It’s all about being “green”, especially when it’s for a profit

We’re all for entrepreneurial efforts here at YP Talk.  Heck, that’s how YP Talk got started.  But have you noticed how some new efforts have been started under the banner of supposedly being eco-friendly, environment saving efforts, all for the good of mankind and the planet, but then on a second look, are really just leveraging the “green” wave to make a “green” buck?

Case in point –Yellow Pages Directory, Inc. which owns the “Yellow Pages Goes Green” website on which it says it “…has been doing its part by providing consumers with an earth-friendly alternative to bulky, wasteful, landfill-clogging yellow pages books.”  The company has now taken another bold leap
forward for the environment to “…fulfilling its mission to eliminate the unsolicited delivery of yellow and white pages books” by acquiring the PaperlessPetition.org site.  So let me see if I have this right — they
want to rid the world of printed phonebooks so people will be forced to use
their online product.  Hmmm.  Sounds like a gallant environmental
effort.  Or is it?

For those not familiar with PaperlessPetition.org here is what we reported in
August of 2009 about this effort:

…in 2006 a new effort called the “Paperless Petition“, was started to supposedly provide consumers with an opt-out option for printed Yellow Pages products. Sounds like a very noble effort doesn’t it?

But here is the rub:

•  I’ve tried several times to contact its creator and have yet to get a single response back.
•  The comments on the site are more than a little dated (2006 dates on quotes)
•  And here’s the best  — I have yet to find a single publisher or industry association that has ever received any communication from this group/site/person. No one. Nada.
  Zilch. Zero.

Yet despite these discrepancies, other bloggers/sites continue to suggest this site if you don’t want a print product delivered to your doorstep. So what has its owner been doing with all the information that people have provided when they sign up for
the petition??

Well now know what they are doing with that data – the new owner, Yellow Pages Directory, has built an IYP site that has nearly 28 million
business listings (supposedly) and I’m not really sure what that has to do with being more eco-friendly.

But the hypocrisy doesn’t just stop there.  Now they have issued this press
release:

“….joining forces with the Green Chamber of Commerce in spearheading a Call to Action to promote conservation and eliminate the unnecessary waste inherent in the production and distribution of printed yellow pages books. Yellow Pages Goes Green urges governmental leaders in villages, towns, counties and cities across the United States to join us in furthering the Green movement and preserving our environment by sponsoring local legislation requiring that publishers of printed yellow directories be subject to opt-in or, at the very least, opt-out requirements…”

I don’t know about you but I’m going to sleep much better tonight knowing we have another group out there crusading to rid the world of print yellow pages books which we recently reported are being used by 7 out of 10 adults each year.  To help preserve the world against the impact of print yellow pages, the supposed solution from Yellow Pages Directory, the Internet, is what’s actually killing the planet – link to the full article.

Maybe the “green” effort they are talking about is the green color of money….