http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-bad-environmentalism-is-such-an-easy-sell-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-2/

PART 1

Freakonomics: Why Bad Environmentalism Is Such An Easy Sell

In this section, we are going to take a closer look at the concept of green marketing (discussed in the textbook on pages 51-55).  Be sure that you have read that section of the textbook before completing this assignment.  In this section, we are going to look at some examples of potential “greenwashing” and why it is so hard to tell if a company or its products are really green or not.

Ettitude’s commercial, which features a talking panda, providers several reasons why bamboo is a green resource.  What are some of those reasons?What are some products that you can buy which would contain bamboo?Kathryn Fernholz doesn’t like the idea that just because bamboo grows fast then it must be a good renewable resource.  What are some of the things that might make bamboo a less environmentally-friendly resource?Why is it so easy to be bamboo-zled?Listening carefully to the conversation on the environmental friendliness of disposable cups versus reusable cups, why is it hard to determine which choice is the most environmentally friendly?How might a business’s self-interests play into its marketing message as to whether a product is environmentally friendly?  Do you think bamboo is environmentally friendly?  Why or why not?Early in the segment, Dubner says “The fact is that we drive what we drive in some part to tell the world who we are.”  What does that mean?What is “conspicuous conservation” and how does it relate to the idea of conspicuous consumption?Why did the shape of the Toyota Prius help to make it such a popular hybrid vehicle?How much did the Sextons estimate that buying a Prius could be worth to people in terms of their green self-image?  How might this same idea relate to Teslas, the new leader in hybrid vehicles?When it comes to being environmentally conscious, why is the focus on “looking good” a potential problem?Define data mining.  How is data created and how is it used?Usually a company will buy millions of records and take them to a data analyst.  What does the data analyst do?When Angwin asked Google to provide her with the data they had on her, what did they give her?

 

• What are data brokers?  How many of them are there out there?  What kind of information did the data brokers have on Angwin?