Can plastic be 'green?'

GE thinks plastic can be green with their new EarthRewards credit card. The new card falls under GE's huge EcoMagination effort.

Marc Gunther pours cold water on the concept that "consumers will be able to dedicate one percent of their purchases to fund projects that offset carbon dioxide emissions. (They can also opt to get 1/2 of one percent cash back, in which case the other 1/2 of one percent will go to carbon offsets.) GE will then pool those monies and once a year -- on Earth Day, natch -- invest them in verified, transparent carbon offset projects."

As Lorraine Bolsinger, the GE executive who oversees its Ecomagination campaign, put it: "What's good for the environment can be good for business, and what's good for business can be good for the environment."

I personally don't buy Gunther's idea that "It's a small example of a bigger problem: the belief that there are painless solutions to fixing global warming and that it can be a win-win for business, consumers and the planet. In fact, the solutions will be painful for some, they will involve sacrifice for others and they will be developed in Congress and state capitols, not at the mall."

Why can't it start at the mall? Does change have to be legislated? Maybe the best way to make change happen is to make it pay.