Fossil fuel: A motorist fills up his car at a gas station in Jakarta. greenlifestyle.or.id suggests that when you purchase something that clearly has a large carbon footprint, don’t be fooled by the advertising. JP/Ricky Yudhistira
You want to be a responsible consumer who avoids putting a greater burden on this strained Earth, and you’re willing to shell out more money for green products.
But nowadays, the terms “green” or “environmentally friendly” are have been hijacked as a marketing gimmick. The practice is also called greenwashing.
Environmental group Greenpeace coined the term in the 1990s in the United States, when several corporations tried to pass themselves off as eco-friendly at a trade fair taking place in Washington, DC.
Many environmental activists there at the time found many of these companies were actually America’s worst polluters, Greenpeace said.
US-based watchdog CorpWatch defines greenwashing as “the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment,” sourcewatch.org says.
CorpWatch releases Greenwash Awards every two months to corporations that “put more money, time and energy into slick PR campaigns aimed at promoting their eco-friendly images, than they do to actually protecting the environment.”
sinsofgreenwashing.org released its Greenwashing Report 2009 and reported that the average number of “green” products per store in the United States almost doubled between 2007 and 2008, while green advertising almost tripled between 2006 and 2008.
Tips to identify greenwashing:
• Blurbs that use the word green, but in which case it is difficult to prove any environmental benefit. Example: “Let’s go green by joining our fun bike.”
• Use of pseudo-scientific words that don’t actually exist: “This product contains new ingredients called eco-something.”
• Unproven claims: “This product helps you reduce emissions by 80 percent.”
• Products widely known for having large carbon footprints or being hazardous, but claimed as environmentally friendly or healthy. These include gasoline, motorcycles, cars, cigarettes and insecticide.
• Greenlifestyle suggests that consumers not fall for believing they are helping reduce carbon emissions by buying such products.
• Inappropriate use of the recycled logo, e.g. food cartons that have the recycled logo, whereas the product is highly unlikely to be made from recycled material.
• Greenlifestyle suggests that supermarkets that provide green bags but make no further effort are guilty of greenwashing as well.
to help reduce greenwashing:
• Avoid products from proven greenwashing companies.
• Upon noticing greenwashing, file a complaint with the company.
• Inform friends and family about greenwashing.
More information:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
http://www.stopgreenwash.org
http://www.greenwashingindex.org
http://www.corpwatch.org
http://www.sinsofgreenwashing.org
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