greenwashing means the practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as environmentally-friendly and progressive in order to disguise or divert attention away from their actual environmentally damaging behavior.
Why “greenwashing” is a great word
Greenwashing is the act of projecting a deceptively responsible environmental image, typically to conceal an organization's actual ecological harm. Coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westerveld, it is a blend of 'green' (referring to environmentalism) and 'whitewashing' (concealing unpleasant facts). Unlike 'green marketing,' which promotes verifiable benefits, or 'environmentalism' itself, which denotes a genuine philosophy, greenwashing is a performance of virtue. It is the biodegradable logo on a bottle shipped across oceans, the earnest sustainability report from a fossil-fuel giant, and the verdant foliage thriving in an ad for a luxury development carved from a rainforest. It reveals that in the modern marketplace, the appearance of salvation is often more profitable than the arduous work of salvation itself.
Etymology
Blend of green + whitewashing (or green + -wash + -ing).
noun
- The practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as environmentally-friendly and progressive in order to disguise or divert attention away from their actual environmentally damaging behavior.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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