Green Options » Greenwash

BBOP | Jazzing Up Business’ Impact On Biodiversity

Chris Milton — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:46:48 +0000

The Business and Biodiversity Offset Program has left me torn: is this a genuine attempt to preserve biodiversity, or just another exercise in corporate greenwashing?

The Business and Biodiversity Offset Program is a work in progress. Its name includes that reviled word “offset”, a red flag for many deep greens.
However, unlike the dreaded carbon offset, this is not a market mechanism which allows industry to greenwash its way through normal operations.

Instead it’s a recognition that large industrial developments have a huge impact upon sensitive natural environments and can undermine the cultural lifestyle of local populations.

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Greenpeace and Kimberly-Clark Accused of Greenwashing

Cindy Tickle — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:59:42 +0000

Last week Greenpeace said it was okay to buy Kimberly-Clark (K-C) products again so I loaded up my shopping cart with Kleenex, Scott paper towels and Cottonelle toilet paper. After years of fighting, Greenpeace and K-C finally reached an agreement. The corporation will begin sourcing fiber responsibly, and the NGO will end its Kleercut campaign. It seems pretty cut-and-dry to me. Or is it?

Sites such as Treehugger.com and Grist.org applauded the agreement. Even the environmental organization, ForestEthics told Grist that K-C’s new sourcing policy “is among the strongest in the world … truly impressive. ForestEthics congratulates Greenpeace and allies for a campaign well run.” Wow, I’m getting all teary-eyed just reading the accolades. I think I need a Kleenex. So why are some folks crying foul?

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Would You Consider This Sustainable Clothing?

Paul Smith — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:00:18 +0000

Writing for three green business blogs, I come across and write about my fair share of ideas. My greenwash filter is quick, swift, and merciless. And then you come across something like Wild Wool, and everything gets confused.

The front page has pleasing images of piles of soft, fuzzy fabric and clothing, made from what it describes as, “…a 100% natural fiber product made from 60% merino wool and 40% paihamu spun together to make a premium cashmere-like fabric that is softer, warmer, and lighter than plain wool.” Sounds good so far, right?

My eyebrow started to cock when I read a seemingly throwaway sentence, without a connecting justification for it: “Eco-friendly and practical - talk about a great way to reduce, reuse and recycle.”

Going to the Ecological Profile page to learn more, I was surprised to read what I can say is the most unique claim to being sustainable I’ve seen in a while - Basically, by killing them for their fur, they are helping restore ecological balance on New Zealand.

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Los Angeles, New York City to Get 500 MINI Es

Jerry James Stone — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:08:49 +0000

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that BMW is giving the city a fleet of MINI Es as part of a feasibility test. In fact, BMW will be testing 500 electric MINIs worldwide. Other cities included in the program are Los Angeles, London and Berlin.

MINI E is the first product from BMW’s Project i program. Project i takes aim at vehicle and transportation strategies for the world’s mega-cities. The cars will be loaned to both customers and the cities for a full year.

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Dell vs. Apple, The Corporate Greenwash Wars

Jennifer Kaplan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:59:23 +0000

Last week, Tom Lauria, Vice President, Communications for the International Bottled Water Association commented on a post about greenwash happening over at Nestle Waters where he accused me of being an anti-corporate type that hides behind ’saving the earth’ to bash businesses because I hate capitalism. My sense is that Tom, and quite possibly others, do not think there is any valid way to criticize green claims made by companies without being anti-corporate and anti-capitalist.

What about when a Dell Exec Knocks Apple’s Green Ads? Is Dell anti-corporate and anti-capitalist because it wants to set the record straight? Dell is currently ranked No. 25 among the Fortune 500 companies and No. 88 in the Fortune Global 500. Since its pretty hard to be anti-corporate and anti-capitalist with those stats, maybe Dell is just calling it like it is.

And as business people, why should we complain about greenwash anyhow?

First, it is not anti-corporate and anti-capitalist to set the record straight on environmental achievements versus environmental distortion. It is every business person’s—from the entrepreneur to the VP of communications at a Fortune 500 company—job to do just that so we do not dilute real environmental achievements.

Second, Bob Pearson, VP—Communities & Conversations at Dell said it well in his blog post:

“…companies who choose to lead have an obligation to be open and transparent. We have a responsibility to engage in dialogue about the environment, whether we agree or disagree with an individual person or group. It all contributes to the greater good.”

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Organic Confusion Galore for Personal Care Products

Delia Montgomery — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:25:32 +0000

Reading forums about the evolution and revolution of organic and natural cosmetics is absolutely mind boggling. Think of revamping the FDA for insight! By necessity, the proposed standards are written for those who know chemistry.

The good news is that this daunting task for harmony is getting done. International collaboration between six European certification bodies: ICEA (Italy), BDIH (Germany), Bioforum (Belgium), Cosmebio/Ecocert (France) and Soil Association (UK) is in process now. Combined they aim to clarify requirements and definitions for organic and/or natural cosmetics to appease formulators and consumers alike.

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Bottled Water VIPs Think We Are Anti-Corporate, Capitalism-Haters

Jennifer Kaplan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:21:40 +0000

A few days ago I posted about how the Director of Communications at Nestlé Waters North America took issue with a previous post about their CEO. This time, Tom Lauria, Vice President, Communications for the International Bottled Water Association responded:

…it’s the middle of day, and you’re running erands and you’re thirsty. You can buy a coffee or a cola but you want something healthy and refreshing, so you buy a nice cold bottle of water. Zero calories. Major hydration — it wakes you up! Any attempt by anyone to get people to drink less water is not in the public interest. Why are you targeting the packaged beverage with the smallest possible carbon fooprint? And it is clear people drink more water when they drink bottled water! At the end of day, there’s GREENSMOG…where anti-corporate types hide behind “saving the earth” to bash businesses because they hate capitalism.

First, I want to say that he has a point. From a public health perspective it is better to promote water that coffee or soda. But what about water fountains? What about Nalgenes and Siggs? That said, I have to admit Tom’s response actually made me roll my eyes. The Vice President of Communications for the bottled water industry thinks that we shouldn’t criticize…the bottled water industry. Surprise, surprise.

However, the part that really got me was how he made one good point and then, given the paucity of reasonable defenses, devolved into grade-school, 1950’s rhetoric: Anti-corporate types bashing businesses because they hate capitalism. Anti-corporate? Hate capitalism? Um, Tom, this is a blog about being an entrepreneur.

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Lessons From The Greenwash Police

Jennifer Kaplan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:47:40 +0000

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the greenwash continues at Nestle Waters as their CEO Kim Jeffery Whines But Still Doesn’t Walk The Walk in a recent Businessweek article. Their Director of Corporate Communications “respectfully disagrees” with the charges.

I would have written about it sooner, but I just noticed this response from Jane Lazgin, Director, Corporate Communications, Nestlé Waters North America:

We’re pleased you agree we should be talking about our Eco-Shape bottles. Like you, we think reducing the plastic content in our bottles is an important step toward a lighter environmental footprint. The Eco-Shape half-liter bottle uses 30% less plastic than the average juice, soda, or other brand of bottled water containers. And, when more than 70 percent of what we drink comes in a bottle or can, why not choose the lightest beverage package?
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Is a California Statewide Ban On Clear Cutting Possible?

Jake Wiest — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:16:21 +0000

Let’s Implement a Clear Cut Ban!

Encouraged by reading about heroes who have taken direct action through non-violent resistance, I recently contacted the California’s North Coast chapter of Earth First! to volunteer my services. You can imagine my surprise when they explained to me that their top foe, the Maxxam Company, was recently taken over by the Humboldt Redwood Company and the Mendocino Redwood Company.

In direct contrast to its predecessor, HRC has committed itself to preserving the remaining old growth forest on its property. Now, North Coast Earth First! is focusing on introducing a bill that will ban clear cutting in all of California.

Research quickly revealed assembly bill 2926, a bill proposed by Sally Lieber last April but killed in committee after heavy opposition from timber lobbyists.

I checked the Humboldt Redwood Company’s web page but the site was under construction under the some sections like forest management and issues & policies. I also checked Mendocino Redwood Company after hearing about positive reformation from them too from NCEF.

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Nestle Waters CEO Whines, But Still Doesn’t Walk The Walk

Jennifer Kaplan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:41:36 +0000

In a recent Businessweek article, Kim Jeffery the CEO of Nestlé Water North America, makers of Poland Spring waters, whines (yes, whines) that they are misunderstood and not given the credit they deserve. Clearly he thinks all the charges of greenwash are unfair.

But, are they? The article tells of all the environmentally preferable things that they had done but that no one knew about. The article then goes on to say:

Part of the reason Nestlé Waters wasn’t touting its environmental efforts, according to Jeffery, was that he and the rest of management considered such actions business as usual.

Yes! That’s the point. the “green” things Nestlé were doing were part of normal business operations, many of which saved the company lots of money. Are they good for the environment? Of course. But that’s not really what greenwashing is all about. Its about consumer marketing. This is where the real greenwashing occurs. Before I go on, I want to say that I truly applaud the industry for implementing eco-bottles. That said, it seems to be a blatant case of greenwash to position bottled water as being good for the environment. Water companies should tout eco-bottles, but they shouldn’t suggest that they are good for the environment. They should sell the water, not the the environmental friendliness of the packaging. I would like to ad, that Nestlé is not the worst offender of greenwashy bottled water ads and their ad campaigns are far less offensive than those for Fuji Water and Deer Park.

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How To Use Cause Marketing Without Causing Chaos

mcmilker — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:23:24 +0000

Environmental Research reports that Cause Marketing can Make a Difference which is good news for social entrepreneurs. A recent survey conducted on consumer packaged goods found that, yes, consumers do prefer and purchase products associated with a charity or cause.

74% increase in actual purchase for a shampoo brand when associated with a cause

(47% of participants who saw the cause-related message chose the brand while only 27% of those who saw the generic corporate advertisement chose the brand)

28% increase in actual purchase for a toothpaste brand when associated with a cause

Triple bottom line entrepreneurs, of course, already know that, or at least have hoped that their efforts to give back will make a difference in sales. But, just giving back isn’t always enough.

Qualitative consumer responses showed that the issue, the nonprofit and the inherent nature of products were key factors in making cause-related purchasing decisions and helped explain why movement in (some) categories was not significant.

In other words, choose well and choose wisely, not only in the non-profit you plan to support, but in how you promote your connection and how you market your product.

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ZapRoot: Killing Bambi for Your Salad

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:57:35 +0000

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

From our friends at ZapRoot: Farmers take it to the extreme to protect their crops. The Auto Alliance has jump on the green bandwagon. These Guys are Full of **it returns.

Links for this week’s edition:

sustainablog - Killing for Crops
Gas 2.0 - Ecodriving with the AAM
EcoScraps - McDonalds Green Billboard
Shell and the Alberta Oil Sands
Sad Hippies

Do Formula One’s Tires Deserve Their New Green Stripes?

Alex Felsinger — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:58:06 +0000

The top tier car racing sport has jumped the gun by adding green stripes to plain ol’ Bridgestone tires for their upcoming race.

Formula One racing announced that cars in the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix will have green striping on their tires to represent “going green.” Currently, there is nothing green about the hyper-horsepower vehicles nor the tires themselves, but the cars do have a remodel coming in the near-future.

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1977 Magazine Advertisement: ‘Solar energy; a practical reality, an expensive dream, which?’

Adam Williams — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:14:48 +0000

Billboard, television and magazine advertising has been touting green this and green that for a while. I find the ones by companies such as BP and Chevron to be the most questionable, if not outright ridiculous.

In the October 2008 Atlantic magazine, as no doubt in many others, BP runs a full-page ad that says, “Investing in America’s most diverse energy portfolio.” It includes little clip art silhouettes for an oil drop, a gas flame, a wind turbine, the sun and a green plant, triggering our cutesy awwww factor. Then it says:

“Oil in the Gulf. Natural gas in the Rockies. Solar in Maryland. Wind in Texas. Biofuels research in California and Illinois. Diversity starts right here. BP is the largest investor in new U.S. energy development. In fact, over the last five years we’ve invested more than $28 billion in U.S. energy supplies.”

They are providing some concrete details for sure. Now is it true? (And, cynicism aside for a moment, if it is, will it do any good?)

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A Big Soapy Greenwash From Dawn Dish Soap

Katy Farber — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:35:23 +0000

As I washed dishes in a house we rented with friends in Maine this summer, I pondered the dish soap (yes, I know many of you are avid label readers, too– what else is there to do when you wash dishes?).

It was Dawn dish soap, and on the label it had a picture of a mallard duck flying. It read, “Rescuing Wildlife for 25 years.” As I searched the label, I found no information about exactly what wildlife they were supposedly saving. Not even a link to a website for more information.

Apparently, us consumers are just supposed to see the wildlife, sigh, and think happy thoughts as we buy Dawn soap to use on our dishes. When in reality, Dawn dish soap is poisoning the very wildlife it is supposedly saving.

How? Dawn antibacterial dish soap contains the chemical Tricolsan, which is in everything from toothpaste, to hand soap, and many, many other household and personal care items, is toxic to both humans and the environment (according the Environmental Working Group).

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Goodyear’s Eco-Tyre Claims All Hot Air

Ross Kendall — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:38:45 +0000

You could be excused for thinking that Australia is on top of its environmental problems based on the amount of talk that business directs towards the issue. But our regulator’s recent swoop on tyre-manufacturer Goodyear’s inflated sales pitch shows that as green issues become mainstream, you have to be more wary of manufactures’ claims, not less.

It would be nice to think that as the world collectively wakes up to its immense environmental challenge that business could be relied on to direct its muscle and intelligence towards addressing these problems, authentically.

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Bamboo Fiber: Greenwash or Treasure?

Delia Montgomery — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:31:46 +0000

The bamboo species for textile production is Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens, commonly known as Moso bamboo. It is primarily grown in China where there are the most textile mills. Moso bamboo is the largest of the temperate zone bamboo species, is grown on family-owned farms, provides edible shoots, but is not what beloved panda bears eat. All sounds good until the manufacturing process is investigated.

Common production from plant to fabric is not as green as eco-minded people would like. Michael Lackman of LotusOrganics.com contributes to an impressive blog his family originated. He shares some interesting facts from extensive research.

Scrutiny is gaining attention because heavy and toxic chemicals are typically utilized to process bamboo into fabric. The alternative to chemical is mechanical processing. The mechanical method means crushing the woody parts of the bamboo plant followed by natural enzymes to break the walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibers can be combed out and spun into yarn. This is essentially the same eco-friendly manufacturing method used to develop flax or hemp linen.

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Is Windex Greener With Greenlist?

mcmilker — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:08:43 +0000

Following The Clorox Company’s launch of Greenworks, their new line of eco friendly household cleaners, S.C. Johnson, maker of Windex announced their own green initiative:

…slapping (the) Greenlist logo on its “eco-friendly” products

So how eco-friendly does this make Windex? Well, some.

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The Six Sins of Greenwash… and How to Repent

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:03:51 +0000

I’ve come across so many claims of “greenwash” in the last year or so that I’ve become a bit inured to them: for some environmental activists, making this charge against any form of corporate sustainability efforts seems reflexive. Of course, my mild cynicism towards such claims isn’t much better: there certainly are marketers that, knowingly or unknowingly, make “green” claims about products, services or practices that don’t deserve them. As the environmental impact of business has come increasingly under scrutiny, and as companies try to respond and/or clean up their acts, the labels seem to fly faster and more frequently — enough that both claims of eco-friendliness and greenwashing could become overused.

So, I was intrigued when I stumbled across the GreenBiz Radio cast entitled “Renouncing the Six Sins of Greenwashing.” After all, GB isn’t traditionally activist in its approach, and does a lot of work with major corporations — I know they wouldn’t use the term lightly. The cast features an interview conducted by Executive Editor Joel Makower with Scot Case of Terrachoice Environmental Marketing. Terrachoice released its report The “Six Sins of Greenwashing”: A Study of Environmental Claims in North American Consumer Markets this month, and Case spelled out the sins themselves, some broad examples of their use, and a some solutions for both consumers and marketers.

Case’s interview with Makower roughly parallels the 15- page report, which is a quick and interesting read. Terrachoice surveyed just over 1,000 products with green claims at “six category-leading big box stores”: all together, these products bore 1,753 environmental claims. After comparing these claims again the “sins,” exactly one product came out completely greenwash-free; the environmental marketing on all of the others showed signs of at least one kind of misleading or outright false statements.

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Quick Rule: “Good” Companies are “Open” Companies

Hemal Vasavada Gill — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:18:31 +0000

Sustainability is a work in progress, so it’s impossible to have all the information to know whether a company’s activities are green enough. However, you can learn whom to trust simply by testing whether a company will genuinely respond to you.

Last Friday, I wrote a piece on The Eightfold on the opportunity for theme parks to green the customer experience. In it I mentioned Bearfire Resort, a year round outdoor ski resort to be built in Dallas, Texas in 2009. Since Texas summers are resource intense, I questioned the value of building a 650,000 square foot ski resort.

Typically when you question a their practices, companies have three standard reactions to potential criticism 1. Manage the situation with PR 2. Ignore it 3. Take the bull by the horns and interact with you. Now the third reaction is pretty rare because it exposes the company to a trial by fire. So I was surprised when Bearfire’s CEO Charlie Aaron commented on The Eightfold to explain not only his commitment to making Bearfire sustainable but also his desire to chart a new course for the leisure industry.

I called Bearfire yesterday to lean more and left a message on Aaron’s direct line. When Aaron called me back last night, I asked him a simple question: what do you aspire to be? I learned Aaron isn’t pursuing a gimmick. He is driven by conviction and vision to keep winter culture alive despite global warming. Why in Texas? Three reasons: to provide a new opportunity to ski, to educate people about winter and create awareness about the environment.

Now Aaron may have been giving me his PR speech, but it seemed unlikely. People who are open are fearless. They are propelled forward by passion and conviction, and I felt Aaron’s willingness to personally return my call promptly and despite being in transit is telling. I finished our half hour conversation open for further dialog and slightly less cynical.

Does this mean I believe skiing in Texas’ sweltering August is a good idea? I haven’t decided. I don’t have the research and science to conclusively reason either way. But I do believe good business has always been and will always be about relationships and trust. We might never conclusively have all the facts, especially since sustainability is a work in progress. But when you’re not sure which companies are worthwhile, ask yourself: who would you rather trust — a gated press department, a non responsive company or a CEO who takes the time to explain his vision to you? My bet’s on the last one.

http://www.bearfireresorts.com/
http://theeightfold.com/?p=278