Slate's "Green Room" Blog: Going Green is a Drag

As Gristmill and Media Matters have detailed, the managing editor of Slate has decided to use the site's "Green Room" blog to slam efforts by businesses to go green. You see, this whole saving the planet thing just isn't worth it if it means Jill Hunter Pellettieri doesn't get her hotel towels and sheets washed whether they need it or not every single day:

I'll admit that I sometimes choose not to participate in this [green choice] program and request fresh towels and sheets every day. Before you write in scolding me for being a wasteful person, let me qualify that by saying it's not the program, in theory, I'm against. I'm all for saving the environment. But I don't want to be guilt-tripped into going green. It's the two-facedness of it that gets me-save our planet! Conserve our resources! It's up to you, hotel guest. Forsake that washcloth (or two!), or those crisp sheets that are your right when you pay for the room, and to what end-so the hotel can save money on laundry? How many natural resources are wasted printing all of these little signs? Here's an idea: Instead of printing out a placard for every room in the hotel, wash my towel.

Pellettieri goes on to claim that any green efforts that also save business money are "eco-not-so-friendly schemes." Apparently, in Pellettieri's world, the only genuine green efforts are ones that lose money?

At the bottom of the article, an email form asks, "How are companies taking advantage of you in the name of Mother Earth?" Hmmm. How about by starting blogs called "Green Room" trying to draw environmental readers, then throwing huge hissy fits about the tiniest effort to reduce environmental impact? Maybe Slate should look in the mirror.