Beginning in the 1980s, when McDonald's stopped putting its
burgers in polystyrene clamshells, and accelerating dramatically
in the 2000s when An Inconvenient Truth highlighted the dangers
of greenhouse gases, businesses large and small have made it a
point to be sensitive to the environment. While there may be an
almost across-the-board belief that reducing pollution is
important, being "green" means different things to different
companies. Some corporations do it to cut costs, others to
attract customers, and still others to practice what they preach
philosophically (or all of the above). The ways to be eco-
friendly can vary wildly, too, from using energy-efficient
lightbulbs to illuminate stores, to cleaning up harmful
chemicals at overseas factories that don't even have the same
corporate parent. More than three decades after the green wave
began, corporate America is now almost reflexively embracing the
trend, even businesses that might seem unlikely converts.
Critics say some of this is greenwash, a cal