Video:What Is Greenwashing?

Transcript:What Is Greenwashing?

I'm Kenny Bruno for About.com and we’re here today to talk about, what is greenwashing?

What Is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is the phenomenon by which polluting companies pose as friends of the environment. The most common cases of greenwash we see are from oil companies, coal companies and auto companies. These are the companies that are always boasting about their environmental records and touting their concern, and at the same time, trying to avoid laws and regulations that would stop them from polluting.

How to Identify Greenwashing

So how do you know when you're seeing greenwash? The truth is it’s pretty hard to tell greenwash from the real thing. So here are a few tips; if it's oil, coal, gas, or a biotechnology company, be very suspicious - these are the companies that are at the root of some of our worst environmental problems.

If a company says all natural, and has a lot of words like sustainable and sustainability also be suspicious, we want to see the substance not just the language. If you see a lot of beautiful images, streams mountains and polar bears, be careful. Is there anything they’re doing to protect that, or are they just throwing those images on the screen for you. Environmental ads, like all advertising, should be considered guilty until proven innocent - after all these companies are really just try to get us to buy their product, and promote a good image.

So for example, what is it mean when a car company says we're protecting the environment, a car is meant to get around, not to protect the environment. So ask yourself, what does the company really mean? And what are they doing? Are they just a little better than their competitors or are they helping us transform transportation systems, so that we can save the planet for future generations?

How to Stop Greenwashing

If you see an ad that you think might be Greenwash, you can submit it to stopgreenwash.org and they’ll post it on the website and we can embarrass the companies that are pretending and misleading us about their environmental record. So please don't be fooled. Lets be vigilant about what we’re buying, lets not support brands or companies that are greenwashing and misleading us and most of all, lets use less stuff and be careful about what we use and how we use it. If you want to know more about greenwashing and the environmental impact of the products you’re buying, visit About.com