“Those who tell the stories rule society.” — Plato
Back in September, I read a rather upsetting article.
Usually, I don’t get upset (Or emotional in general) when it comes to reading news articles. Maybe some laughter here and here.
But this particular one hit me a little bit.
The article is titled,
“How Big Oil Misled the Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled.”
A few main points from the article:
• It costs more to recycle plastic than to just bury it. Plus they degrade fast. So if they were to recycle, it can only be done once or twice before they become completely useless.
• Big oil companies have known this all along for a very long time.
• They spent millions of dollars on environmentalist commercials to convince the public to recycle plastic.
• This causes a decrease in environmental concerns and leads to more plastic being bought, which equals more money for the pockets of big oil.
• As more plastic piled up on this planet, the public started attacking big oil companies. Their solution? More recycling commercials to deflect the heat.
• The renown recycling symbol on plastic products only makes the process of recycling more difficult.
• Certain industry officials announced a plan to recycle 100% of the plastic they produced by 2040.
• Former industry officials called their new plans B.S.
I agree. If big oil is in the business to make and sell plastic, then wouldn’t recycling cause them to lose money? It’s like tobacco companies pushing anti-smoking campaigns.
I was shaking my head the entire time I read the article.
My early teachers teaching me the importance of recycling, joining my elementary school’s recycling volunteer program, and recycling in my own household. Was it all worthless effort?
Those were the main things I was thinking about.
So the bigger question is, should we even trust what any of the big companies tell the public?
I’ll leave that up to you to decide.
It’s also one of the reasons why I’m grateful for small businesses. They’re a lot more genuine when it comes to dealing with their customers. A lot more trustworthy. We feel closer to them as if they’re our neighborhood friends.
There’s nothing more valuable than your relationships with your customers and clients.
And there’s no better way to build and maintain them than through email, which you can learn to better write with my book, How to Become an Email Titan.
Here’s the link to the sample chapters.