Greenwashing: Environmentalism and Enron Energy Services
Greenwashing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Greenwashing (a portmanteau of "green" and "whitewash") is a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products (such as goods or services) are environmentally friendly. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.[1]
Greenwashing may be described as "spin." One example is presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources.[2] Contents[hide] * 1 Usage * 2 History * 3 Regulation * 3.1 Australia * 3.2 Canada * 3.3 Norway * 3.4 USA * 4 Examples * 5 Opposition to greenwash * 6 See also * 7 References * 8 Further reading * 9 External links |
[edit] Usage
Hotel 'greenwashed' laundry card
The term greenwashing was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld[3][4][5] in a 1986 essay regarding the hotel industry's practice of placing placards in each room promoting reuse of towels ostensibly to "save the environment". Westerveld noted that, in most cases, little or no effort toward waste recycling was being implemented by these institutions, due in part to the lack of cost-cutting affected by such practice. Westerveld opined that the actual objective of this "green campaign" on the part of many hoteliers was, in fact, increased profit. Westerveld hence monitored this and other outwardly environmentally conscientious acts with a greater, underlying purpose of profit increase as greenwashing.
The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product to evoke the natural environment or nature—for
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Greenwashing (a portmanteau of "green" and "whitewash") is a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products (such as goods or services) are environmentally friendly. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.[1]
Greenwashing may be described as "spin." One example is presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources.[2] Contents[hide] * 1 Usage * 2 History * 3 Regulation * 3.1 Australia * 3.2 Canada * 3.3 Norway * 3.4 USA * 4 Examples * 5 Opposition to greenwash * 6 See also * 7 References * 8 Further reading * 9 External links |
[edit] Usage
Hotel 'greenwashed' laundry card
The term greenwashing was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld[3][4][5] in a 1986 essay regarding the hotel industry's practice of placing placards in each room promoting reuse of towels ostensibly to "save the environment". Westerveld noted that, in most cases, little or no effort toward waste recycling was being implemented by these institutions, due in part to the lack of cost-cutting affected by such practice. Westerveld opined that the actual objective of this "green campaign" on the part of many hoteliers was, in fact, increased profit. Westerveld hence monitored this and other outwardly environmentally conscientious acts with a greater, underlying purpose of profit increase as greenwashing.
The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product to evoke the natural environment or nature—for