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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Go and Greenwash No More Green products largely guilty of greenwashing, says study		20 Nov 2007	News
Posted at 2:46 PM on 20 Nov 2007 A study of 1,018 "green" products from big-box stores has found that all but one were marketed with false or misleading eco-claims. Researchers from TerraChoice Environmental Marketing called out products for committing the "Six Sins of Greenwashing": a hidden tradeoff (e.g., toxin-loaded electronics touting their energy efficiency); no certifiable verification ...
Topics: business, green living, green products, greenwashing, news, shopping (all these topics)

Honk if You Love Hypocrisy Big Auto unveils efficient cars, continues to fight against strict efficiency standards		14 Nov 2007	News
Posted at 1:28 PM on 14 Nov 2007 When the L.A. auto show opens to the public on Friday, automakers will flaunt hydrogen cars, super-efficient engines, electric vehicles, and hybrid SUVs -- leading some to wonder at the disconnect between car manufacturers' public-facing "green" ambitions and their vocal opposition to a significant increase in federal fuel-economy standard ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, fuel efficiency, greenwashing, Los Angeles, news (all these topics)

Those greenwashing Chevron ads The greening of Chevron is not as impressive as they'd like you to think	Joseph Romm	02 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Those greenwashing ads are really starting to bug me. 'It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next trillion in 30.' And you're proud of this fact -- proud of your role in bringing about the wholesale destruction of this planet's climate? Will you join us? No, I won't. I'm trying to figure out a way to get people to use a lot less of your polluting product. And now, 'Chevron Announces New Global 'Human Energy' Advertising Campaign ...
Topics: business, greenwashing, messaging (all these topics)

Knocked Krupp Is Environmental Defense leader Fred Krupp a savvy dealmaker or a stooge?	David Roberts	01 Oct 2007	Gristmill
I keep meaning to link to The New Republic's thoughtful profile of Fred Krupp, head honcho at Environmental Defense: Krupp, of all environmentalists, has been the most successful in persuading the corporate world--and those who support its interests--to embrace the green cause. Among his accomplishments, Krupp has helped convince McDonald's to abandon Styrofoam for paper, Wal-Mart to stock energy- efficient light bulbs, Duke Energy to invest in wind power, and Fede ...
Topics: business, climate, energy, greening biz operations, greenwashing (all these topics)

Curses, Oiled Again Chevron ad says renewables are great, oil is greater		28 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 12:14 PM on 28 Sep 2007 A new TV commercial on energy and the environment debuts this weekend. The swooping camera shots of glaciers and freeways will be familiar, but the voice-over may not: "Our lives demand oil." Yes, the 2.5-minute spot, airing in eight languages around the globe, is an effort by Chevron to urge humanity to seek out alternative energy -- while continuing to cling to fossil fuels. Aim ...
Topics: Big Oil, business, energy, greenwashing, news, TV (all these topics)

The last refuge of scoundrels? Greenwashing is getting more subtle	Jason D Scorse	16 Sep 2007	Gristmill
This article in Slate got me thinking. I'm usually inclined to believe that any greening of business is good, but it seems like "greenwashing" is getting more subtle, with the media playing right into it with their lavish features on new "green" initiatives, regardless of their content and effectiveness. Take-home point: better government policy is much more significant than any voluntary greening by business. Something we've always known, but alwa ...
Topics: business, greening biz operations, greenwashing (all these topics)

Can You Greenwash Yourself With It? Talking Rain adds organic water flavors		13 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 3:18 PM on 13 Sep 2007 Talking Rain now has four flavors of organic bottled water. Wow. From the Archives Permanent Depress. Top 10 most polluted places on earth tallied by Blacksmith Institute. Science Friction. U.S. climate-change research found inadequate in many ways. Swap Meat. Study says eating less red meat improves health, helps fight climate change. News Archives
Topics: food, green living, greenwashing, news (all these topics)

Satire can't keep up Apparently no one is immune to greenwashing	JMG	24 Aug 2007	Gristmill
The genius Lily Tomlin once noted how hard it is to be funny these days, when satire can't keep up with the number of people who miss it entirely and use it as a script rather than a warning. A few days back, Grey posted this great short video:Just one day later, a group that has done tremendous work in the past -- a group I give to monthly and normally love, Redefining Progress -- sent me the letter below (after the jump). It's grim. Despite the throwaway 'we don't mean t ...
Topics: business, green living, greenwashing, shopping (all these topics)

That Sounds Perhaps Not So Clean In need of a new solvent, dry cleaners turn to petroleum		10 Aug 2007	Daily Grist
That Sounds Perhaps Not So Clean In need of a new solvent, dry cleaners turn to petroleum As dry cleaners stop using the solvent perchloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen that's being phased out in California, New York, Toronto, and elsewhere, some are choosing a surprising replacement: petroleum-based solvents. Um ... what? Turns out petroleum was the solvent of choice in the industry's early years, un ...
Topics: Big Oil, fashion, greenwashing, health, news, oil (all these topics)

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, with greenwash all over Might want to check the elevation first	JMG	03 Aug 2007	Gristmill
So the guy to blame for AOL wants to create a 'green resort' in Costa Rica, because if there's anything low-lying countries in hurricane paths need, it's more jet travel by rich gringos eager to experience a little pseudo-green travel.
Topics: green living, greenwashing, travel (all these topics)

Is the Chevy Volt just more GM greenwashing? Sure looks that way	Joseph Romm	29 Jul 2007	Gristmill
Back in May, I was seduced by GM's seeming sincerity in developing a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt. We must always remember, however, that GM is a master greenwasher. An article in Edmunds, 'Chevrolet Volt Goes to Washington To Underline GM's Anti-CAFE-Increase Argument,' suggests GM is using the Volt the same way it used fuel cell cars to kill the electric car in California (as the movie explains): General Motors' North American operations chief, ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenwashing, hybrids (all these topics)

PG&E's 'ClimateSmart' offsets are anything but Breaking all the offset rules	Joseph Romm	09 Jul 2007	Gristmill
[Important update to this post here.] One reason I began posting my Rules of Carbon Offsets is a dubious program by the California utility PG&E called ClimateSmart, which is supposed to allow PG&E customers to become 'climate neutral.' This program actually manages to violate rules zero, 1, and 2 all at once! It really makes clear why offsets are bastardized emissions reductions -- and why trees are an especially dubious offset. This picture graces the 'Ou ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, climate, climate change mitigation, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, greenwashing (all these topics)

Memo to Google: Coal is not green Find a new source of power, dudes	Joseph Romm	26 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Google got a lot of great press for its new plan to "voluntarily cut or offset all its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year." But was it all deserved? The Boston Globe reported the story as "Google aims to go carbon-neutral by end 2007. " The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) reprinted the story, as did Greenwire and others. Buried in the story was this gem: Separately, Google is planning to spend $600 million t ...
Topics: business, greenhouse-gas emissions, greening biz operations, greenwashing, jackassery (all these topics)

Is greenwashing good for you? Not always, but green branding has potential to connect consumers to their 'inner green'	Anna Fahey	25 May 2007	Gristmill
In an undeniable rush, corporate giants are jumping on the 'green' bandwagon: Wal-mart, Ford, Dow, General Electric, British Petroleum, Chevron, DuPont, to name only a few. 'There's a tendency to put a green smiley face on everything,' says Joel Makower, author of The Green Consumer. And smiley faces are rearing their heads all over the place. 'We use our waste CO2 to grow flowers,' claims a Shell Oil ad. Right ... But the concept isn't new. In 1999, 'greenwash' w ...
Topics: business, greening biz operations, greenwashing (all these topics)

Organic lite 'Organic' beer with conventional hops, and other USDA wishes	Tom Philpott	18 May 2007	Gristmill
It's happening again -- the USDA is scheming to water down organic standards for key products. This time, the targets are that sacred duo, beer and sausage. Beer is composed essentially of two agricultural products: barley and hops. If the USDA gets its way, makers of 'organic' beer will be able to use conventionally grown hops. And sausage is made up essentially of ground meat stuffed into casing made of animal intestines. The USDA would like manufacturers to ...
Topics: agriculture, business, Department of Agriculture, food, greenwashing, organic food (all these topics)

Class, not dismissed Garret Keizer burns in anger about 'green capitalism'	JMG	12 May 2007	Gristmill
The new Harper's (June 2007) contains a stunning and powerful 'Notebook' essay titled 'Climate, Class, and Claptrap,' by Garret Keizer -- a minister, if I recall correctly. Keizer writes as well as Wendell Berry, but with a kind of righteous anger that the more ponderous Berry tamps down. This essay is about the contradictions inherent in the environmental community's fast embrace of 'green capitalism' and wondertoys. The intestinal tipping point came for me when a contingent ...
Topics: climate, business, greenwashing, green living (all these topics)

Congress gets a sustainability complex Shooting for a green capitol	Kif Scheuer	25 Apr 2007	Gristmill
No, it's not a new psychological disorder, but a plan for greening the capitol complex. Over at Building Design and Construction they've got a piece on the acceptance of a 'green the capitol initiative.' On April 19, Nancy Pelosi accepted a preliminary proposal and ... ... announced that operations of the Capitol Complex, which includes congressional office buildings and the 775,000-sf U.S. Capitol Building, would become carbon neutral no later than the end of the ...
Topics: Congress, greening biz operations, greenwashing, politics (all these topics)

Wal-Mart's organic bust And another way forward.	Tom Philpott	12 Apr 2007	Gristmill
On April Fool's Day, Grist ran a fake bit on how Wal-Mart had 'pulled the plug' on much-ballyhooed green initiatives, including its plan to to become the nation's number-one organic grocer. 'In the end, our customers value low prices more than sustainability, and at Wal-Mart, we listen to our customers,' Wal-Mart's CEO (fictionally) said. As so often happens these days, fact may be leaping ahead of satire. BusinessWeek reported today that the retail behemoth ...
Topics: business, food, greenwashing, organic food, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Wal-Mart: it still totally sucks New Yorker article reminds you why you hate it	Lisa Hymas	30 Mar 2007	Gristmill
Stacy Mitchell did a bang-up job earlier this week of explaining why Wal-Mart and other big-box stores could never actually be green. But if you need a more wide-ranging reminder of Wal-Mart's deep and abiding loathsomeness, check out Jeffrey Goldberg's article in the latest New Yorker: 'Selling Wal-Mart: Can the company co-opt liberals?' If you've been awake the past few years, you're already familiar with many of the criticisms, but they're neatly packaged up here wi ...
Topics: business, green living, greenwashing, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Corn-based ethanol: the biggest greenwash ever? Unintended or not, the consequences were predictable	Tom Philpott	29 Mar 2007	Gristmill
It's hard to imagine what politicians and corporate chiefs are intending to do by crafting a corn-based ethanol boom, beyond rigging public policy (and raiding the public purse) to generate huge private profits. But whatever their intentions, they're methodically creating environmental and social disasters -- while brazenly brandishing the 'green' flag. Before I go on, let me make two points for the millionth time: Without extended, ongoing, and financiall ...
Topics: business, energy, ethanol, greenwashing (all these topics)

Keep Your Eyes on the Size The impossibility of a green Wal-Mart	Stacy Mitchell	28 Mar 2007	Soapbox
Photo: Lone Primate via Flickr With its recent flurry of green initiatives, Wal-Mart has won the embrace of several prominent environmental groups. "If they do even half what they say they want to do, it will make a huge difference for the planet," said Ashok Gupta of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Environmental Defense, meanwhile, has deemed Wal-Mart's actions momentous enough to w ...
Topics: business, greenwashing, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

What's a Couple of Coal Plants Among Friends? TXU buyers announce plans for two coal-gasification plants		12 Mar 2007	Daily Grist
What's a Couple of Coal Plants Among Friends? TXU buyers announce plans for two coal-gasification plants The private firms that proposed a $45 billion buyout of Texas coal giant TXU continue to make some hearts go pitter-pat. After announcing that TXU would scuttle plans for all but three new coal-fired power plants, the firms added Friday that they would look into building two coal gasification plants ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, greenwashing, news, Texas (all these topics)

Watch TV for Grist! Tell us when green bursts from the screen	Katharine Wroth	14 Feb 2007	Gristmill
For the second time in two nights, I was innocently watching bad TV when a green theme popped up. A gal can't get a break from her day job these days with so many producers rushing to prove their eco-cred. So how far-reaching is this trend?Figuring that out will either require me to watch way too much TV or it will require your help. Loyal Grist readers, I ask ye: please think of Grist each time green creeps into one of your favorite shows, and report it here.I'll ...
Topics: consumerism, greenwashing, shameless self-promotion, TV (all these topics)

Wal-Mart overdoes it All these green initiatives, oy	David Roberts	01 Feb 2007	Gristmill
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott just announced a comprehensive new initiative called 'Sustainability 360,' which will attempt to infuse environmental concern in every part of the company's operations:'Sustainability 360 takes in our entire company - our customer base, our supplier base, our associates, the products on our shelves, the communities we serve,' said Scott. 'And we believe every business can look at sustainability in this way. In fact, in light of current environme ...
Topics: business, greenwashing, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Green advertising	David Roberts	22 Dec 2005	Gristmill
The NYT reports that eco-themed advertising is growing ever-more-ubiquitous from big companies. I know we're supposed to bitch and moan about greenwashing, but the way I see it, even if 50% of this is hype, a) 50% non-hype is better than nothing, and b) it speaks well to current cultural trends that companies feel the need to brag about their environmental consciousness. Environmentalism is once again coming out in the open as a mainstream value, after y ...
Topics: advertising, business, greenwashing (all these topics)

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