I never thought I’d say this, but I am burn out on “green”.  Not the lifestyle or movement;  I guess I am sick of the word being used and overused everywhere you look.  If you glance over my previous posts, you will find that I myself use the word “green” quite a bit.  I guess part of why I am tired of the word green in this context is because of the issue of greewashing.

“Greenwash (a portmanteau of green and whitewash) is a term used to describe the perception of consumers that they are being misled by a company regarding the environmental practices of the company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. It is a deceptive use of green PR or green marketing. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations which attempt to appear that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.^” - Wikipedia

In short, Greenwashing is the exploitation of the ecological and environmental conscious movement and lifestyle.  Greewashing has been a known issue over twenty years, but but it seems that the problem has increased over the past few years.

What is green?  Besides LEED Certification for green building standards or a similar organization that has oversight over green labels, what makes a company or product green?

For me, since I am in the business of marketing and selling “green” personal care products, I have to make sure that my business and personal conduct/lifestyle reflects my message.  I have to make sure that my products, the vendors I work with, and the way I run my business cannot contradict the message I’m trying to convey.

For the next several  posts, I will refrain from using the word “green”  unless its in the context of the color green or any quotes that I use.  Of course my domain name will remain the same, and I wont change the Green and Chic website, but for the purpose of this blog, it will not be used – at least for a while.  Why? I guess its  an experiment to see if I can use alternative language and words to get the message across.

What does green and greenwash/greenwashing mean to you?  How can we avoid falling prey to it?

What do you think of this ad and website?