Don’t be fooled by “Greenwashing”!

Have you ever heard this word?

Greenwashing is a marketing strategy which persuades the public that a product is eco-friendly to make people feel good about buying it. More and more people, especially the younger generation, are concerned about environmental issues and want to buy something that is kind to the Earth. Meanwhile a lot of companies want to sell more and more products. 

In my opinion, if we want to end environmental issues, our mass-consumption society should end. And some people have started to feel that way as well. But companies cannot think of reducing production. Instead, they find a way of making the products look eco-friendly to make consumers feel less guilty about buying them. 

For example, the single-use plastic coffee pods Keurig misled consumers about by using the word recyclable as a selling point - but consumers actually almost never get to recycle the pods. If you read the previous article about the misunderstanding of recycling, you would probably understand that plastics are technically recyclable but it doesn’t mean that local facilities actually recycle it. Again, only 9% of plastics are recycled in the U.S.  Keurig was fined due to the false advertising and was ordered to change the misleading recycling claims on the packaging. 

There are so many greenwashing products and ads around us so we have to be the judge and choose what is right for us and Earth. Often companies use the color green or nature with animals on the packages for marketing and sometimes use prefixes like Eco- or Earth- or Green-. Yes, you are the detector! 

In Spain, the CG design and architects group, Quatre Caps have this cool art series called #degrowth. I made this illustration based on their art. This series shows that what we consume may look healthy but is actually harming the environment. The art tells us that we must be the ones to have smart consumption choices to save the Earth. The word degrowth means downscaling. Humans have been producing too much stuff - more than we really need - and this is harming the environment. This art concept is about a contradiction. For example, organic products that are heavily wrapped with plastics. Exotic fruits which travel halfway across the world create a large environmental cost for transportation. This art will give you a chance to take time to think more deeply about what is behind what we buy and whether it's the right choice. 

We are facing a greenwashing war between companies and consumers like us. We have to find products we can trust. There are so many good websites where we can buy trusted products. Also it helps if you try to buy products grown locally. I really like the word degrowth. You cannot get happiness from getting more and more stuff. In fact, harming the Earth for our desire is unacceptable. Imagine if this mass consumption society ends and we all move on to a sustainable lifestyle. Not only will we see a happier life ahead but also all of our environmental problems will rapidly recover. 

Please check out Quatre Caps’ work. You will be amazed at how simple art makes you think so much more. 

I took another perspective of this 'banana art' which I copied. Carbon footprint and a tire is slowly taking over the banana surface, just like human activities are slowly taking over nature and also coming back to the food we eat.

Share their art with your friends and discuss what they think. You might find some new perspectives!