What is greenwashing?
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Green: Your Place in the New Energy Revolution by Jane and Michael Hoffman. Greenwashing is what happens when a hopeful public eager to behave responsibly about the environment is presented with “evidence” that makes an industry or a politician seem friendly to the environment when, in fact, the industry or the politician is not as wholly amicable as it or he might be. We touched on this concept when we talked about the Christmas tree-growing industry presenting partial evidence of its ecobenefits—tree farms as carbon sinks—while neglecting to mention the polluting pesticides or harvesting helicopters. Greenwashing is a marketing strategy, and one the public might grow ever more susceptible to as our need for energy expands and the CO2 in our atmosphere continues to accumulate. As we grow ever more anxious for answers to our energy problems, we need to foster a healthy skepticism and understand that some of the answers that result won’t b
You have probably heard the term greenwashing, but what is it? Does it require a special detergent? Hot or cold water? Should I separate my greens before washing? Greenwashing is the term used to describe the actions of a company, government or other organization that advertises positive environmental practices while acting in the opposite way. An example from my own lessons I have learned list comes from a meeting several years ago. We asked the convention center if they had recycling. They reported they most certainly did have recycling. During the site inspection, we realized the recycling they had touted was a box next to the photocopier in the sales office. There was no recycling happening anywhere else in the building. Tons and tons of recyclable material were going into the landfill each day. Another example is the motorcoach company that was working very aggressively to get my endorsement, so I asked them to send me their environmental policies. The firm said they were currentl
