Roadside greenwash reminders from coal country

The Greenwash Brigade

Riding through Pennsylvania on my way home from a lovely family wedding a few days ago, I had a glimpse into why greenwash detectors like our blog are extremely important for society to continue its march toward sustainability. Interstate 76 was lined with billboards by Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy, lauding coal as "clean & green" and saying that without coal, many of the state's cities would be in the dark.

While coal's current importance in our country (we generate almost half our electricity from the fuel) is clear, the statement "clean & green" is certainly a stretch. The group did include a caveat that said "with new technologies" but the new technology of carbon capture and storage is completely untested in the world marketplace. Their claim seems like calling a Hummer "clean & green" because it is conceivable that consumers would purchase plug-in hybrid Hummers because plug-in hybrid is largely understood (though none are on the market yet).

In such times when green is chic and PR executives claim their clients to be so, consumers need two essential elements to cut through the noise:

The first is the establishment of transparent standards that can compare business practices within sectors (and potentially across sectors). Some of the best ones include LEED standards for green building and an emerging tool called STARS being put together by AASHE to weigh green cred between college campuses. We need to keep improving and expanding user-friendly standards for folks to gauge the greenness of different companies and their goods.

The second vital element is the public voice of watchdogs: whether they be Bill Moyers-types in the media, institutions in the nonprofit sector and academia, and even bloggers like us -- as long as our notes are read by a wide enough audience.

I hope green continues to stay chic and that more greenwash-vigilant entities rise up to empower consumers and citizens with verifiable knowledge that the products and services we buy live up to our values. Props to Marketplace for their efforts, and here's hoping we can make more progress in the months and years ahead!

July 9, 2008 by Dennis Markatos
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tags: coal standards watchdogs

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

NOTE: The opinions expressed by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of American Public Media or its employees. American Public Media is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers.

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