Greenwashing or harm reduction? A study in nuance

In Gen Z, the environment is one of the most important issues we can see (1), and with that comes incredible advancements in different markets. We have bamboo toothbrushes, shampoo bars, and other low-waste, eco-friendly options to look into, but with those advances comes businesses who realize that they can maximize their profits without actually becoming better for the environment. This is called "Greenwashing."

There are several different methods by which a company will greenwash, such as claiming that their products are 'natural' (a term which, as of 2018, wasn't formally defined by the FDA) (2), saying that the product is compostable when it's only compostable in a facility rather than at home, or even doing the bare minimum by changing the color of their packaging to green. I'll be honest, in most situations, it's not the fault of a consumer that they were tricked by fancy marketing, except in the last situation. If you're not checking the actual materials and ingredients of a product and simply relying on the color of the package, that's kind of on you.

Thankfully, there has been pushback when it comes to greenwashing, with environmentalists pointing out these awful habits and challenging us to really think about whether or not we're making the best choices with the information we have. Generally, this is fantastic. If we as a community don't come together and discuss moments where we're being fooled by quick money making marketing, it's difficult for someone to learn. I'll admit that when I was first starting my eco-friendly journey, I got sucked in by some of these phrases. There are, of course, times when this goes too far.

While there are formal definitions of greenwashing, how people use the term is still a scatterbrained mess. To some people, any less-then-perfect product which claims to be eco-friendly will be greenwashing, while others think that definitions such as that are too limiting. At times, the line gets blurred so much that we reject things that are a step in the right direction in an attempt to pounce on greenwashing. One such example of this is compostable trash bags instead of the regular plastic ones. While it's not going to be saving the planet, it's harm reduction.

This greenwashing-washing happens far too often. On YouTube, there's an account called Going Zero Waste, where a super sweet woman details eco-friendly hacks and tips that she's gathered on her journey to be zero waste. One of her videos featured a razor where the handle was made of bamboo and you just replaced the head. People were pretty upset about this and accused her of greenwashing. What they didn't stop to consider, of course, is that the video was about things to pack when traveling, and you can't take safety razors on a lot of transportation such as planes. The purpose of the razor was to reduce waste when people have to go to airports, but that wasn't a consideration.

When we consider whether or not something is greenwashing, we need to think about the intention behind it. If the purpose is to mislead people, then it's wrong. If the purpose is to provide a not-as-bad product, then it's probably not greenwashing. As the quote goes, we don't need a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly, we need everyone doing it imperfectly.

Works cited:

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/the-environment-is-gen-zs-no-1-concern-but-beware-of-greenwashing.html

2. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/use-term-natural-food-labeling