'Green-wash'

In July, when visiting the Sculpture Project in Muenster, I was watching CNN in my hotel room and heard that McDonalds has decided to start recycling its used vegetable oil to fuel its delivery fleet. Is this cause for optimism or cynicism? Is it because of the actions of innovative and creative individuals that big business has had to change its ways? Maybe, but I am about as convinced by this gesture as I am by seeing images of David Cameron riding his bicycle through the streets of London. What does it mean when there is a huge band-wagon called 'green-wash' driving through the streets attempting to pick us up on its way? Does it even matter so long as the wagon delivers? If we are to assume that such shifts are the result of cultural innovation, what affect does this changing tide have on artistic practice now that the tide has changed? Should we be running in the other direction to get perspective or critical distance?
Chanel 4's show 'Dumped' (3/9/07) was an interesting addition to the cannon of 'real-life' docu-drama. Contestants were dumped on a waste land-fill site and made to live off 'waste'. They learned to reduce waste (water, food) reuse, (building shelters etc) and recycle (for which they earned money from a visiting scrap metal man) - the 3 r's of sustainability. Christine, the ever-so-slightly cliched artist who fitted very compfortably into the new age, hippie category, decided against the main drive of the group to go off and make what she called 'abstract installations'. These were large monumental sculptures made from recycled materials. The irony for me was the fact that the 'non-artists' were doing much more creative, interesting and useful things than Christine who seemed to have been planted to sabotage any opportunity for meaningful dialogue to emerge about the role of art with ecological, sustainable or environmental aspirations. Or was she just running in the other direction?