Trying to reduce your carbon footprint? Buying products marketed as environmentally friendly may not do much good . This according to a survey by environmental marketer TerraChoice released on Monday.
The survey reviewed 1,018 products from flooring to air fresheners to mouthwash In total the products carried 1,753 environment claims but the majority of so-called "green" products were labeled in ways that were vague or deliberately misleading.
The report said of the products examined "all but one made claims that are either demonstrably false or that risk misleading intended audiences."
The Pennsylvania-based firm, refers to misleading environmental marketing as "greenwashing." It identified "six sins of green marketing" - hidden trade-offs, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, fibbing, and the “lesser of two evils.”
Top of the list was hidden trade-offs, such as paper products marketing themselves as 10 percent recycled.
"The other 90 percent could be from an old-growth forest," said Scot Case, vice-president of TerraChoice, which does market green products under its own label, EcoLogo.
Another commonly committed "sin" of green-marketing, according to the report, is irrelevance. Labels such as "all natural", the report points out, are meaningless when one considers the fact that arsenic and mercury are also natural.
Similarly, many products have labels declaring them "CFC-free," even though CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, which contribute to ozone depletion, have been banned since 1978.
"What that claim basically says is: 'We're obeying the law.' Well, whoop-de-do," Case said of the CFC labels.
In some cases, the environmental advertising was false. For instance, a dishwasher detergent that advertised "100 percent recycled paper" packaging came in a plastic container. In another example, several shampoos labeled "certified organic" had no proof of certification.
TerraChoice said a key reason for an increase in products marketed "green" - and "greenwashing" - is surging consumer interest in environmentally-friendly.
"I blame Al Gore," joked Case. He added the former US vice-president's Oscar-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth is, in fact, one of the factors that spawned wide-spread consumer interest in eco-friendly goods.
For now, TerraChoice won't name "greenwashing" offenders. "We are hesitant to believe anyone is doing it intentionally," said Case.
Questions:
1.How many products did the TerraChoice survey review?
2.There are how many sins of green marketing, according to TerraChoice?
3.When were chlorofluorocarbons banned in the United States?
Answers:
1.1,018.
2.6.
3.1978.
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Jonathan Stewart is a media and journalism expert from the United States with four years of experience as a writer and instructor. He accepted a foreign expert position with chinadaily.com.cn in June 2007 following the completion of his Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
