The Lazy Environmentalist

Last Christmas, my inlaws got me a page-a-day calendar of The Lazy Environmentalist. I recently discovered it at the back of the shelf and realized I hadn't looked at it since December 7th. That's beside the point.

The whole calendar has been filled with some iffy suggestions, but I found the entry for December 17th quite peculiar.



Apparently Smencils are ecofriendly because they are made of recycled newspapers instead of wood. That's nice. However, this point seems to reduce the greenness of the product:

"Choose from scents like cherry, cinnamon, grape, bubble gum, and orange. Each comes in a tube to keep the smells fresh."

Really?

Is it a good idea to make a recycled pencil that requires extra packaging, each in its own tube? And the website adds that the recycled newspaper pencils are hardened (in an unidentified process), soaked in fragrance (of unknown origin), and wrapped in stickers (presumably not recycled). Awesome. That is super ecofriendly.

People, beware of green washing!