald's incorrectly labeled some paper containersas made of recycled paper. Embarrassed McDonald's officials havevowed to remove the label.

There's another reason for the changing attitudes in boardrooms.Environmentalists have risen to power and can labor for changes fromwithin. Marilyn Laurie, AT&T's senior vice president for publicrelations, wrote brochures for the first Earth Day in 1970.

Laurie says environmentalism "became institutionalized. Whatbegan as a fringe movement is now a global concern, discussed asfreely in Congress, town halls and corporate board rooms as at aColorado folk festival."

Lower-level employees are also generating change, said Newsome. Members of the Corporate Conservation Council, a group of businessesand conservationists, say their employees are "more active andaggressive on how companies are doing business and its effect on theenvironment," she said.

Environmentalists themselves also have changed the tenor of thenature/big business debate. While some groups still tag big businessas the enemy, others are rewarding companies for environmentallyenlightened approaches, in hopes other firms will follow suit.

For instance, the Council on Economic Priorities, a nonprofitpublic interest group, last month presented "Corporate Conscience"awards to companies with good environmental records, including AT&Tand Kellogg's. AT&T plans to ban all ozone-depletingchlorofluorocarbons in its products. Kellogg's has been recyclingpaper since 1906.

Still, some environmentalists fear companies will revert to oldways when environmentalism wanes. They point to several corporationsjust barely following EPA regulations, if not violating them.

And big business fought to curtail the proposed U.S. Clean AirAct and has showen a less-than-overwhelming response to the ValdezPrinciples, a 10-point plan companies can follow to protect theenvironment. "Our attitude is that there is no permanent enemy and nopermanent friend," said Newsome.