November 29, 2007 -
While a Greenpeace report zinging Nintendo's manufacturing processes made headlines this week, Ars Technica calls the environmental watchdog's research into question:Is this scorecard something that should be taken seriously? The answer is mixed...
The research in general appears lazy. Nintendo's failing grade appears to be based entirely on this entry in the corporate FAQ, which briefly summarizes some of the steps the company has taken to protect the environment.
Anything that's not covered there is simply rated "No Information." ...Clearly, Greenpeace did not perform an exhaustive evaluation of chemical use through the manufacturing pipeline.
This lack of research undercuts the report's credibility when it comes to chemical use during manufacturing...
Ironically, a Yahoo! feature on Gifts for Growing Up Green recommends the Wii with the following notation:
Why it's green:
The Wii is up to 10 times more efficient than the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3. The downside is that the Wii is designed to be constantly plugged-in and online, using power while you're not playing.
More on Nintendo and the environment at Ecogeek.
Comments
Wow, so it was more a "how green is your PR" rather than "how green is your product"?
Sad.
Clearly Greenpeace doesn't understand the concept of 'insufficient information'. This isn't a standardized test. You don't NEED to answer, you're marked on what you DO answer.
This is why I hate...well, just about everybody, at this point. Everybody who's part of a special interest group of some sort and gets uppity at people who don't follow their party line to the letter. Yeah, that's probably hypocritical, but I take the view that everybody is a hypocrite. The difference is whether or not you admit it to yourself.
"THE WIIMOTE IS MADE OF NUCLEAR WASTE!"
Wouldn't that be considered recycling? ;)
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
...I really, really hate when people lie with statistics (when I notice it, that is.) And this lie was pretty bad. And easy to find.
We use at least 80% recycled paper in all of our shipping packaging.
We don't use Styrofoam in any of our packaging.
Many of our instruction manuals are printed on recycled paper.
Our clamshell packaging is recyclable and most recycling centers accept it.
We require that manufacturers not use any banned substances (such as lead, mercury, etc.) in components, nor use them in the manufacturing process for any components used inside of our products. This requirement also extends to suppliers of packaging, marketing materials, and other items used in the marketing and distribution of our products.
Seems like most of it is fairly recyclable to me.
The logic Greenpeace used of no answer meaning "yes" is the same logic JT's used whenever it suits his purposes. Any wonder I have the same amount of respect (zero) for both?
I was going to go back and mention that, but decided not to. Glad somebody else caught it though! ;)
@Bakaohki
Sing it, brother! Or Sister. Or whatever. I think Greenpeace is just annoyed that they haven't gotten any real press in, like, ten years.
Man, Isn't Nintendo a real bastard. Only 80% recycled paper? That is a whooping 20% rain forest wood.
Come to think of it, most game publishers/developers are pretty environmentally friendly nowadays. The manuals are no longer than a greeting card. Shame on Civ 4. It has a manual the size of a comic book. What a waste of trees.
Sounds like the same crap PETA pulls.
Only if you choose it to be. You can just as easily hold the power button to turn it completely off, duh. It's called reading the manual.
~Sol~
Oh please. If peopel read the manual parental console controls wouldn't be a great mystery to parents