Green Business Awareness

When it comes to Green business certification, be prepared to join the ranks of the misled and Greenwashed because there is an army of Green scams ready to take your money.  Well, actually they are the home-brew versions of Green business certification, and there are the rip off versions.  It is obvious that progressive businesses would like to be certified as a Green business.  Therefore, we should not be surprised to see the rise of instant Greening programs offering easy-to-earn certifications.

Under the home brew category we will find the “Token Green Option” where the mere fact that a company has a Green anything is reason enough to proclaim themselves Green!  One company might use only Green cleaning products, while another company might have purchased some carbon credits.  A third company contributes to a Green charity and supports the local Green fair.  Can we rely upon these weak self-assertions for Green compliance, or might these Green claims be more about marketing than reality?  In a token Green situation, we find the mentality that does only the minimum required to make the claim of ownership.

The next level up in home brew certification is the “Local Option” wherein more and more cities are trying to adopt the Marin County model of a Green business certification.  The highlight of this project is that it is essentially free and seems to require low level compliance.  Each business applicant is given a list of Green electives that they complete on their own, and then local utilities are supposed to stop by offering tips on Going Green.  These projects are local initiatives intended to encourage businesses to Green up their operation, but have obvious flaws that will eventually lead to embarrassing criticisms.

By now, I think we have all found that “Free” is never a good idea.  Try thinking about the last time that you received anything free.  Did it have any real value, or was it just a way to get you into the real offering?  The simple fact that any business can obtain the same certification whether they comply or not makes it a fool’s errand.  As these regurgitated Green standards are applied in multiple ways in city after city, there is no true standard that we can follow.  Finally, how does a random group of community activists develop a Green business program that is reliable?  The sheer volume of information and questions that are engendered requires more than an amateur approach.  These local programs are offered for free because they are worth nothing, regardless of the good intentions of these groups.

The Greenwashing choice is undoubtedly  the “Internet Option” where dozens upon dozens of websites are appearing on the Internet offering a Green business certification.  Certification, curiously enough, is  based upon the payment of a $400-$700 fee and a handy-dandy, self-assessment form.  Once again, where is the credible validation for these easy-to-obtain certifications?  You may as well get your driver’s license over the Internet or a Cracker Jack box.   Imagine how well that would work?  These are rip off programs that invite abuse and artificial certification.   Paying money is not the key ingredient to certification.

We should all put Internet certifications in the same category as Cyber sex.  They are not right, and they are not real.  Worse yet, what do you think will happen when the customers of a business realize that anyone can buy the same certification without any honest change in their operation?  No one should begrudge paying money for something that is real, but we should be very upset at the Green Internet scams popping up like locust descending on fields of grain.  These Green Internet certifications are a mockery of a very serious problem in our world.

The correct option is the “Authentically Green” choice.  The right way to get a Green business certification is one that is “Earned, and not Bought.”  This is an issue that needs to have integrity at the core and substance all around.  By using a uniform standard of point accumulation, a business must actually install Green practices to earn a certification.  To assure compliance, a national organization of Certified Green Consultants administrate the program.  These consultants actually audit the firms annually to insure compliance.  No company should short-circuit the issue of Green certification knowing that Greenwashing is one of the notable environmental sins that can be committed.

The Green Business League is the only program in America offering an effective Green business certification that is nationally standardized and properly implemented.  Their certification is not free, cannot be faked, and cannot be bought over the Internet.  The difference is like the difference between cutting down a tree or planting one.  No one should hurt our world when they have the change to help it.  Green business certification comes through a GBL Certified Green Consultant who is trained to guide a business into a Green program that anyone can respect.

A word of warning is in order at this early stage of Green awareness.  Do not do this poorly!  Avoid programs that are token and misguided efforts, regardless of their flowery words or claims of being authoritative.  Ask yourself,  how you would feel if it was discovered that the Green certification program was little more than a Greenwashed idea that had little to no truth behind it.   The future of our world deserves better than these Greenwashed programs offer.  I also wonder why these programs have gone unrebuked for so long.  Are we still so unschooled in environmental issues that we can be fooled by imitation Green rather than the real thing?  Does business think that no one will notice that their Greenwashed surface coat will not wear thin before long?  Obviously, they do.

Instead, there should be a source of pride in honestly earning a Green business certification that comes from a commitment to change and improve the Green practices of a business.  Early on, a decision was made by the Green Business League that any certification awarded “…must be earned.”   GBL committed to building a field force of hundreds of Certified Green Consultants to assure continuity to Green standards in every state and city.  Finally, audits of Green practices were required annually.  Believing that “You can’t Expect what you don’t Inspect,” the need for annual reviews required more than a signature on a form.  If your company wants to Go Green or work toward its Green business certification … there is really only one choice.  Anything less is worse than an insult because of the seriousness of the issues we face and pass on to our children.

Since the beginning, we have understood that there is a great deal of leeway given to those who tout their products or services.  This has likely been around from the earliest times when merchants came to town to sell their wares.  And, the public is not ignorant about the hype process that precedes the sale of nearly everything.  We are not pleased with the snake oil salesman, but frankly we like to be charmed by what he has to say.  Recently, a show called “Pitchmen” relates how people get an idea to market where we learn that how you present is frankly more important than the product itself.

Greenwashing at its best is hype or overexaggeration of the benefits of the product.  At its worse, greenwashing is a premeditated and intentional desire to mislead people knowing that the product or service is not as represented.   Wikipedia defines Greenwashing as “Greenwash (a portmanteau of green and whitewash) is a term used to describe the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources.”  This might pass as a form of “Business as Usual” in the advertising marketplace except that the underlying issue of health impact and environmental concerns make this misrepresentation worse than innocent deception.

How is Green washing done?  Let me offer 10 ways a product or service is Greenwashed:

1- Green Misdirection:  Ignore the real issue and divert attention to the “other things” that are better.  For example, Fiji bottled water operates out of a LEED silver certified building, though they transport the water more than 4000 to the US, put it in plastic bottles, and ship it again throughout the country.

2- Green by Proxy:  Do what Clorox did, since bleach is not a Green product, they bought out Greenworks and now they hail their Green contribution.  Green by Proxy is buying someone else’s Green solution without really changing the way you operate.

3- The Green Dumb Down:  Why not produce the every same product that has been diluted or slightly altered and slap a Green label on it?   Dilution of harmful ingredients does not make a product Green.

4- Charitably Green:  Tout the fact that a few pennies from every purchase (of an otherwise non-Green product) will be given to a Green charity.

5- Token Green:  This process is defined as doing the minimum that can be done to make something Green.  So, a hotel can put in CFL bulbs and declare that they are Green although there is so much more than could and should be done.

6- Green by Discovery:  No change is required with this method.  The company discovers that there is already something Green about their product or service.  There is no Green commitment except for the realization that they tripped over an idea already in existence.

7- Green Pretenders:  There are more than a few products that blatantly misrepresent the products, poorly label, or confuse the buyers to produce sales even though the product is not Green by any reasonable standard.

8- Radically Green:  Some Green products are sold just for the environmental wackos (sorry, but its true).  The overhype is not on the product, but on the necessity to buy the product.

9- Mean Green:  Hate runs two ways.  Villianizing the opposition is kind of like the Mac vs PC commercials where the purpose is to denigrate the competition to make your product seem better.

10- Meaningless Green:  Some Green claims are not relevant to the subject.  So, does it matter that the package says, “No Heavy Metals,” “CFC-free,” or “No Bleach Added”?  These ingredients are either already banded or may mask other ingredient still in the product.

When a project called TerraChoice did a survey of 1018 products making 1753 environmental claims, they found that only one product made truthful claims.  The rest fudged, lied, and deceived the public with one or more of their environmental claims.

By the way, consumers should know (but generally don’t) that EPA registration does not mean a product is safe.  Terms like “Green,” Eco-Friendly” and “Earth Friendly” are not regulated terms.  Many companies actually make up their Green certification through a foundation that they privately fund.  And, everyone should know that labels may not contian fully disclosure of all the ingredients in the product.  There is simply a lot of room to fuel the Greenwashing mania.

This all leads to a difficult question, “Who can you believe?”  The ability to contact your local Certified Green Consultant is probably a smart choice for several reasons.  First of all, they can help guide your company through the maze of choices that are in front of us each day.  Secondly, they are part of a product-independent program under the Green Business League.  The pitfall of Going Green is not doing it right.  It is all to easy to follow a mistaken Green path that will come back to harm your reputation later on.  So, if you are going to Go Green, be sure to follow an “Authentic Green” path that will show that your business, product, or service is the real deal.