Shades of green
Kate Dillon
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Features
Last update: 2/3/10 at 11:29 PM EST
While walking through the aisles of a supermarket, it's easy to assume that dozens of companies are eco-friendly because they boast "green" and "organic" labels on a wide variety of products. For many consumers, "green," "all natural" and "organic" seem like interchangeable terms. But do they really mean the same thing?
"A teacher I have has a Starbucks mug with the word 'green' all over it, and it's the exact same as any other mug. I don't know how it's different," said a freshman integrated marketing and communications major Julia Giokas.
That's because the terms have completely different meanings.
Junior English major Chelsea Carson said she thinks the meanings differentiate by what ingredients go into the products.
"I'd say green, as far as food processing goes, means that pesticides that are detrimental to the environment aren't used. It's the absence of pesticides; no preservatives," Carson said.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Carson is right; organic foods "come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering or ionizing radiation."
The words "green" and "organic" aren't interchangeable. When a product's label says "organic," it is certified by the USDA. "Green," however, can mean anything from environmentally friendly to containing one organic ingredient among many harmful ones.
However, foods labeled "100 percent organic" by the USDA must have all organic ingredients - no pesticides or synthetic materials are allowed. The label "organic," on the other hand, means that 95 percent of ingredients are all-natural, and the label "Made with Organic Ingredients" means the product has to contain only 70 percent organic ingredients.
Companies seem to think it's a great marketing ploy, since even Clorox labels some of its products as "green." It launched a line called Green Works about a year and a half ago that features window and surface cleaners.
According to MSNBC, though, many of the Green Works products contain the chemical sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS. Green Works described SLS as a "coconut-based cleaning agent," but it's described by the American College of Toxicology as a skin irritant. Synthetic dyes are also used in some of these products.
But Green Works isn't the only company using the label "green" to make their products more marketable; labeling products as "environmentally friendly" when, in fact, they're not, is known as greenwashing. According to the New York Times, a study called Sustainable Futures '09 found that 64 percent of all the companies interviewed thought of the green campaign as just that: a campaign.
In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission brought a case against FuelMags.com, another company using the greenwashing technique to market a supposedly eco-friendly product. Their product, called a Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet, was supposed to be clamped onto the fuel line while filling up your gas tank.
"By passing the fuel through a strong magnetic field, hydrocarbon groups or clusters are broken up, making the fuel easier to vaporize," their Web site boasted. The only disadvantage to the product is that it allegedly doesn't work; it doesn't do anything except stick to your car like any ordinary magnet would.
Skeptical Pittsburghers who are looking for true organic products have a few options including South Side's E-House Company, which carries a variety of organic products, such as organic cotton clothing, preservative-free bath items, recycled gifts and natural household cleaning products.
"Our products are natural as opposed to companies with mostly synthetic ingredients," said E-House manager Tanya Kavalkovich.
According to Kavalkovich, the standards for true organic marketing are pretty strict, and products labeled as such must undergo a government investigation to make sure that they contain mostly organic materials.
"A lot of companies that are marketing 'green' only have a tiny, tiny percent of natural or organic ingredients. It would help if people read labels, but most people don't," Kavalkovich said.
As companies continue their efforts to appeal to the environmentalist community, studies show they continue to mislead consumers with greenwashing techniques. So while that new cleaning product appears "green" with that fancy label, it still might contain some not so eco-friendly ingredients.
"A teacher I have has a Starbucks mug with the word 'green' all over it, and it's the exact same as any other mug. I don't know how it's different," said a freshman integrated marketing and communications major Julia Giokas.
That's because the terms have completely different meanings.
Junior English major Chelsea Carson said she thinks the meanings differentiate by what ingredients go into the products.
"I'd say green, as far as food processing goes, means that pesticides that are detrimental to the environment aren't used. It's the absence of pesticides; no preservatives," Carson said.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Carson is right; organic foods "come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering or ionizing radiation."
The words "green" and "organic" aren't interchangeable. When a product's label says "organic," it is certified by the USDA. "Green," however, can mean anything from environmentally friendly to containing one organic ingredient among many harmful ones.
However, foods labeled "100 percent organic" by the USDA must have all organic ingredients - no pesticides or synthetic materials are allowed. The label "organic," on the other hand, means that 95 percent of ingredients are all-natural, and the label "Made with Organic Ingredients" means the product has to contain only 70 percent organic ingredients.
Companies seem to think it's a great marketing ploy, since even Clorox labels some of its products as "green." It launched a line called Green Works about a year and a half ago that features window and surface cleaners.
According to MSNBC, though, many of the Green Works products contain the chemical sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS. Green Works described SLS as a "coconut-based cleaning agent," but it's described by the American College of Toxicology as a skin irritant. Synthetic dyes are also used in some of these products.
But Green Works isn't the only company using the label "green" to make their products more marketable; labeling products as "environmentally friendly" when, in fact, they're not, is known as greenwashing. According to the New York Times, a study called Sustainable Futures '09 found that 64 percent of all the companies interviewed thought of the green campaign as just that: a campaign.
In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission brought a case against FuelMags.com, another company using the greenwashing technique to market a supposedly eco-friendly product. Their product, called a Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet, was supposed to be clamped onto the fuel line while filling up your gas tank.
"By passing the fuel through a strong magnetic field, hydrocarbon groups or clusters are broken up, making the fuel easier to vaporize," their Web site boasted. The only disadvantage to the product is that it allegedly doesn't work; it doesn't do anything except stick to your car like any ordinary magnet would.
Skeptical Pittsburghers who are looking for true organic products have a few options including South Side's E-House Company, which carries a variety of organic products, such as organic cotton clothing, preservative-free bath items, recycled gifts and natural household cleaning products.
"Our products are natural as opposed to companies with mostly synthetic ingredients," said E-House manager Tanya Kavalkovich.
According to Kavalkovich, the standards for true organic marketing are pretty strict, and products labeled as such must undergo a government investigation to make sure that they contain mostly organic materials.
"A lot of companies that are marketing 'green' only have a tiny, tiny percent of natural or organic ingredients. It would help if people read labels, but most people don't," Kavalkovich said.
As companies continue their efforts to appeal to the environmentalist community, studies show they continue to mislead consumers with greenwashing techniques. So while that new cleaning product appears "green" with that fancy label, it still might contain some not so eco-friendly ingredients.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Tanya Kavalkovich
posted 2/04/10 @ 11:49 AM EST
I would just like to clarify: I didn't actually say:
"the standards for true organic marketing are pretty strict".
I said that the standards for being Certified Organic are pretty strict. (Continued…)
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