How do you know product claims of eco-friendliness are true?Just like the fact that the healthiest slice of cake is the one you leave on the plate, the greenest product is the one you don't actually buy.
Buying stuff is a bit like eating - we do need to consume a certain amount just to live, but it is usually about we want rather than what we need. And let's face it, we don't need a double fudge chocolate sundae with whipped cream anymore than we need a plasma screen TV.
For the most part our purchases are driven by clever marketing. Marketers exploit ethical shopping sentiment when they use 'greenwash'.
The idea has become so all-pervasive in recent years that the word has even entered the Oxford English Dictionary which defines it as "disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image."
Of course, not all environmental claims are spurious.
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