Over the past three days we’ve seen what we’ve been calling “A Greener Shade of Greenwash” from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

In Part One we laid the foundation. Showing how the NRA uses slick marketing and well-produced multimedia to deliver a message supposedly promoting green business practices, emphasizing the advantages of appealing to the eco-minded customer and implementing sustainability best practices. The NRA says they offer the Greener Restaurant program as a solution for restaurateurs.

In Part Two we saw step-by-step how an imaginary restaurant - Green Wallace Wash – becomes Certified/Recognized by the NRA as a “Greener Restaurant” three times over, all by doing nothing more than paying the annual membership fee and going online and making false claims about its internal sustainability program – all endorsed by the National Restaurant Association’s Greener Restaurant program.

We discuss the National Restaurant Association’s attempt to sidestep accountability for a program with no standards, benchmarks, or verification by insisting such burden is on the shoulders of the consumer, not the organization granting the endorsement.

In Part Three we examined the Conserve Solutions Center, a pavilion planned for the exhibit floor of the upcoming National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on May 22-25.

The Conserve Solutions Center is promoted as an opportunity for business-to-business marketing of “green business solutions,” an opportunity to display green products and services for interested restaurant owners.

We saw how “Troy,” a prospective exhibitor at the Conserve Solutions Center submitted four items for consideration: two products made of virgin plastic, one cleaning product clearly stated as made from 100% Chlorine and ethyl cellusolve (a chemical listed in California as a hazardous material), and a Styrofoam cup. When specifically asked if the products were acceptable for inclusion at the Conserve Solutions Center, a representative from the NRA replied in an email: “Your products are a great fit for the Conserve Solutions Center”.

We have established a clear pattern of the kind of cynicism, deception, and false claims that define the worst in greenwashing. It should not – indeed it can not – be the burden of the customer to benchmark and verify claims implicitly and explicitly endorsed by the organization issuing the endorsement - or the endorsement means nothing. That is a truth the semantical argument in which the National Restaurant Association would have us engage over a “recognition” vs. a “certification” program cannot dissuade.

The National Restaurant Association has undertaken a sophisticated, well-planned, and intentional greenwash campaign. It ultimately hurts those it professes to help, casting doubt and suspicion on legitimately benchmarked and verified sustainability programs.

And there’s one more thing.

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The Conserve Solution Center - Providing real solutions or pushing greenwash?

In parts One and Two of our series A Greener Shade of Greenwash, we demonstrate how the National Restaurant Association (NRA), through their Greener Restaurant program and Conserve website, employ a compelling message aimed at restauranteurs interested in the advantages of implementing sustainability best practices in their operations.

From attracting the growing number of eco-minded customers actively seeking out green dining options to appealing to the sincere, sustainability-minded business owner, the NRA offers as a solution the Greener Restaurant program. A program that, as we see in part Two of this series, requires nothing more than payment of the $250 annual membership fee and basic computer skills to produce signed Greener Restaurant certificate and a host of marketing materials, including use of the Greener Restaurant logo. It doesn’t even require an actual restaurant to be recognized by the National Restaurant Association as a Greener Restaurant.

It is a program with no standards, benchmarking, or verification, claiming instead that such burden rests with the consumer. It is, therefore, a program that is meaningless and detrimental to the cause it claims to support. Instead of a solution, the Greener Restaurant program only creates confusion and suspicion.

Now we’ll turn our attention to the upcoming National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on May 22-25, and NRA plans to set up a pavilion on the exhibit floor called the Conserve Solution Center. In a press release the NRA says this about the purpose of the exhibit:

“Restauranteurs looking for ways to ramp up environmental efforts and find greener business solutions will find the information, products, services, and contacts they need…”

Care to guess what kind of products and services the NRA sees as “green business solutions?” (Here’s a hint: remember that Styrofoam cup we introduced back in part one?)

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Fake certification program results in confusion and misrepresentation

This story is exclusive to TheGreenWashingBlog.com

Four decades ago, around the time of the first Earth Day, a person wouldn’t think twice about tossing a styrofoam cup in the trash after a single gulp of water. Most people wouldn’t have a notion what they should even think twice about. After all, there’s plenty where that came from.

These days most people are at least vaguely aware that with the casual toss of a styrofoam cup goes an enormous amount of resources. Resources suddenly turned into unyielding waste. Many might still toss the cup, but people are generally smarter about “being green,” for lack of a better phrase, than they were forty years ago.

That’s what makes the National Restaurant Association’s new “Greener Restaurants” program so insidious.

TheGreenWashingBlog has acquired insider information and evidence that show how the National Restaurant Association (NRA) plays on (and hides behind) that increased consumer awareness – to the detriment of both customer and business owner. We will reveal over the next several days how the NRA offers to its members what is essentially a bogus green restaurant certification program. Though the NRA calls it a “recognition” program to deflect the responsibility and integrity of actual certification, we will show how any such distinction is the same as that between green and greenwash.

With no benchmarks or verifiable standards this is a program that allows both unscrupulous and well-meaning restaurant owners to claim adherence to sustainability practices in their business, and to display that claim to the public. The scheme muddies the waters between what is green and what is greenwash, leaving the diner hoping to patronize  a verified sustainably-run establishment out in the cold. It’s hit or miss at best because all it really takes to be endorsed by the National Restaurant Association as a “greener restaurant” is green. Money. Cold, hard cash.

And it all starts with exactly the right message…

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I love Seventh Generation.  Seriously, they are a forward thinking company who virtually single-handedly changed the consumables market by offering quality, bio-degradable and other earth-friendly products at a competitive price.

However, while attending an event outside their corporate headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, I saw this photo.  I don’t believe any company can run without waste, but this picture is at the very least, worth a chuckle.

With all due respect, Seventh Generation could probably reduce their waste some.

Some companies think they can jump on the green bandwagon (thereby sharing in the dramatically increasing sales in the green market) without really trying.  We wrote about steps to greenwash your product here.  But some companies don’t even read our guide and trying half-assed, half-witted attempts at greening their products.  Cracked did a lovely job of calling out 6 half-assed attempts at greenwashing here.

This post is written in a sarcastic tone.  We apologize if anyone is offended but it was necessary to write in this tone to get the message across.  The Greenwashing Blog is all about greenwashing.  Greenwashing is the act of making misleading claims about environmental friendliness.  If you’re a business without morals or ethics, here is your very helpful guide on how to greenwash your product.

1. Redesign your label to include the color green, leaves, trees, or the recycle symbol.
2. Change the name of your product to include the words “eco, green, or enviro”.  (For example: a Widget becomes an Eco-Widget)
3. Market your product in green living magazines and websites like Treehugger.com, Grist.org or WebEcoist.com.  Their eco-conscious readers will assume your product is environmentally friendly just because it’s on their favorite green blog.
4. Describe your product with an eco-friendly spin.  For example, “Go Green with this crude oil burning SUV!”  Sounds nice and eco-friendly doesn’t it?

There! Your product is now a complete greenwash!

This is a stretch from actual greenwashing but is close enough that we thought it to be a good topic to bring up.  This whole idea of “going green” is not a new concept.  Many of us see this as a recent trend… a movement even.  However our elders have “gone green” quite a bit.  Perhaps not with the whole industrial revolution period, but in other ways.  Here’s what we mean:

• Drying clothes on a line instead of in the clothes dryer.  (This was an economic choice more than an environmental one, but it’s the result that matters)
• Paper towels are a new thing.  Our parents and grandparents used cloth towels over and over.
• They bought second hand.  Not everyone did, but it was a much more common way to save a few bucks.  With the advent of Craigslist and Freecycle, this should be a bigger tool of the eco-conscious.
• Remember Victory Gardens?  We don’t either, but learned about them in school.  Growing your own food is one of the biggest steps a consumer can take to green their diet and our forefathers relied much more on their own food.
• Canning use to be a bigger thing than it is today.  Along with growing your own food, storing it long term is a very eco-conscious step that was taken by our elders.
• Making your own clothes/mending clothes was a no-brainer yesterday.  Today we tend to think “time for a new one”.
• Our grandparents cleaned with things like Vinegar, not Magic Erasers (who knows what they put in that thing to make it “magic”.
• Reuse and repurpose – again, a standard practice in the old days.  Now our culture tends to look at new things as the only option.  Heck, we even have things for which there is no practical need just because someone on TV said we needed it. (Read: plastic christmas tree garland holders)
• And finally: turning the thermostat down.  Heat = money my grandfather might have said.  We are a little spoiled now with our heaters, air conditioners, air filters and ionizers.    Instead of turning the heat up, go put on a sweater you just mended and eat some canned peaches.

Source: The Huffington Post

The CFL (compact fluorescent lights) thing is really overdone.  That is the go-to go-green tip and the first thing people say when defending their greenness.

However Sylvania took it to the next level by offering an “EcoBright” bulb for headlights.  Good rule of thumb: if it says “eco” in the name, it’s probably not.

The bulb apparently reduces watt usage by 9-21%.  However, the watts used to power headlights generated by the alternator in your car is negligable at best.  Therefore this wattage savings is hardly helpful, let alone “eco friendly”.

Read more at Sylvania’s website.

This example of greenwashing is not as disgusting as some we’ve seen.  But as the user from the Greenwashing index suggested, the implication of this ad is the troublesome part.

Coca-Cola is not “green” or eco-friendly in any way.  We looked into the company’s eco record and found the following.

The pros: We found this program, a collaboration between Coke and Ecoist that seeks to repurpose misprinted bottles and cans.

They developed a new can that uses 5% less aluminum, saving 15,000 metric tons of aluminum every year.  The down side: it is being used in the UK only.

The cons: Although Coke released a new “eco-friendly” bottle made in part from molasses and sugar, they plan to test the new packaging in their Dasani bottle water line.  Does anyone else smell an oxymoron?  Bottled water is one of the biggest affronts to environmental well being in the 21st century.

Their corporate website has a lot of information about sustainability, or does it?  Don’t you hate it when greenwashers place a picture of a really happy person when talking about their environmental friendliness?  These images are available all over the web and are simply a marketing technique.  No, this woman is not shining in eco-orgasmic appreciation of Coca-Cola’s green efforts.

They talk a good talk in the opening flash animation but don’t outline any specifics.

Here is an example of their greenwashing: They claim to have reduced water consumption by 9% since 2004.  Woah!  You mean you have reduced 9% of your water usage in only 6 years?  That was probably an economic choice.  Of course, they can always add more sugar to their product…

Our vote: Coke is not green.  Actually, it’s kind of a weird brown color – why is that appealing?

Petroleum companies have some of the deepest pockets and therefore can rebrand themselves on a whim.  Well, when their V.P. of Marketing tells them they should.  So why haven’t they all started calling themselves “green”?  They have!  In fact, the biggest three have all started marketing campaigns indicating how environmentally friendly they are:

Nomatter how you brand it, or how “green” you paint your product, it is still black, polluting, caustic, volatile, limited, foreign-made and fatal.

If these companies want to impress us, they should indicate how much of their immense profits they are pouring into renewable energy (No, “Clean Coal” doesn’t count).