Read the glowing business articles, and you’d think Chiquita’s one of those surprising corporations gone seriously green.
Check out, for example, this Business 2.0 article which notes that Chiquita, working with Rainforest Alliance, put in “$20 million to overhaul the environmental and employment standards at all of its 127 farms, which employ 30,000 workers in seven Latin American countries.”
Nice move — until you consider the latest news coming out of Colombia regarding Chiquita’s other practices — paying out at least $1.7 million to terrorist groups from 1997 to 2004, allegedly to “protect its employees and its thousands of acres of plantations.” This includes Chiquita’s “shipment of two oceangoing cargo containers filled with 3,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 4 million rounds of ammunition” to paramilitary groups.
Chiquita’s plea bargaining, saying it’ll settle for a $25-million fine. Colombia’s Atty. Gen. Mario Iguaran says “he would consider requesting the extradition of up to eight executives of Chiquita Brands International Inc. to face criminal charges including arms trafficking and criminal conspiracy.”
The problem, for us, is that mainstream media reports about these companies are never contextualized. The Business 2.0 article makes no mention of Chiquita’s shady dealings with paramilitary groups. And the LA Times article makes no mention of Chiquita’s effort to halo its image via the Rainforest Alliance.
Thus, we get sharply conflicting articles that seem contradictory, to the point many people simply become disengaged, not really believing or disbelieving anything. Is Chiquita a good or bad company? If you rely on MSM reports, who knows? So people keep on buying the Chiquita bananas because, well, they’re there, and who really knows what this transnational company’s up to…. It’s all very complicated, they say….
The situation becomes especially distressing when we get enviro-orgs — grateful for the token move by a big transnational, which means just chump change for Chiquita but big bucks for a nonprofit — happily giving companies like Chiquita green lip service for a teeny green nod.
Says Chris Wille of the Rainforest Alliance about Chiquita: “It would be a challenge to find a company that has come so far and so fast.” Business 2.0 gushes that “Today all 110 of Chiquita’s company-owned farms and the vast majority of its independent farms are certified by the Rainforest Alliance. Chiquita now recycles 100 percent of its plastic bags and twine and has reduced pesticide use by 26 percent.”
At some point, you have to wonder: Does recycling even matter in the context of a company’s involvement in fueling nationwide violence and countless deaths? I mean, I heart recycling, but you gotta put this stuff in context! (read more about the Chiquita situation via Alternet)
It’s this dichotomy — between a company’s M.O. and a company’s greenwashing tactics — that makes so many activists skeptical of corporations that purport to go green. Says Jonathan Rosenthal of the fair trade fruit company Oke USA (covered here): “I’m really not convinced that [the efforts of transnational banana companies] is a genuine effort at reform.” Jonathan points to a long history of exploitation and violence, allowed and even encouraged by these transnational companies. Traditionally, these are not exactly companies that have “cared” about the people who produce its bananas, he notes.
The difference today, however, is that going green’s become a money-making proposition. Thus, companies like Dole are trying to earn green points to capture the eco-market. Dole Fresh Fruit International, Dole Food’s fresh fruit division, has launched a site about its organic bananas operation called Dole Organic. The site has details on the growers and on the location and certification of banana farms. Frans Wielemaker of Dole says: “It is an educational tool, which increases transparency and thus consumer confidence in our products and in our brand,â€
Now, no one’s saying that this tool is “bad.” The problem is that this tool is not contextualized within the larger business practices of Dole as a company. Jordan Bar Am, fair trade activist, asks: “what percentage of Dole’s total production is organic, i.e. what percentage of their total business is now ‘transparent’?”
Jonathan agrees. “What about the other 99% of their production?” he asks. Jonathan says he applauds the move but also cautions, “on the other hand, don’t believe the hype.” Pointing to Dole’s well-documented habit of breaking up unions and harrassing workers, Jonathan says “it’s always a mixed story,” and urges consumers to hold corporations accountable.
So what’s a banana eater to do? “When it doubt, slow it down,” Jonathan says. “Look at the stories, what percent of their volume this story represents, and then ask ‘what are the stories they’re not telling?’ … I think the thing that excites me about consumer being enlightened is that they can start to decide for themselves. If [transnationals] are going to choose a path of engagement, [consumers] can demand that these companies be more genuine, more involved.”
Wanna make it even easier? Go for the fair trade companies like Oke USA that’re really defining what good business practices are. “I think that’s always been one of the goals of small companies,” Jonathan says, “to use our leverage to force the big guys to set a higher standard…. I think the goal of a company like Oke and Equal Exchange is to really keep the bar high and to engage customers to keep that dialogue.”
Oke USA’s current goal’s to get its fair trade bananas into SoCal sometime in May 2007.
Tags: chiquita, dole, banana, okeusa, fairtrade
Amazing how much faster I can find things if I arrange them neatly in a designated spot –
And the buttons are a couple of those extra buttons that come attached to my clothes. Overall, a v. eco endeavor –
“Too much talent colliding with ambition can’t help,” Standard Schaefer writes in his debut book of poems, 
Get a DVD of 
Is 
A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.