Be Skeptical of Green Claims

Warnings from the “Green Zone.”

Lots of people and products like to claim they are “eco-friendly” without having much to back up their claims.

Like pols who claim to be friends of the earth, but build huge mansions with similarly huge carbon footprints and fly around in private jets when commercial would work just as well, researchers are finding that most green claims made today don’t live up to the hype.

Writes Dan Mitchell in the New York Times:

Not everything called “green” is going to do much for the environment, according to a report issued this week by a marketing firm, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing (terrachoice.com).

Titled “The Six Sins of Greenwashing,” the report is based on a study of 1,018 consumer products that make environmental claims. Of those, according to the report, “all but one made claims that are demonstrably false or that risk misleading intended audiences.”

The firm said, for example, that the “sin of vagueness” is committed when insecticides are sold as “chemical free.” In fact, the report points out, “nothing is chemical-free.” Also watch out for “nontoxic,” “all natural” and “earth friendly.”

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