How to See Through Greenwashing

As more pressure is put on companies and organizations to get or stay environmentally friendly, more companies have adopted tactics of making products and practices seem green-friendly when in fact they're not. These greenwashing techniques are used by companies large and small, in the private sector and government. Detect greenwashing to stay eco-friendly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Look for hidden trade-offs such as a polluting chemicals contained in products or appliances that claim to be "energy efficient." Also question what it means for the product to be energy efficient by finding out if it's more efficient compared to previous models, to competitors' products or by some arbitrary standard.
2. Ask yourself why a company or brand is making a big push at marketing its green virtues all of a sudden. While the company may not be pushing a lie, it might be trying to divert attention from other operations it runs, or ran in the past, which are environmentally disastrous and still need to be addressed.
3. Follow the paper trail to find parent companies, since environment-offending umbrella corporations use subsidiary companies to do greenwashing for them. Check and see, for example, if the new "great habitat" coming to your area is actually the natural sanctuary it sounds like or if it's just another golf course being built by a mega-contractor.
4. Keep an eye out for vague environmental certifications that are in actuality well marketed lies. Check with well known environmental watchdogs to see if a given environmental certification is authentic and meaningful or if it's merely a trademark that helps the green in the company's bank accounts more than the green of the environment.