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Green Project Terminology: The Language of the Green Wave • 27

Every year, The Green Life (http://www.thegreenlifeonline.org) has a
campaign called “Take Green Wash to the Cleaners” in which they high-
light some of the year’s biggest deceivers. In 2005, they featured Ford Motor
Company and its “blue oval” as symbols of environmental commitment.
However, when you compare the overall fleetwide fuel economy, Ford at
the time was the worst of all the major automobile manufacturers. And,
to top it off, the company allocated $8 million for lobbying at the state
and federal level against mandates to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
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In 2006, The Green Life featured Nestlé Company when it introduced its
“Partner’s Blend” instant coffee, which bears the fair-trade label. However,
this coffee represents about only 0.01% of Nestlé’s coffee imports “and with
the remaining 99.9 percent, Nestlé continues to use their large market share
to keep small coffee farmers in poverty, while reaping huge profits.” 12
Here are some “green tests” you can do to help make the decision
between green and greenwashing:

• Labeling is one of the easiest ways to “greenwash.” There are label-
ing words that are supported by strict independent certification,
like organic, backed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s
(USFDA) National Organic Program, or green seal, a certification
founded in science-based standards (http://www.greenseal.org).
• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Be skeptical of claims
made by notoriously nongreen sources, like oil companies and auto-
mobile manufacturers. We are not saying that boycotting these com-
panies is the answer, just that if you are buying because of a “green
claim,” you may want to rethink the reasoning.
• Don’t just accept, check it out. There are a number of sites that pro-
vide information about green or not green. We have included some
of those in Chapter 12.

From the UK’s Department of Environmental and Rural Food Affairs
comes their “Green Claims Code.” A green claim should be:
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• Truthful, accurate, and able to be substantiated
• Relevant to the product and the environmental issues associated
with it
• Clear about what issue or aspect of the product is in question
• Explicit about the meaning of any symbol used in the claim
• In plain language and in line with standard definitions