Be wary of greenwashing
Check out what's ecologically sound
virginvoices.com staff
In the book "Ecological Intelligence", author Daniel Goleman writes about “green washing,” to describe “ the selective display of one or two virtuous attributes of a product, meant to impart ecological friendliness.” He says this green aspect is used to “shine up market appeal.”
In reality says Goleman many products such as a shirt with a label that says “100 percent organic cotton” are creating only an illusion.
Goleman says we must look beyond the labels to understand, for example, that it takes hundreds of gallons of water to grow the cotton for one tee shirt, and the dyes used may be carcinogenic and rinsed into factory wastewater.
Goleman says real “ecological intelligence” comes from viewing the life cycle of a product’s impact on our health and the environment.
This considers its ingredients extracted from the earth, the chemical compounds used in manufacturing, how it is transported, and what happens when we eventually discard it.
A new software program helps us do that. Visit www.goodguide.com, and check out everything form personal hygiene and cosmetic to household cleaners.
Products are rated on a scale of 1 to 10. You might be surprised by what you find. What you think is green, may be a product of a different color.
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