Irony: Nintendo Last in Greenpeace Electronic Rankings

Thanks to Joystiq for the find, Nintendo was recently given a 0.3 rating by Greenpeace on their environmental friendliness. This is almost four full points from the nearest company.

Now, I don't own a Wii, nor do I plan to, but I am fully aware of its place in contemporary culture. The Wii is to video games as what Apple is to computers, and perhaps what indie films are to, well, films. That is, it's trendy, fits within a certain aesthetic, and is apart of a crowd that probably comprises much of our readership--in a roundabout way, I assume you want the planet to be in good shape.

This, I think, touches on an aspect we should start looking to when discussing environmental responsibility. Some of us may be doing all the right things, or at least a few of the right things, but are we inadvertently supporting companies that are against our moral stance? The answer is obviously yes, as it's impossible to fully separate yourself from the big, bad corporations. However, I think it shows that we need to be pushing companies that hold a place in our culture to adopt policies that we agree with. After all, we are the ones making these companies successful. Sure, Nintendo makes a great system that a lot of people love, but why can't they have better policies on toxic chemicals and recycling?

Once the time comes that what we can be less conscious in our buying habits because companies take on responsibility, we're going in the right direction.