Argument Essay

Recently, going green has become an extremely hot topic among companies. "Greenwashing, a pejorative term derived from the term ‘whitewashing,’ was coined by environmental activists to describe efforts by corporations to portray themselves as environmentally responsible in order to mask environmental wrongdoings” (MacDonald, 2007, para. 2). It is every company’s responsibility to keep the environment clean. Starbucks’ profits rose incredibly from 2002 to 2003 but they didn’t spend any substantial money on green initiatives until 2006 when partnering with Global Green USA. When they made the agreement, the pledged $150,000 was not used very effectively. Starbucks paid money to a “green” organization, but made little effort to actually make its own company green. Starbucks says they are going green, but they are not doing enough.

Starbucks made strange decisions with its profits when they jumped from 3.3 billion to 4.1 billion dollars. I’m not sure why they didn’t share profits with growers, even though their gain became double or more. Also, I don’t know why growers’ profits decreased almost half, even though their parent company was making huge profits. In my frank opinion, Starbucks kept profits all to itself. If the parent company makes big gain, they should share it with their subsidiary. In addition, they should make sure coffee suppliers follow rules about harming the environment.

Starbucks’ action is good, but they should put more money into having a fair and green business. I’m glad to hear about Starbucks trying to “Go green,” because I drink coffee almost every day from there. However, I don’t know how much money they earn a year, but they should pay more, because they charge almost five dollars per cup of coffee. It is pretty expensive, I think. Also, Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee shops in the world, so they have to lead other companies to “Go green.”

Starbucks should do something else besides paying money. I didn’t know Starbucks was going green until I read the article. Starbucks is spread all over the world, so if they try going green with each shop, it will have a huge effect. Organizations want people to become aware of global warming by spending huge amounts of money. However, they don’t need to do that if companies like Starbucks donate.

Starbucks says that it is doing enough to match its responsibility, but they are wrong. Firstly, they claim to have made a strong contribution by making their cups 10% recyclable, according to Melanie Warner (2004). Ten percent is a lower number compared to many other companies that actually are making an effort to go green. Second, Starbucks uses genetically engineered milk, and will probably do the same thing to their coffee beans pretty soon, causing horrible environmental problems (Deen, 2002, para. 8). The move to genetically engineered milk is obviously a step backward from the organic milk they once used.

In conclusion, some of Starbucks’ actions in going green are acceptable, but obviously their effort is not enough. Starbucks didn’t share the profits they make with growers, they are paying not enough money, and Starbucks itself is not green at all. Starbucks is clearly one of the companies that are greenwashing. There are many facts that they are not going green, such as they are using genetically engineered milk, and using only 10% recyclable cups. They can’t say they’re going green until that improve these problems.

Deen, S. (2002, March 25). USA: Starbucks Beans Not So Green. Retrieved March 21, 2008, from http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2170&printsafe=1

MacDonald, C. (2007). Greenwashing. http://www.businessethics.ca/greenwashing/

Warner, M. (2004, November 17). Starbucks continues to Greenwash with Weak Environmental Policy. Retrieved April 8, 2007, from http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/recycle.cfm