Print Resources:

• Clegg, Brian. 2009. Eco-logic: Cutting Through the Greenwash: Truth, Lies and Saving the Planet. London: Eden Project. ISBN 9781905811250.
• Greer, Jed, and Kenny Bruno. 1996. Greenwash: The Reality Behind Corporate Environmentalism. Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network. ISBN 9839747169.
• Lubbers, Eveline. 2002. Battling Big Business: Countering Greenwash, Infiltration, and Other Forms of Corporate Bullying. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press. ISBN 1567512240
• Tokar, Brian. 1997. Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0896085589.

• How Greenwashing Works at HowStuffWorks
• Tools Of Greenwashing: Adverts - Article from The Unsuitablog, an anti-greenwashing blog
• Beware of Greenwashing: Not All Environmental Claims are Meaningful - How to avoid being fooled
• Questioning "corporate social responsibility" - Greenwashing article from London's Southern OnTrack magazine
• Greenwashing in Popular Culture and Art
• Are You Being Greenwashed?-the reality of Greenwashing in our society, documentary presented by George Monbiot.
• Turn Up The Heat - Greenwashing critique by George Monbiot
• What is Greenwashing, and Why is it a Problem?"
• FOOTSIE 100 Green Winners and Green Washers Survey
• DuPont and Greenwash "An Examination of the Limits to DuPont's 'Sustainability' Commitments" by United Steelworkers Union 11/03/07
• Greenwashing and the corporate mind.

A commonly cited example of greenwashing is the Bush Administration's Clear Skies Initiative, which environmentalists have argued actually weakens air pollution laws. ^[4]

Norway's consumer ombudsman has targeted automakers who claim that their cars are "green", "clean" or "environmentally friendly" with some of the world's strictest advertising guidelines. Consumer Ombudsman official Bente Øverli said: "Cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than others." Manufacturers risk fines if they fail to drop the words. Øverli said she did not know of other countries going so far in cracking down on cars and the environment. ^[5][6][7][8]

In addition, the political term "linguistic detoxification" is used by some environmentalists to describe when, through legislation or other government action, the definitions of toxicity for certain substances are changed, or the name of the substance is changed, so that fewer things fall under a particular classification as toxic. An example is the reclassification of some low-level radioactive waste as "beyond regulatory concern", which permits it to be buried in conventional landfills. Another example is the EPA renaming sewage sludge to biosolids, and allowing it to be used as fertilizer, despite the fact that it often contains many hazardous materials including PCBs, dioxin, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and asbestos. The origin of this phrase has been attributed to environmental activist and author Barry Commoner.

Several activities designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may be considered merely symbolic greenwash. For example, Earth Hour encourages consumers to switch off electric appliances for 1 hour. This may make people feel good about a minor inconvenience without creating any sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Similarly, introduction of a Carbon Emission Trading Scheme may feel good, but may be counterproductive if the cost of carbon is priced too low, or if large emitters are given 'free credits'. For example, Bank of America subsidiary MBNA offers an Eco-Logique MasterCard for Canadian consumers that rewards customers with carbon offsets as they continue using the card. Customers may feel that they are nullifying their carbon footprint by purchasing polluting goods with the card. However, only .5 percent of purchase price goes into purchasing carbon offsets, while the rest of the interchange fee still goes to the bank.^[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwash#Examples

Examples:

• Bush Administration's Clear Skies Initiative, which environmentalists have argued actually weakens air pollution laws.^[15]

• Google has been criticized for claiming its data centers are extremely energy efficient, while refusing to publish any figures on this topic because such information could aid its competitors (an example of the Sin of No Proof).^[16]

• Many food products have packaging that evokes an environmentally friendly imagery even though there has been no attempt made at lowering the environmental impact of its production.^[17]

• An article in Wired magazine alleges that slogans are used to suggest environmentally benign business activity: the Comcast ecobill has the slogan of "PaperLESSisMORE" but ComCast uses large amounts of paper for direct marketing. The Poland Spring ecoshape bottle is touted as "A little natural does a lot of good", although 80% of beverage containers go to the landfill. The Airbus A380 airliner is described as "A better environment inside and out" even though air travel has a high negative environment cost. ^[18]

• According to Fred Pearce's Greenwash column in The Guardian, "clean coal" is the "ultimate climate change oxymoron" -- "pure and utter greenwash" he says.^[19]

• The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK upheld several complaints against major car manufacturers including Suzuki, SEAT, Toyota and Lexus who made erroneous claims about their vehicles.^{[20][21][22][23]}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwash#Examples