Greenwashing: Better than Nothing?

Greenwashing is a term used quite often these days. To many, it's hard to tell. Here's a dictionary definition (dictionary.com) of Greenwashing:

the practice of promoting environmentally friendly programs to deflect attention from an organization's environmentally unfriendly or less savory activities.

[gotta love the use of "savory"]

Example

A common one that people are starting to see more and more every day is those "eco-shape" water bottles. Many claim to use "15%" less plastic and are "environmentally friendly.

Does anything sound fishy about that? Maybe the fact that they're still made of plastic. As people should know, most plastics are not environmentally friendly at all, and can take over 100 years to decompose in our landfills. In addition, they're made of that non-renewable resource we know as petroleum.

Now, yes, it's nice that they are attempting to green up their otherwise environmentally unsustainable industry, however it is not right to label themselves as eco-friendly. It's one of those industries that would be better off going out of business since plastic bottles don't belong in our more sustainable future.


6 Six Sins of Greenwashing™

TerraChoice, an environmental marketing firm, released a study in 2007 that detailed the "6 Sins of Greenwashing." The study found more than 99% of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study were guilty of greenwashing. A total of 1,753 environmental claims made, with some products having more than one, and out of the 1,018 studied only one was found not guilty of making a false or misleading green marketing claim. Here are the "6 Sins:"

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off - 998 products or 57% of all environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: an electronic product that claims to be energy efficient but consists of environmentally hazardous materials.
2. Sin of No Proof - 454 products or 26% of environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: products claiming to be organic or 100%-degradable with no proof or certification.
3. Sin of Vagueness - 196 products or 11% of all environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: products that claim to consist of only natural products when in fact many naturally-occuring substances are hazardous and harmful to the environment.
4. Sin of Irrelevance - 78 products or 4% of all environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: products that claim to be CFC-(chlorofluorocarbons) or DDT-(Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane) free when in reality those substances have been illegal for quite some time.
5. Sin of Fibbing - 10 products or less than 1% of all environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: products that falsely claim certification by environmental standards such as Energy Star.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils - 17 products or 1% of environmental claims committed this Sin. Example: organic cigarettes, eco-friendly pesticides.

Conclusion

However, in the end, it's better than nothing. Eco-shape bottles that use less plastic is better than bottles that use more plastic. Pesticides with less harmful chemicals are better than pesticides with more harmful chemicals. But these companies should not label themselves as totally "green" or eco-friendly when in reality the very nature of their business harms the environment in some way or form. So, before you go out and buy a new "eco-friendly" product, do a little research on it; you may find a Sin.