We all know that we are surrounded by corporate greenwashing - but do we realize the extent we fall prey to it even as conscious, sincere environmentalists? The term “green” is one of the most popular adjectives in modern advertising today to the point where it has become largely meaningless. But even the most conscious of us still fall prey to using the term in a very casual, relative sense that reinforces the memes of greenwashing.
We casually say something is “Green” simply because it’s slighter more environmentally friendly than it’s peer, or as compared the “normal” or “standard” reference point of total environmental disregard. But we should be careful on our language - and re-frame the debate. Most things described as “Green” are simply “less environmentally destructive” - NOT “more environmentally friendly”. These are very different things that convery very different values and priorities to people.
If someone decided to stop stabbing me everyday and started punching me instead. I wouldn’t describe them as “more friendly” - it is still violent and destructive behavior. A step in the right direction perhaps, but NOT something that I should applaud or thank them for. So why don’t we take a similar stance around environmental destruction? Is environmental destruction so ingrained that we have accepted it as a fact of life? Or can we reframe the issues to call things like they are - and make a far more powerful argument for true sustainability, and healthy relationships with the non-human world?
Like, um. With cars. When pushed on the issue we all know cars aren’t really “Green”. Some cars may get better gas mileage than others, some may have slightly lower emissions than others - but not a single one is truly environmentally beneficial. Nor will any car EVER be environmentally beneficial. Especially when you factor in the impacts of millions of miles of asphalt - emissions are but a piece of the problem (granted, a really big piece). We absolutely must work to make cars become less environmentally damaging - but that’s the best we can hope for - and all we should give automakers credit for.
Let’s not accept the premise that environmental destruction is the acceptable norm, or something inherent to human existence. Let’s not support the watering-down of what HAS to be done to maintain a sustainable planet and climate. Kudo’s to Norway for taking a strong stand in the right direction on this!
-Matt
Norway cracks down on car ads
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
Reuters UK http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0671323420070906
September 6, 2007 at 1:57 PM EDT
OSLO - No car can be “green,” “clean” or “environmentally friendly” according to some of the world’s strictest advertising guidelines set to enter into force in Norway next month.
Cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than thers,” Bente Oeverli, a senior official at the office of the state-run Consumer Ombudsman, told Reuters on Thursday.
Carmakers such as Toyota, General Motor’s Opel, Mitsubishi, Peugeot Citroen, Saab and Suzuki had all used phrases this year in advertisements that the watchdog judged misleading, she said.
One Toyota advertisement for a Prius, for instance, described the gasoline-electric hybrid as “the world’s most environmentally friendly car.”
“If someone says their car is more ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ than others then they would have to be able to document it in every aspect from production, to emissions, to energy use, to recycling,” she said.
“In practice, that can’t be done,” she said of tougher guidelines entering into force in Norway from Oct. 15.
The guidelines distributed to carmakers said: “We ask that … phrases such as ‘environmentally friendly,’ ‘green,’ ‘clean,’ ‘environmental car,’ natural’ or similar descriptions not be used in marketing cars.”
Manufacturers would risk fines if they failed to drop the words. Ms. Oeverli aid she did not know of other countries going so far in cracking down on cars and the environment.
Utmost respect?
In one ruling abroad, for instance, Britain’s advertising watchdog said that Volvo advertisements should not repeat a claim that its C30 car was designed with the utmost respect for the environment in mind.”
Ms. Oeverli said automobile manufacturers, who are making huge investments in cleaning up emissions, seemed happy to get clearer rules about advertising. In future in Norway, they could only give information that could be firmly documented.
That meant that even phrases such as “Car X has low emissions of carbon dioxide,” the main greenhouse gas released by burning oil, should be avoided.
The watchdog argued that mentioning carbon dioxide alone could mislead buyers into believing that the car also had low emissions of toxic nitrous oxide or other polluting particles.
Transport, mainly trucks and cars, accounts for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions from human sources, widely blamed for stoking a warming that could bring more floods, desertification, heat waves and rising seas.
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*applause*
It is in fact up to us — up to all of us consumers - to make the cars truly green. Recently the City of Santa Monica built a solar carport for their local government cars, which are electric.
These cars are unaffected by any oil prices, simply because they do not use oil. The sun recharges those cars for free every day. Thank you, City of Santa Monica, there are no money needed for gas from your taxpayers. And — you have guessed correctly — there are no emissions from these cars.
Perhaps we should demand a free carport (and a few electric buses, for inner use), on every campus in the United States. Yes, electric buses exist today and electric trolleys have been in use in Europe perhaps for 100 years. It would be a good beginning.
I agree wholeheartedly. As far as gas consumption goes, I sort of have to laugh when people start talking about boycotting a particular gas station that’s supposed to be the worst environmental offender. I mean, ALL oil companies are bad - why not boycott every one of them? And as with oil companies, so with car manufacturers. Like it or not, we environmentalists cannot settle with simply driving hybrids or biodiesel-powered vehicles - we must seek to bring the demand for cars in general down. This school year, I’ve made a pledge to go as long as I can without riding in anything that emits greenhouse gases, except for public transportation vehicles, and the university vans which are used for field trips and other school trips (and which generally have about eight people carpooling in them). My bike is getting used quite regularly!
(War) is not the Answer
Ride a Bicycle
Car are just another name for (War)
I completely agree with this. I think it is ridiculous that people act like the Pruis is the most environmentally friendly thing to reach the market. I recently got an email about some Al Gore eco competition….and the first prize was a Toyota hybrid. This sort of messaging seems to imply that not only are hybrids not bad for the environment, but driving one can be actually beneficial.
Totally agree. The production of automobiles and associated infrastructure is inherently un-friendly to the environment. Even if, by some stretch of technology, we were able to manufacture an automobile that produced zero waste - cradle to grave - the building and maintenance of roads would still be environmentally destructive. Further, the sprawl, MacMansions, and big box stores popping up across this country could not exist without the automobile. Finally, the communities that are fragmented by destructive, auto-centric planning and people killed at the hands of belligerent and often drunk drivers is undeniable.
Cars are destructive - environmentally and otherwise. A better automobile is still a bad vehicle. And while I understand that there are parts of this globe and especially the this (US) country that may always require access to an automobile, my vision of my future involves a car free society.
You know, not too many years back “we” kicked the cigarette advertisements not only off of TV, but out of magazines as well. “Truth” was they were just polluting our bodies, kill our bodies off. I get so very angry when I see a beautiful pristine panoramic view of an unspoiled spot on our earth, and then see a car. I mean gesh. Those vehicles are killing off our planet. And besides, there really isn’t enough room on this planet for a car for every person in the first place. I’m all for getting rid of the car ads - on TV especially. We did it with cigarettes. We can do it with cars. Kick ‘em off tv and out of our towns! Yep, this is a good life - let’s preserve it.