It’s hard to overstate just how much public interest in sustainability has picked up in the years since. This increasing environmental consciousness is amazing, and it’s something that will serve us well in the climate decade. However, it does come with one unfortunate side effect, and that’s an uptick in greenwashing. “It’s basically when organizations succumb to the temptation to present a different image from what’s really there,” Renee Lertzman, Ph.D., Project Inside Out founder and a psychologist who specializes in the mental toll of climate change, tells mbg. “It’s a particular image or facade that purports to be in alignment with sustainability and climate issues—but it’s not the real deal.” Instead of doing something about this flaw, that company is trying to sweep it under the rug. In an age of climbing temperatures, violent extreme storms, and egregious attacks on human rights, this environmentally damaging tactic only adds fuel to the (sometimes literal) fire. Greenwashing also violates trust, which can have a negative psychological impact on consumers. “The influence of greenwashing is so profoundly detrimental because it just adds to the undermining of trust,” Lertzman adds. “[It] exploits our natural and understandable concern and anxiety about what’s going on with the environment.” When companies greenwash, it only adds to the environmental issues we’re facing today: Unchecked greenhouse gas emissions, land destruction, the overconsumption of natural resources like water, and landfills full of plastic, clothes, electronics, furniture, mattresses, and everything in between. Unfortunately, greenwashing is hard to spot and even harder to stop. That’s because there’s no universal standard for what constitutes greenwashing, no governing body verifying a product’s sustainability claims before it hits shelves. A lot of the words you see on packaging (natural, green, eco-friendly) have been overused and diluted to the point of losing all meaning. So in some instances, companies may not even realize they’re greenwashing when they put them on a label or webpage. When a term doesn’t have a good definition, it becomes really easy to co-opt and abuse. The specific term greenwashing was coined in a 1986 essay by environmentalist Jay Westerveld1. He pegged it to hotels that asked guests to reuse towels as part of a larger environmental strategy that didn’t actually exist. “These hotels appeared to be only engaging in environmental responsibility to save money,” Tiffany Gallicano, Ph.D., an associate professor of public relations at UNC–Charlotte and author of A Critical Analysis of Greenwashing Claims, explains to mbg. “It seemed disingenuous to encourage guests to be environmentally responsible when these hotels were being environmentally reckless.” To navigate the murky waters, here are some general strategies I use when reading about new companies. Keeping them in mind as you’re shopping can help you suss out who is actually furthering the environmental cause, and who’s just trying to make a buck: Companies don’t need to have every detail of their operations on their website, but they should at least provide some context as to what their major claims actually mean. Typically, I’ll also look to make sure these sustainability pages are up to date. If all the reports or data on there are from 10 years ago, it’s a sign the company might not be revisiting their environmental strategy as often as they should be. Greenwashing example: A company claims to be “entirely zero-waste” but does not provide more details. It turns out, only its product’s packaging is zero-waste; its production process is not. That’s not to say that any company using these words is trying to be deceitful. They just need to make it clear how they define them and put them into practice. Greenwashing example: A clothing company that claims to use “natural” materials but sprays pesticides on all of its cotton. Greenwashing example: A CEO who claims to be an environmentalist but will happily cut corners if it means making more money. Greenwashing example: A baby formula that’s labeled BPA-free. By FDA law2, infant formula packaging can’t contain BPA in the U.S. “Nobody is going to do it perfectly, and we need leaders who actually speak to that,” agrees Lertzman. “When they do, we all have permission to join with them in a very imperfect way.” Greenwashing example: A company that prides itself on being “100% sustainable” but takes a very narrow view of what that means and uses it as an excuse to stop trying to improve. Historically, the environmental movement has largely neglected poor people and people of color. As sustainable fashion expert Dominique Drakeford told mbg last year in an interview, “the original folks who spearheaded the movement and controlled the narrative weren’t inclusive of black and brown Indigenous peoples’ voices and the work they were doing for centuries before there was even the need for sustainability.” To be truly sustainable, a company must consider the needs of all the world’s citizens—not just its customers. Greenwashing example: An energy company that invests in climate initiatives around the world but pollutes poor communities in its own backyard. Instead, she recommends first reaching out to the company with your accusations privately and giving them a chance to respond, framing the issue as a potential area of improvement. If you’re ignored or given an unsatisfactory response, Gallicano says then it’s time to consider sharing your experience online, adding that “pressure from consumers on social media can motivate changes by companies.” Hopefully, policy changes and advancements in technology (blockchain-verified supply chains could be coming in the not-so-distant future) will eventually make it so that the burden of policing the environmental industry doesn’t fall on consumers in the first place. Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
