Greenwashing Revisited

It's no surprise that being environmentally friendly is now big business. Wander down any aisle in any supermarket and you will be bombarded with labels boasting natural, planet-friendly, environmentally responsible ingredients. 98 percent of those claims are false.

So says a report by the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice. Scot Case, representing TerraChoice, testified before Congress in June that fewer than 2 percent of so-called "environmentally friendly" products are telling the truth. 22 percent of the 4000 products studied displayed meaningless certifications. Claims ranged from those that were unverifiable to those that were completely false.

It certainly doesn't help that there are over 300 programs claiming to hand out environmental certifications, and there are no official standards by which to judge a products earth-friendliness.

TerraChoice, out to make money, too, while attempting to clarify what it means to be green, lists Seven Sins of Greenwashing: narrowly defining the environmental benefit to hide detriments; lack of proof of any claims; vague claims; fake certifications; misleading claims; and outright lying.

Occasionally somebody gets caught. The Federal Trade Commission recently cited three companies for making false environmental claims. The FTC is making an effort to curb greenwashing, focusing recently on carbon offsets and green building materials. The Commission plans to study green marketing next. Green Guides, published by the FTC in order to regulate green claims, will be updated this year.

Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization, offers advice for selecting green products: Look for warning labels and first-aid instructions (these are a giveaway that the product can be toxic); don't believe everything you read; read the ingredients (hazardous materials, by law, must be listed); and call the company to ask for a material safety data sheet (which will detail all potentially hazardous ingredients).

Clearly we have a long way to go before our supermarket shelves are stocked only with products that leave little impact on the planet. Meanwhile, be vigilant, use common sense, and minimize your use of known toxins.

For more information on greenwashing, see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/21/green-environment-ecology-congress-us-supermarkets
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E6RS20090415
http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/, http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/the-seven-sins/#trade-off
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/06/10/ftc-cites-kmart-tender-dyna-e-for-false-green-claims/
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-green-cleaning.artjun28,0,6345817.story.

The FTC Green Guides are at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/grnrule/guides980427.htm, and the Consumer Reports site is http://www.greenerchoices.org/.