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http://www.publicradio.org/columns/sustainability/greenwash/The Greenwash Brigade

August 2009 Archives

Answering your questions: Bottled water vs. soda?

Thanks to Toni from Winston-Salem NC for writing in to ask why environmental tips focus on reducing the use of bottled water, but don’t tend to address soda.

Being a bottled water lover for 1+ years now, I am trying to figure out why soda bottles are not a concern as well? I would rather see a bunch of people drinking fresh water than sugary soft drinks any day, but that is just me…so why water bottles only?

Although indeed convenient, bottled water has all these things going against it:

  1. Cost between $1.50 and $4.80/gallon versus tap water’s $.002/gallon
  2. The fuel and energy costs for making the plastic and bottling the water would fill 1/4 of the bottle with petroleum oil
  3. Frequently draws down (or depletes) your municipality’s drinking water supply; they take the water you are already paying for, rebottle it, then resell it to you at 1,000 times the cost (can we say rip-off?). This leaves less water for agriculture, fish, recreation and yes, tap water
  4. Bottling companies are increasingly trying to privatize water rather than leaving it in the hands of local populations
  5. Plastic bottles are a cocktail of toxic chemicals
  6. 85% of plastic bottles are ditched as garbage and never recycled

You should visit the Responsible Purchasing Network where you can find data to your heart’s desire on bottled water. Just recently the GAO issued a report as well, 09-610, which concludes that EPA standards for drinking water contaminants are stricter than the standards covering bottled water.

I don’t know much about soda bottling but do know it also involves significant inputs of local water and has caused much consternation. Do yourself a favor and get a stainless steel bottle and fill it up with yummy Winston-Salem water rather than supporting an inherently corrupt, illogical and non-consumer friendly proposition.

A business guide to preventing greenwash

“Understanding and Preventing Greenwash: A Business Guide (opens PDF)” was just published by BSR and Futerra Sustainability Communications. The report finds that trust in business is at record lows with only 13 percent trusting advertising. (I’m frankly surprised they could find a survey pool where even 13 percent say they trust advertising.)

Highlighting continued growth in demand for environmentally responsible products (nearly 40% of the American market now chooses green products over other options), the report finds that greenwash is bad for business and cites ways customers, regulatory bodies, NGO’s, and the media are beginning to stop greenwash.

The authors urge that businesses understand the US Federal Trade Commission’s “Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims” and take precautionary measures to avoid being accused of Greenwash—the FTC has begun to step in, recently charging Kmart with making “false and unsubstantiated claims that their paper products are ‘biodegradable.’“—and provides example practices for reducing the risk of greenwash, including Lifecycle Analyses and NGO partnerships.

Maybe greenwash is a gateway drug, and mainstream companies will now begin to move beyond greening their PR message to greening their actions.

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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

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

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

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

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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