MIRACLE GRO REDUX

This is not my first post about the Scotts Miracle Gro company (SMG). Would that it were the last.

The dilemma in a nutshell is this: I have been approached to freelance for SMG in a variety of as yet undetermined ways. The reason I was approached is because I have a record of taking exception to everything they stand for.

When they recently asked me to visit their Marysville, Ohio mothership, I was certain they'd overlooked one little detail: my Morning Edition essay after the death of MG's founder Horace Hagedorn. In that 2/5/07 commentary, I criticized the founder's Bigger! Better! philosophy and his company's blatant disregard for the earth and its soil.

(By the way, I couldn't open NPR's audio link to that story. Can you?).

Well, guess what. They knew all about that essay. And they at leat suspected I wouldn't touch their products. And they knew full well that my unwavering banner read anti-chemical, anti-GMO, and anti-lawn.

And that's exactly why I was invited to Ohio.

Look. It's all very cut and dry for an NPR reporter (same for NYT, Washington Post, etc): there are lines you do not cross because crossing them will cost you your job. As a civilian, thou shalt not attend rallies, participate in marches, sign petitions, make political contributions or support non-profits with a political agenda (e.g., Planned Parenthood).

You CAN vote. For that you don't need permission. But anything that even hints at Conflict Of Interest has to be approved by NPR's managing editor or higher lest you risk wrath.

But what about the journalist who owes allegiance only to his or her sense of morality? Or the artist asked to do work consistent with his or her beliefs? (Oops, here it comes, the Nazi argument, my particular favorite about conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler selling out to Die Furor).

OK, so there's no winning when the name of Hitler is invoked.

Let's talk about the work itself, then. What does SMG want? Right now, we're talking essays about spring, the joy of planting, the miracle of worms, the magic of buds, the evil of chemicals, the benefits of insects, the beauty of dandelion-yellow and daisy-pink lawns. In other words, whatever I have to say.

Look. SMG has a nefarious past. Just read the 2003 report at the UK website Corporate Watch (a report with its own axe to grind). To look into the history of SMG is to cozy up to ugly names like Monsanto and W.R.Grace and you don't survive alliances with folks like that unless you're just as ruthless.

"Greenwashing!" people cry about SMG's move to organic products. DUH. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation driven by profit, nu? I've just finished reading the CEO's 2008 Annual Report and nowhere in its mandate is the good of the earth. The company's conversion to organics is all about having identified a trend. And no one at SMG would say otherwise.

Which leads us all...where?

In truth, I'm simply trying to air out and organize the cacophony in my head as I consider whether freelancing for SMG is going to be 1)the worst mistake of my life, 2)the best decision for my short-term livelihood or 3)a few paid pieces of work signifying nothing.

One way or the other, I am on the verge of a decision. For reasons now clear to both of us, a move in any direction beats listening to all this noise.