Environmental Sociology The Seven Sins of Greenwashing Products by: Bailey Schultz

What is Greenwashing? Its is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product

What is wrong with Greenwashing? What’s wrong with greenwashing? well intended consumers can be misled into purchases that do not deliver on that environmental promise competitive pressure from illegitimate claims can take market share away from legitimate products can lead to cynicism and doubt about all environmental claims

Hidden Trade-Offs Suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on: narrow set of attributes without attention to other environmental impacts Emphasis on highly visible actions while other more environmental degrading activities take place out of sight Sustainably harvested does not mean Sustainably produced

Lack Of Proof Suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on: An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible information Lack of reliable third-party certification Post-Consumer Waste Recycled? Says who? 65% recycled

Vague Claims A claim that is poorly defined or so broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood Natural is the biggest culprit Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all natural- but poisonous

Irrelevant Claims Using Claims such as CFC-FREE which has no relevance to a product because CFC’s were banned in 1987

Lesser of Two Evils Claims that may be true within a product category, but intentionally distract the consumer from the broader environmental impacts of the category as a whole ex: 2013 Cadillac Escalante Hybrid? 23 as opposed to 20

Outright Lies The least frequent form of greenwashing, by making environmental claims that are outright false LG caught cheating to achieve Energy Star Rating Test equipment installed with hidden devices to aid in power-efficiency testing The Feather-Duster Fly-Strip Air Freshner

False Labeling An effort to exploit modern consumers’ demand for third party certification with fake labels or claims of third-party endorsement

Stay Informed http://www.greenwashingindex.com/ http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RskNNdH8ZA0 http://www.stopgreenwash.org/