Decision Earth

Decision Earth made a series of controversial claims about waste disposal, mining and forestry issues, portraying issues and practices harmful to ecosystems as being benign. It was distributed in 1997 by the Procter & Gamble corporation to roughly 75,000 schools in the United States as an environmental education teachers resource for Junior High School students. It has been controversial.

The story about Proctor & Gamble's material became part of a larger picture in the news showing that many such companies had released similar material.

Among other instances of poor science and industry point of view material distributed as scientific fact to impressionable minds was an assertion that clear cutting was good for forests, with a cherry-picked analysis of the part of the ecological cycle that superficially resembles clear cutting (trees falling over when they are dead). The effects of this ecological stage were then described, as proof of the assertion. However, this leaves out crucial details: the nutrients from the decaying trees, filled with nitrogen and minerals, nourish young plants as they grow. The loss of that plant material is as much a problem for logged woodlands as it is for plowed fields; farmers use fertilizers to replace it. The decaying trees are a small ecosystem themselves, that is woven into the rest of the forest, and their loss is loss of habitat for many species. Once the crucial factors such as loss of nutrient replacement and destruction of natural habitat of animals are factored in, removing vegetation is geometrically detrimental.

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WP DEL

"Clear cutting removes all trees within a stand of a few species to create new habitat for wildlife... Clear cutting also opens the forest floor to sunshine, thus stimulating growth and providing food for animals."

This utilization of corporate propaganda lead to numerous complaints and the material is no longer distributed in the US. Distribution to Canadian schools has not been discontinued.

Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of many common household chemical products, argued in their material that disposable diapers are no worse for the environment than cloth diapers. This claim was based on "scientific" studies funded by Procter & Gamble, the world's largest manufacturer of disposable diapers, and this conflict of interest was not mentioned in their material. It also described waste-fuelled incineration processes where energy is recovered, as "thermal recycling," without describing any of the toxic emissions that may result.

The asserted aim of the distribution of the material was assisting students to make informed consumer product choices, and to educate then in the environmental impact of their choices:

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WP

"The unit focuses on the concept of consumer product life cycle analysis, an approach to assessing the environmental impacts of a product at each stage in its life from raw materials extraction through disposal. Using this approach, a product is evaluated in terms of energy consumed, atmospheric and waterborne emissions generated and solid waste created for disposal."

Ironically, Procter & Gamble have claimed the package builds critical thinking skills, which it does in the same way as drowning witches by dunking proved that they were not witches.

External links

• Procter & Gamble Propaganda and lies alert "long-term environmental sustainability vision"
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation report
• Dr Sharon Beder. Influencing future decision makers, ABC Net, Australia.