The irksome version of "going green"

This will be a short one.

It seems everyone, everywhere is "going green". This usually consists of going "paperless" by sending invoices and account statements electronically. I'm all for that.

What irks me is when retailers print lots of posters, signs, banners, end-caps and other in-store promotional materials just to tell me they are "going green". What also irks me a great deal are companies that find it important enough to put something like "XYZ co is proud to be green" in all their electronic communication, then attaches the forms you need to renew your policy/account/billing info etc. Of course, those electronic forms must be printed and mailed or faxed back. This is what is known as "greenwashing"- promoting the intangible niceties reflected by green initiatives without actually accomplishing anything green. Most often, these activities merely shift the cost of printing to you rather than truly eliminating paper and ink from the process.

This irks me almost as much a the prolific tip jar that springs up everywhere from coffee shops to fast food joints and just about every service counter in America. But that's a rant for another day.