Green Night Clubs- Earth-concious or greedy?

Companies taking advantage of the new trend of the consumer, “going green,” have been criticized for not truly caring about the environment and merely seeing it as a fad that can be used to help with marketing. An example of an industry “going green” would be Night clubs.

Night clubs are far from Earth-friendly. The create waste, use lots of energy for lights and cooling, and many are made from products that are not recyclable. However, several club owners are aiming to change that. Perhaps not in the best way.

For example, a new club in Manhattan, called Greenhouse has recently opened and is working towards LEED certification. While their motives are good, and they hope to save money in the long run, they spent more money than is usual in building a sustainable night club, costing them 33% more than a regular club as opposed to the usual 2.5%. And of course they made a few mistakes, importing bamboo instead of using local products that would have used less fuel to ship. Hopefully the owner, Jon Bakhshi, has learned from his mistakes if he intends to open another club later on.

Although you would expect those of us who are concerned about the future of this planet to be excited about these pioneers in the night club industry, there are far more critics than supporters. Many say it is merely a way to make money. Others say that a night club can never be green, because it is against the nature of a night club. A few say the practices are not really all that green. Most just referred to them as hypocrites.

Frankly, even if this is nothing more than a scheme to take advantage of club goers claiming to be “green,” I don't see why that would matter. After all, it is still having less of an impact no matter what the intentions of the owner. Also, it is encouraging other night clubs to follow greener practices so that they can remain competitive. One of the comenters said, “They are in the business of making money, not helping the planet.” To that, I have nothing more to say than, “DUH!” If their only goal was to help the planet, they would not make enough money to stay in business, and that wouldn't be helping anyone. And what kind of club would that be? No flashing lights, the music would all be live, not even electric guitars would be allowed, frankly, it sounds boring.

And yes, as I pointed out they did not do everything perfectly. But that is sort of difficult. Instead of serving bear in plastic cups, all cups would have to be washed, wasting water. No lights, only candles? Fire hazard, especially since everything is made from wood that could break down. And changes can be made. For example, encouraging customers to take the bus by having one come directly to the door and giving free service. Even the owner said he did not want to do too much, in case it did not work. After all, if spending extra money didn't get him enough business to stay open, the money he saved on energy costs wouldn't do him much good.

Bottom line, a business's main concern is their bottom line. (I apologize for the play on words, I couldn't help myself.) I understood this before I had taken a single business course. No matter what the intentions, the effects will last just as long, perhaps longer since the goal is to stick around. At the worst, it will have less of an impact than a regular club. At best, it will encourage other businesses to do the same and the patrons will also change some of their practices that are damaging the Earth.