Greenwashing: The Six Sins Of Greenwashing

Greenwashing, the term used when a company misleads a consumer regarding its environmental practices, can make it difficult for the average eco-newbie to know what's truly best for Mother Earth.

Terra Choice, a Canadian environmental marketing agency, is attempting to make it easier for you to decipher who are the good guys and who is doing the greenwashing.

The company lists the Six Sins of Greenwashing on its website so you can wise up to the tricks.

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off
The example given is paper, and though that paper might come from a sustainably managed forest, there are trade-offs such as the impacts of milling and transportation that are ignored.

2. Sin of No Proof
Personal care products are mentioned here. Shampoos and conditioners often claim to not have been tested on animals, but offer no proof or way to verify the information.

3. Sin of Vagueness
Terms such as "all-natural," "environmentally friendly" and other vague or unregulated descriptors can mislead consumers.

read all the greenwashing sins here

Comments

[sheila]

thank you for placing this RIGHT NEXT TO THE PICKENS "WIND" PLAN!

he is guilty of several of these sins, especially the hidden tradeoff.

why don't people know that each wind and solar "farm" permanently obliterates 10,000 acres of previously pristine, intact, functioning wilderness? some are built on previously developed land, yes, but most are built on federal BLM land, which is mostly nature habitat.ho­w is that "renewable?" is that good for the planet when there are alternatives which will preserve this ecosystem?

why don't people know that they are being bled dry by Big Energy (even if they call themselves Big Solar and Big Wind) which is trying to force through massive, centralized power plants and new, privately owned powerlines before America wakes up and realizes it should have energy independence, not just from Big Foreign Energy but from ALL Big Energy?

the sin of Vagueness is in these articles cheerleading the "revenues" generated by his wind program, as though we are all going to benefit, but they are being paid into ONE POCKET, instead of into ALL OF OUR POCKETS...

too many sins to mention, but Pickens and Schwarzenegger ought to get together - they are the biggest greenwashers out there, with plenty of help from Big Enviros...

[GeeBee]

Re: #2. Any ingredient in any shampoo/cosmetic etc is likely to have been tested on animals at some point. As Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop used to say, there is no need for any new formulation of those same damn ingredients to be tested all over again on animals, nor do we need any more new ingredients to add to the thousands already approved for use on humans. BTW Europe is about to totally ban such animal testing, so products there will verifiably not have been animal tested.

[lamarguerite]

I wrote very similar post in my blog six months ago:

http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/the-six-sins-of-greenwashing/