Greenwash is the attempt to make something appear more environmentally responsible. Cleaner, more efficient, less toxic. It is generally a marketing ploy that has little to do with improvement of any substance. It is about looking good rather than making real change. It has some very negative impacts. The public who grow accustomed to hearing environmental rhetoric become "jaded" and believe less of what they hear because they start to see through the insincere marketing. This has the potential for genuinely "green" products, programs and ideas to be discarded without true consideration. It also has the potential to distract the public from truly good solutions. A manufacturer who uses "greenwash" in marketing their product may gain more customers who are convinced they are doing something environmentally responsible when really those customers were persuaded for reasons with no real merit.
[caption id="attachment_253" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Not all that is "green" is green."]
[/caption]See this wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwash
And this entry http://www.howstuffworks.com/greenwashing.htm
The public are perceptive and will pick up on many of these greenwashing messages, but truly people are busy and don't have time to research and verify each and every claim that corporations are using. And those corporations have huge budgets and entire departments dedicated to getting their message across. What can be done?
1. Educate the public about greenwashing so these marketing messages are less effective and less attractive to corporate marketeers. By exposing those messages.
2. Notify corporations that their greenwashing messages have been heard, analyzed and rejected. Encouraging them to make real change rather than talking about it.
3. Persuade governing bodies to regulate and restrict the abuse of greenwashing since it is essentially a deceptive practice that entices customers to make choices not based on a real benefit.
4. Encourage all people to disregard "rhetoric" and to pursue real environmental progress.
Interested? Lets get started.
I am welcoming volunteers to do the following:
1. Identify existing greenwash education efforts that are underway (why re-invent the wheel if someone out there has a perfectly good wheel).
2. Post occurences of greenwash which the public should know about.
3. Strategize around which governing bodies should be contacted to improve their response to greenwash.
4. Complete a strategy for notifying companies that their greenwash is not acceptable.
(Yes we are at the beginning here, but with a little collaboration and a few tools we can make a very real difference.)
Do you share my concern? Drop me a comment.
