Green Washing

I am an interior design student here at San Jose State University and have recently decided that I want to practice green design after I graduate. I am already a Build It Green member and working on my LEED certification. One thing that every organization and green designer has told me repeatedly is to watch out for “green washing.” Since being green became popular, every company has “gone green.” However, most of the companies are not actually green. Just because you sell bamboo flooring does not make you green. I have learned to ask many questions. What do you use to install the bamboo flooring? What chemicals are used when making the flooring? Formaldehyde? (GROSS! But is typically used!) Most importantly, where did it come from and how is your business green?

If you do a quick Google search on ‘green marketing,’ these are the types of sites that will come up: J. Ottman Consulting and Marketing Green. Both sites demonstrate that green marketing can boost your sales and recommend that companies market green. However, just because you are marketing green does not mean your green!

With all the new “green” products in the stores now and the over-all green movement, people are starting to become more skeptical. It is like a couple of years ago when everything was low-fat. Eat a chocolate bar, it’s low-fat so it has to be good for you. The public is starting to be able to tell the difference between the real green products and the imposters.