Greenpeace: Nintendo is nonresponsive
by JC Fletcher 
{ Apr 4th 2008 at 6:00PM }
The reason? Nintendo has no stated policy about hardware recycling. Both Sony and Microsoft have made efforts in that area, but Nintendo has said absolutely nothing about the disposal of old consoles. "What is available right now," Al-Hajj said, "is that Nintendo is committed to the environment, so they recycle in their offices. Okay. Good work guys, but that's not the issue. The issue is the responsibility to their product."
Nintendo is the only console manufacturer out of the three not to engage in communication with Greenpeace. Al-Hajj said that they have attempted conversation with the company multiple times, while both Sony and Microsoft are already in talks.
We know that the first impulse for any gamer is to attack and ridicule Greenpeace for saying bad things about Nintendo, but, if nothing else, this interview makes Greenpeace's claims seem more sensible. This is far from tree-hugging or Would it really hurt Nintendo that much to at least talk about recycling, or offer some opinions on reducing energy consumption?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tonedef @ Apr 4th 2008 6:56PM
The problem with this stupid study is that Greenpeace, instead of doing their own legwork, or trying harder to get information from Nintendo, just ASSUMES that the company pours toxins into the water supply and kills baby animals. It's a safe assumption.
A scientist who fails to collect data about a phenomenon cannot simply come to a conclusion about it. That's what kills me about how much coverage Greenpeace's quack science is getting.
Author X @ Apr 4th 2008 6:06PM
Well, it does make them seem more sensible, but that's not really very far to go. At least they're admitting that "not mentioned on their public website" isn't the same as "no policy what-so-ever." Honestly, I do hope that Nintendo can become more environmentally conscious, and I'm just glad that Greenpeace is trying to be more reasonable about this. Their "efforts" before just came off more as childish ridicule than anything else.
bermana @ Apr 5th 2008 11:53PM
greenpeace were not appointed or elected the world environmental police by anyone other than themselves.
strongarming companies into complying with their demands and smearing them if they refuse is not helpful or informative for true environmentalists. it just solidifies greenpeace's power and influence. they are the jesse jackson of environmentalism.
here's to nintendo ignoring them for years to come.
MBJ @ Apr 4th 2008 6:17PM
Honestly, is this really an issue? Who throws away a game console? I keep all of mine (still have my NES) and everyone else I know either keeps them or sells them. I have never heard of someone trashing a console.
JC Fletcher @ Apr 5th 2008 3:26AM
People with broken consoles do.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 5th 2008 2:52PM
No people sell old broken hardware as-is because someone out there is willing to fix it. Perfect system no waste.
Rollin @ Apr 6th 2008 1:17PM
Why do commenters always swear that they and their circle of friends statistically prove that no one else is capable of acting contrary to what they do? It baffles.
I'm sure all the spoiled little kids out there sell their broken Game Boys and DSs on eBay, too, once their parents replace them without batting an eye.
Dio @ Apr 4th 2008 6:13PM
Nintendo doesn't negotiate with terrorists :D
Bizzy @ Apr 5th 2008 3:10AM
qft
fatherb @ Apr 5th 2008 2:23PM
That's what I was thinking... Talk to us or get a zero on our stupid BS rankings that really make no since when you break it down.
bhengh @ Apr 4th 2008 6:24PM
Does anyone care what Greenpeace thinks? Nintendo has a console that is smaller and uses less energy, yet Greenpeace isn't happy because Nintendo doesn't bow down to them. Big deal.
Mr Khan @ Apr 4th 2008 6:27PM
Good to see them soften their stance a bit
They're giving environmentalists a bad name
Chris @ Apr 4th 2008 6:38PM
Nintendo: Greenpeace can f**k off
the Wii does use less powa than the 360 and ps3 (especially if they were combined xD )
Drago Dracini @ Apr 4th 2008 6:45PM
Greenpeace is full of idiots. @.@ End of story. Yes. Comment=total win.
wiseguy @ Apr 4th 2008 6:49PM
Reading this story has filled me with the overwhelming urge to burn a mound of tires...
Tim Harding @ Apr 4th 2008 6:59PM
Nintendo also doesn't state on their website that they're against genocide, so let's put out a report giving Nintendo a 0% rating on fighting genocide...
genocidalrobot @ Apr 4th 2008 8:11PM
I have never, nor do I know anyone that has ever, thrown away a console. Does that even happen?
I don't think this is going to bring sales down, nobody is going to need to recycle a Wii or DS anytime soon.
Phil @ Apr 4th 2008 8:27PM
Who gives a **** what greenpeace thinks? They're not the police, they have no real POWER whatsoever, it's not like they can FORCE nintendo to do it.
Greenpeace really should mind its own business since Nintendo is still having enough trouble just making their damn product. Once the demand dies down then MAYBE nintendo could be accused of being ignorant or something like that.
Sonic_13 @ Apr 4th 2008 9:06PM
people get rid of their old Nintendo consoles?
zochmenos @ Apr 4th 2008 10:01PM
This is Greenpeace doing their best to sell the only product they can: their approval.
Evironmentalists remind me of the Catholic Church during the Dark Ages. This infant religion (evironmentalism) is just a bunch of spoiled neo-baby boomers who all want to be their generation's messiah.
Damian G. @ Apr 4th 2008 10:50PM
Or radical Islam today. :-P
milan @ Apr 4th 2008 10:34PM
Greenpeace has bigger fish to fry (Figuratively of course!)
nytestalker @ Apr 4th 2008 10:36PM
Until greenpeace enforces pet recycling. I do not care about anything they have to say.
Save the world : Recycle your pets.
TriptychR @ Apr 4th 2008 10:41PM
While helping to conserve resources and help out the planet is a great thing, the fact that Microsoft and Sony are "in talks" with Greenpeace kind of disturbs me. What authority does Greenpeace have for Microsoft and Sony to "negotiate" with them?
While I think Nintendo should release some relevant information to help their reputation in this, Greenpeace doesn't need to stick their nose into Nintendo's business any more than it has.
Rich966 @ Apr 5th 2008 3:16AM
Nintendo, has a great recycling policy. Make consoles that no-one in their right mind would ever get rid off. All my old consoles and handhelds still work, and I still play them even though I have the Virtual Console games to play too.
Compare that two the other two major console manufacturers and their console death rates.
Iron Raptor @ Apr 5th 2008 8:59AM
The fact that Sony and Micro$oft are in talks with Greenpeace kinda worries me... like, who all of a sudden made THEM the authrority on environmental protection?
Greenpeace is starting to remind me of Snapple. Brewed by hippies, sold by a faceless corporation.
When you start researching on products we use everyday, and how much energy and resources the earth itself has to produce to make a company $1 in profit, it's kinda scary.
I think rather than relying on Greenpeace to mandate which companies are environmentally friendly or not, the consumer needs to do the research.
I think Greenpeace should focus on companies that genetically modify crops so that they don't produce seeds, so that farmers can't simply use the seeds from their previous harvests to grow next year's crops, and have to pay money to get seeds, or go after Monsanto, for continuing to lobby for bovine growth hormones to be used in the US food supply. (google Monsanto corporation if you want to know more)
SaintStryfe @ Apr 6th 2008 3:28AM
"Greenpeace is starting to remind me of Snapple. Brewed by hippies, sold by a faceless corporation."
Your thinking of a joke from The Simpsons, and that wasn't Snapple, that was Fruitopia.
Ting Lee @ Apr 5th 2008 9:14AM
How many of Sony's and Mircosoft's console owners have used their recycling program ? Frankly I have an old Xbox and PS1 I have not notice how I can recycle those partly because I am keeping them. As prior commenters have said, most people just kept their console for a long long time. It just does not make sense to nitpick Nintendo over one point. It would make sense to focus on environment issues that affect us on a more frequent basis such as electricity usage.
There are so many environmental groups, I would rather not work with Greenpeace if I am Nintendo.
jsa3mm @ Apr 5th 2008 9:28AM
Nintendo needs to tell those pompus, Demo-liberal, tree hugging, Greenpeace idiots to go to Hell.
Jeremy @ Apr 5th 2008 10:38AM
Sorry but I have a stance on this issue. I am a firm supporter of warmer winters. I think winter is to cold and urge everyone to use as many ozone damaging products as they can. Also if we stop filling up landfills then were would they build golf courses and shopping malls. If the dumps don't fill then we as a country run out of space for development.
Honestly I think the whole recycling and global warming thing is BS. When you are having winters with record lows and recycling centers producing their own waist then the system is flawed. Give me a day in Feb. with a high of 100 then I will believe in global warming but if the record low was 28 in 1912 and the low that day beats that record by 10 degrees then I really don't think that global warming is an issue.
Croove55 @ Apr 5th 2008 10:57AM
Hope you aren't British.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3266833.stm
AnOffday @ Apr 5th 2008 11:10AM
QFT. Even when all the evidence is against them, Al Gore and his hippie army still support the hoax.
zochmenos @ Apr 5th 2008 1:32PM
I tend to agree. Furthermore, consider the concept of melting ice caps. Using the science we all remember from school, at what temperature does ice become water?
Anyone? That's right, 33 degrees F or 1 degree C.
Now, we have been told by these religious zealots that polar ice has been melting for years, and that our oceans will drown the shores and so on. Does that mean for the past thousands of years the temperature has been exactly 32 F? Or exactly 0 C? Hell, lets spot them ten degrees! It's been 22 F and -10 C?
No. Not true. Scientists are no more intelligent than anyone else. They are also just a susceptable to corruption as anyone else.
Use more fossil fuels!
andy @ Apr 5th 2008 1:22PM
You are joking, correct? You actually can't really think its as simple as temperature highs and lows, right? Of course you have seen the pictures of the glaciers melting, and the islands slowly becoming engulfed in water. Here's the thing, global warming is such a misleading term, because when people hear that they think "well then its going to be 150 degrees in winter hurr" when the reality is that the biggest threat is a slow, yet very real, climate shift that is throwing things out of balance.
Genome4824 @ Apr 5th 2008 1:18PM
People actually recycle their consoles? I've NEVER gotten rid of a console and i NEVER will
so imo this is no big deal whatsoever :P
zochmenos @ Apr 5th 2008 1:53PM
Andy:
Pictures of glaciers melting? Islands dissapearing?
This is exactly what I'm talking about.
By how much did the temperature change in these areas? The shift would have to have been somewhere under 32 F to somewhere over 32 F. The shift could have been less than a degree! A warm wind could do that! A day with no clouds could do that. That isn't climate change it's weather change.
How do you draw a conclusion from that? I could take a million pictures of masses of ice melting. That isn't SCIENCE!
What science has convinced you that the climate is changing? What experiments have you done?
Mr Khan @ Apr 5th 2008 3:47PM
I just don't know what to say to that
buckyboy28 @ Apr 5th 2008 3:33PM
I really hope that this "green" fad ends soon. I hardly think that buying a Wii will help fuel global warming.
dwain white @ Apr 5th 2008 6:47PM
As I read this blog from my wifi unit in my Big American Gas Guzzeling Four Wheel Drive Pick Up Truck, OOPs, I just ran over a bald eagle. Where was I? Oh yeah, I worry that nintendo is not doing everything to save the environment also! Hey, who turned down the Air? Turn that back on and drop it down to 55 and hand me a sweater. I think Nintendo needs full disclosure and they better do it right now, or I am going to sell one of my five nintendo wii's and buy something else I can hook up to my portable gas powered generator. For real though, Greenpeace is for loosers.
Philip Wesley @ Apr 5th 2008 8:15PM
When you work with Green Peace, you have to pay them money to get their logo on your products. Essentially, this is like Sony saying that Nintendo is failing their "Blu" rating by not including Blu Ray in their consoles. Darn it, Nintendo! Send me your money because you are failing my Philip rating! I don't see my name anywhere on your products! I demand that you step up your talks with me!
Also, global warming is not the result of anything scientific. It is the result of our belief that nature should adhere to our calendar system. Because, when it says it is SPRING on a piece of paper on our wall, it damn well better be Spring. If I write SUMMER on a piece of paper and stick it on my wall, it better suddenly be warm and Summer-y outside! Because if it is not.. that must be the fault of major corporations not sending me money!
Haohmaru @ Apr 7th 2008 6:36AM
I dislike Greenpeace as much as the next person, but if you seriously believe the conservative OIL BARONS who want you to think that global warming is a myth, you're the one being played. There were WMDs in Iraq, too, right? Oh, wait..
zochmenos @ Apr 7th 2008 10:56AM
This isn't about politics.
If you don't like Republicans (or Democrats for that matter), who cares? I'm saying that if you don't believe in global warming for a reason, that's faith, not science. You have a religious belief, congratulations.
Honestly, this is the reason why most people get angry at oil companies too. It's so much easier to have an emotional response than an intellectual one. Why is it okay that a Wii costs $250 but not okay that gas costs $3.50 a gallon? Nintendo makes crazy profits (it prints money!) just like the oil companies...so why not hate them as well?
C'mon. If you think that way just because you were raised that way, it's okay. Just don't pretend you have an opinion for any other reason than that.
List of Neo-religions:
Environmentalism
Fanboyism
Conspiracy Theorists
Haohmaru @ Apr 7th 2008 12:06PM
The findings are there. Whether you choose to believe them is another issue entirely; in that sense, you are essentially choosing whether to place your "faith" in these findings which are being presented as fact, or choosing to place that same "faith" in a belief that the scientists at IPCC are a bunch of quacks. Oh, look - anti-environmentalism just became the newest neo-religion.
Are you suggesting that everyone who believes the findings to be legitimate should go out into the world and conduct their own individual research in order to validate their beliefs that global warming is, in fact, occuring? Could the same not be said of those who are in denial? Where exactly is the line drawn?
zochmenos @ Apr 8th 2008 12:16AM
Yes, I expect you to believe in things for a reason.
Yes, I expect you to conduct experiments yourself before accepting things as "fact."
Yes, those who deny global warming should also have a reason for their point of view and should also seek the "truth" of the issue.
Please, don't confuse this with a battle between good and evil. I know you've probably used that "conservative OIL BARONS" in front of your friends and they loved it, but it isn't that dramatic.
I'm not a Evironmentalism believer because I think the biases and emotion (read everyone's reponses) cloud the findings. It's a religion that cloaks itself in science to attract people who shy away from the "old world" religions (It's a trap for people who think they are "independent thinkers" but get caught up in the sense of belonging they get from being labled "independent thinker").
I'm not out to offend, I simply offer an alternative logic map. Consider your own emotional response. Consider how passionate you are about this issue...science isn't passion, or passionate. It doesn't have to be.
Remember, a scientist's education does not make them smarter than you! Make them explain it to you. Your mind can form the same logic paths as theirs. Nothing that is within their realm of understanding is outside yours.
Only believe in the things you can observe yourself...just be wary, the first person people lie to, is themselves. Once you understand your own biases, and accept that everyone has them, you open your mind to a larger world.
On that note, if you have a reason why you believe (read: know) why man is causing global climate change, please share. I'm not so foolish as to think I understand it all. I simply require people prove it all.
List of Neo-religions:
Environmentalism
Fanboyism
Conspiracy Theorists
Independents (self-labled)
Haohmaru @ Apr 8th 2008 10:00PM
Well, before you make any more assumptions, let's get at least one fact straight: I'm not an environmentalist. I can only analyze the facts - and I don't mean those presented by IPCC, but from NASA and other sources that do, in fact, show that the areas of the arctic layer that stay frozen throughout the year have decreased by 10% over the past decade. That's quite a streak of "weather changes," isn't it? Sure, it could be a completely natural phenomenon. That's one theory, and frankly, all we have are theories, including the theory that it is being caused by human pollution.
Honestly, I have no problem whatsoever with those who don't believe in man-made global warming. In one of your first comments, you proclaimed that we should not only pay no mind whatsoever to the issue of global warming, but should use MORE fossil fuels. Why decry any and all efforts - and I am not referring to so-called "efforts" like those of Greenpeace - to reduce the amount of nastiness, for lack of a better word, that we as human beings put out into the environment? What do you lose, really? That is what I take issue with, aside from the despicably condescending and self-congratulatory tone of each of your comments on the topic.
Philip @ Apr 7th 2008 7:40PM
If nintendo is nonresponsive then nintendo should not be rated.
nor be involved on any list by them, Nintendo should take action for them using Nintendos name for their profit (and smear).