I speak to both national and international audiences on topics of creating authentic green value, greenwashing, green marketing, and trends.
I always customize my speeches to my audience leaving them with ideas they can implement right away. I recently decided to include information about ways to know if something is truly green or if it is greenwashing. Considering the U.S. FTC already have charged three companies 4 months ago with false green claims, I figured knowing how to spot greenwashing would be important.
I have included the list below that I have put together and pulled from a couple of sources on the Internet:
-Follow the money and paper trail
Companies donate to political parties, think tanks, etc. Few disclose this in annual report – who donating to. Ask about all donations.
Ask about submissions made by company and lobbying issues you are interested in. Make sure on right side. Most companies and association will make submissions to government and other inquiries on issues of importance. These are often posted to website. Also send letter to politicians and government agencies—accessed by Freedom of Information Act.
-Find out associations to which they belong
Some companies may talk about their environmental policy and performance, but hide their anti-environmentalism behind banner of industry association to which they belong. See which associations they belong to and check and see their policies.
We;ll continue this discussion in my next blog post.
Colette Chandler
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
