The Climate Counts Scorecard is a collaborative effort to help consumers make a conscious decision for the products and services they buy. The scorecard rates some of the largest companies on their climate impact. The non-profit now has an iPhone app, so you can have the Scorecard with you wherever you go.
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.
Seriously? The Fur Council of Canada has the nerve to call the sale of fur an “ecological choice in harmony with nature”. Last time we checked, the processing of fur requires the death of an animal. There is no amount of carbon credit or offset you can purchase to make fur an environmentally friendly clothing option.
Among their claims: “If we don’t use part of what nature produces, we will use petroleum-based synthetics or other materials that may damage the environment…”
Read more about this afront to the environmental movement.
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.
Redesign your label to include the color green, leaves, trees, or the recycle symbol.
Change the name of your product to include the words “eco, green, or enviro”. (For example: a Widget becomes an Eco-Widget)
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.
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?
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.
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”.
Here is a bit more greenwashing from Coca-Cola. Although they are encouraging consumers to recyle, which is a good thing, they imply a bit more eco-friendliness than is accurate. See this post to learn more about what Coke does to “be green”.
This is a good time to mention that just because a company is discussed on our blog, doesn’t mean we think all of their efforts are a sham. Coke is doing a big thing by spending advertising dollars to help people remember to recycle. Greenwashing or not.
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).
One of the perennial themes of the greenwashing movement is the lack of governmental oversight. The green movement is a recent development in our culture and Government often takes years (or decades!) to catch up.
Because of this lack of oversight, companies can throw out false claims about their environmental friendliness virtually unchecked. The UK has seen a lot of greenwashing lately and a new steering committee has been formed to develop tighter guidelines to supervise environmental claims made by companies.
The committee will include the Advertising Standards Association. The ASA fields complaints about greenwashing in advertising so they are suitably placed to head up this effort.
