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"Hypocrisy is the first step toward real change" -- Hunter Lovins
A term merging the concepts of “green” (environmentally sound) and “whitewashing” (to conceal or gloss over wrongdoing). Greenwashing is any form of marketing or public relations that links a corporate, political, religious or nonprofit organization to a positive association with environmental issues for an unsustainable product, service, or practice.
In some cases, an organization may truly offer a “green” product, service or practice. However, through marketing and public relations, one is wrongly led to believe this “green” value system is ubiquitous throughout the entire organization.
The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating piece a couple of weeks ago on the emergence of the reusable bag as the go-to green choice of retailers nationwide – and the eco-disaster these bags represent.
A lot of leading retailers offer reusable bags – they’re the hip new green thing to be doing… and some municipalities (San Francisco) and retailers (Ikea) have taken the initiative to forbid the use of the ubiquitous "disposable" plastic bag.
But at what cost?
Most reusable bags are usually comprised of a percentage of reused content – meaning that most of those reusable bags are using mostly virgin material. And, because reusable bags are designed to be sturdier, they require more raw material and can require up to 28 times as much energy.
Furthermore, the severity of environmental impact of plastic bags has been disputed (while I personally disagree with this argue it is important to mention.) A recent Newsweek article quotes Rob Krebs from the American Chemistry Council, "Only 4 to 5 percent of all fossil fuels produce all the plastics annually consumed in the U.S. Now, 29 percent of those plastics are used in packaging. So if you follow the reasoning, 29 percent of 5 percent of all fossil fuels is about 1.5 percent. So plastic bags are a minuscule percent of our resources," a statistic that environmental groups do not refute.
A few weeks ago the Dow Chemical Company released its 2007 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Report with UN Global...[read more]
There’s nothing like Green to attract Green. In this case, the just concluded AlwaysOn Going Green 2008 Conference attracted a...[read more]
The video below is the funniest propaganda I've seen since the infamous "CO2, We call it life" shenegins a couple...[read more]
The next generation Toyota Prius , due out for the 2010 model year, will offer the option of rooftop solar panels . Produced by Kyocera, the panels are expected to produce no more than about 1 kilowat...[read more]
IBM made a respectable but surprising move when it sold off its PC hardware business in 2004 to focus on...[read more]
Top Five green marketing events. If you´re a seasoned green marketing professional and would like to meet up with other pros, check out this top five of green marketing events around the globe.[read more]
McDonald’s, the world-famous fast-food chain best known for its golden arches and Big Macs, bills itself as a leader...[read more]
As the largest consumer and small business bank, BofA (NYSE: BAC) can have a major positive or negative impact on...[read more]
A recent column in Adweek addressing greenwashing in the advertising industry warns that if new regulations are being implemented to curb greenwashing this would negatively affect innovation in the industry...[read more]
Is greenwashing really a disinformation campaign by corporations trying to win over the conscious consumer? Or is it just...[read more]
As many consumers continue to question the impact of their bottled water guilty pleasures, somehow a company called the Water...[read more]
Every month when I see the magazine Seed in my mailbox I can’t wait to sit down and read it....[read more]
As a longtime proponent of the power of blogging as a more democratic, open communications tool, I've always encouraged companies...[read more]
I’m as jaded as the next guy when it comes to companies touting their green chops but, on closer inspection,...[read more]
On Thursday, Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO of General Motors came to San Francisco to speak about the future of...[read more]
The world’s major oil companies make big claims about the environment these days. From having sound environmental policies in place...[read more]
The UN’s Kyoto Protocol and Clean Development Mechanism, cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emissions trading systems—nothing but a con and the latest gambit by the international - predominantly Western - political, corporate and media elite to further enrich and secure themselves while doing less than nothing to address environmental degradation and climate change, claims New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment.[read more]
Hot on the heels of their acquisition of Burt's Bees, among the more respected "green" brands out there, Clorox...[read more]
In a sign that eco friendly shoes are moving out of the hemp, vegan, crunchy cliches and into the broader...[read more]
Public skepticism and mistrust of businesses’ efforts to “go green” not only pose problems for corporations making honest, substantive efforts to do so, they pose significant obstacles for the type of local-to-globally coordinated efforts necessary to mitigate climate change and enhance energy security. Bridging this credibility gap was the subject of a recent GreenPepper “Eco-Concerns” survey. [read more]
Green certification programs such as the Green Council’s EPEAT are an effective means of getting past organizational greenwash…Even more importantly, they’re making an increasing, positive impact on electronics recycling volumes and practices. Individual consumers need to help shoulder the burden, however, and OEMs can do more to make it easier to recycle and reuse products and parts.[read more]
America's "Toxic 10," a special report put out by Conde Nast portfolio.com, demonstrates that we have entered a new...[read more]
Greenwash is a new addition to the English lexicon and a practice that offers businesses a potentially quick and high return. Those are likely to turn out to be ephemeral, and even damaging, not only to practitioners but to other organizations intent on making honest efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and environmental degradation.[read more]
Back in December I wrote about the upcoming launch of a Greenwashing Index website from EnviroMedia in partnership with University of Oregon...[read more]
Green goes under ground, six feet under and currently being spear-headed in Oregon by and environmentally-friendly funeral products dealer...[read more]
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