michellefrey

Yesterday, Ahold (aka Giant, Stop&Shop and Martin's Food Markets) announced they are going to stop selling orange roughy, Chilean sea bass and shark.  These 3 fish rank among the most imperiled on the Greenpeace seafood red list.

It was kind of wild to hear that people are still eating shark and it’s being sold in stores, but I’m excited that Giant Foods has committed themselves to removing these fish from their seafood counters. It’s a great step in the right direction for protecting the oceans.

In a ranking report released last month, Greenpeace called on the top U.S. supermarkets to improve their seafood purchasing policies and move towards sustainable seafood practices. It looks like Ahold got the message and is willing to improve their store practices to help the oceans.

You can encourage the other top U.S. supermarkets to get in the game by taking action today and writing them a letter!

-- Michelle

Last week I called out Apple on the lack of any environmental information on the new iPhone 3G. Pre-launch publicity and specs for the new MacBook Air and iMac included information on how Apple was making progress on eliminating the worst toxic chemicals by the end of 2008. There was none of this for the iPhone, but last night I noticed a late addition to the iPhone tech specs:

iPhone 3G embodies Apple's continuing environmental progress. It is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:

- PVC-free handset
- PVC-free headphones
- PVC-free USB cable
- Bromine-free printed circuit boards
- Mercury-free LCD display
- Majority of packaging made from post-consumer recycled fiberboard and biobased materials
- Power adapter outperforms strictest global energy efficiency standards

On Friday, Apple unleashes its latest in wireless communications—the new iPhone 3G. I have seen pictures of people already lining up outside of electronic stores around the world waiting anxiously to be one of the first owners of this new phone.

I’m the first to admit that I’m not a technology junky. I only caved and got my first cell phone last fall. So, I won’t be one of those iPhone fans camping out with tents and food supplies for the new phone (that I probably wouldn’t know how to use in the first place).

Among all the hype about this new phone—it’s half the price and about twice as fast as the original iPhone—I haven’t seen any mention of the iPhone being any greener!

The first generation iPhone contained toxic chemicals that competitors like Nokia and Sony Ericsson have already removed from their new phones. What gives?

After the successful Greenpeace campaign, GreenmyApple, Steve Jobs promised all Apple products would be free of toxic PVC plastic and Brominated Flame Retardants.

While Apple has been making progress towards this goal by using less toxic chemicals in the latest MacBook Air and iMac, I haven’t seen any improvements in the iPhone. If engineers can figure out how to get wireless internet access and a touchpad screen on a tiny phone, I’m pretty sure they can figure out how to strip it of toxic chemicals and make it safer for users and the environment.

But, maybe the new iPhone is greener, and Apple is just keeping that information under the radar. I hope that’s the case. If so, I just might support the revolution and buy one for myself. If you read or hear anything about this—let me know!

If that’s not the case, I hope Apple can become greener sooner than later. So many people buy their products and it’d be awesome if Apple could become the first electronic company to completely eliminate PVC and BFRs. That's the sort of revolution that's needed.

--Michelle