Greenwashing
Let us not forget the time, not that long ago, in the mid-century, where doctors smoked and recommended their pregnant patients to do so too. So for capital gain, people will say anything. All images taken from Envisioning the American Dream which they sourced from vintage Time Magazine and Camel advertisements.
Today as Earthlings and netizens, we are being bombarded by terms that have been bastardised by Big Agriculture/Tech/Gas/Pharma. But if you know how they use their words, colours, perfectly made advertisements to manipulate you, it won’t work. If you re-learn the laws of logic, to questions things, to assume that everything you see if out to trick you into buying something you do not need, you will be left shocked, one, and two just living a better life.
There might as well be no regulations in place for marketing, advertising, and sponsored content.
Check out companies who greenwash. Earth.org’s article, Medium’s article, and Eco-Business’s article.
What the cluck is Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is defined as “when companies invest more time and money on marketing their products or brand as “green” rather than actually doing the hard work to ensure that it is sustainable” . And Cambridge Dictionary says greenwashing is designed “to make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.” I am not a professional writer so check out this article.
Here are some other inconspicuous examples to lookout for:
Food - when processed foods (chips, cookies, ice cream) are flexing about how “100% natural”, “organic”, “non-gmo” or “pure” just in a green packaging. Beware. *See cometics about FDA’s lack of efficiecy.
Clothing - Organic cotton and hemp, recycled cotton and Tencel is great. Everything else is questionable.
“Compostable” “Biodegradable” single-use plastics is slapping lipstick on a pig, bio-plastics are not the solution. Check out this article and this one by BBC. With the exception of Avani whose founder drinks the melted cassava plastic and Grounded Packaging which is ABA Home Compostable.
“Paper” takeaway cups and Tetra-Packs are incinerator bound. Recycling facilities if your city has one, only takes single types (see number in triangle on plastic, paper, or aluminum, or glass colour).
Cosmetics - I will leave you with this simple fact “The EU law bans 1,328 chemicals from cosmetics that are known or suspected to cause cancer, genetic mutation, reproductive harm or birth defects. In comparison, the U.S. FDA has only banned or restricted 11 chemicals from cosmetics.” Unless you are buying from a small business owner, I wouldn’t trust it.
If it’s too good to be true, it is.
“Sustainability” buzzwords that are being greenwashed:
Sustainable
Green
Eco-friendly
Environmentally conscious
Eco warrior
Natural
Clean
Biodegradable
Good words to look out for:
Positive impact
Social impact
For the people, for the planet (on its way out)
Social enterprise (on its way out)
Regenerative
Closed-loop System
Circular Economy
Intersectional Environmentalism
Other good signs:
Logos
B Corp Certified (Best)
One Percent for the Planet
Living Wages
Certified Carbon Neutral
GOTS
In general:
Transparency
Oversharing and details
Ability to reach the Founder
