What is Greenwashing?

In the past few years, the Green Movement has become evermore pervasive in our society. More and more people have changed their purchasing habits that they are more willing to accept green products.

Unfortunately, as consumers become more conscious of the decisions on choosing products, corporations and government have started to realize the marketing power behind selling “green” products. They do not only spend lots of money to promote themselves as environmental friendly or green in public eyes, but also attempt to cloak the negative impact of their products by using all forms of advertising and public imaging such as printing environmental friendly logo onto their products. This act of misleading consumer regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service is GREENWASHING.

"The term greenwashing was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld in a 1986 essay regarding the hotel industry's practice of placing placards in each room promoting reuse of towels ostensibly to "save the environment". Westerveld noted that, in most cases, little or no effort toward waste recycling was being implemented by these institutions, due in part to the lack of cost-cutting affected by such practice. Westerveld opined that the actual objective of this "green campaign" on the part of many hoteliers was, in fact, increased profit. Westerveld hence monitored this and other outwardly environmentally conscientious acts with a greater, underlying purpose of profit increase as greenwashing."

TerraChoice first published the "Sins of Greenwashing" study in 2007. It measured the incidence of false and misleading environmental claims. The objective was to encourage legitimate “green” claims by disclosing those that are not. The 2007 report identified six such sins, and 2010 edition adds the seventh. According to the study, the following are the seven sins of greenwashing committed by retailers and manufacturers:

· Sin of the Hidden Trade-off
· Sin of No Proof
· Sin of Vagueness
· Sin of Irrelevance
· Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
· Sin of Fibbing
· Sin of Worshipping False Labels

The basic of greenwashing explained through cartoon:

Tom Fishburne's explaination on the inspiration of this piece:

"This cartoon idea sprang fully formed from a New York Times piece on the ridiculous lengths that some brands are going to be considered for the Home Depot Eco Options promotion (including, yes, a brand of electric chainsaw). It's a good example of some of the outlandish greenwashing we're all starting to see. And, how the issue is not as white and black as the old treehugger/lumberjack dynamic."