#10 – Greenwashing is now a familiar word. It can be described as a deceptive marketing tactic aimed at promoting a product or an organization based on unproven or unmerited environmental claims. In March 2009 TerraChoice revealed that “98% of products committed at least one of the sins of greenwashing”. Although the environmental consulting firm identified seven sins, we condensed them into three, which in our opinion are the most used and also represent the worst type of greenwashing. These practices are perversely dangerous, as they tend to add confusion and mistrust about green claims. Continue Reading »

Even when the obvious overrated environmental claims abuse the green ideologist inside of me, the pragmatist who meets the ideologist regularly found some benefits to what green experts Steve Ashkin and Scot Case call greenwashing and blame manufacturers and marketers for bringing confusion in the buyers mind, and a practice Joel Makower sees as – mainly – sloppy marketing (see previous post).
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The first time I heard the term greenwashing, it came from Steve Ashkin, a respected and outspoken green advocate. We were at a green cleaning conference in San Diego, California in 20004 (he was the keynote speaker) and we had the “Pope of Green Cleaning” just for ourselves over dinner. What a treat!

He was reflecting on his long journey to greening the cleaning and maintenance industry. “A conference like this one would have attracted 20 to 30 people two years ago. Continue Reading »