Housing industry a good environment for eco-friendly claims
‘Greenwashing’ is common in real estate. Products may have ecological virtues, but you may not be getting the full story.
If you are interested in buying an environmentally sound house or residing in a sustainable community, you need to become familiar with the term “greenwashing,” which basically means proclaiming something is environmentally sound when it really isn’t.
A combination of the words “green” and “whitewash,” the term was reportedly coined by suburban New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 in an essay regarding the hotel industry’s practice of promoting the reuse of guest towels in a supposed effort to conserve water, when in fact there was little or no effort toward waste recycling.
Today greenwashing, a.k.a. “green sheen,” is rife as companies rush to take advantage of heightened consumer interest in environmentally beneficial products.
Green is so pervasive that the Federal Trade Commission is revising its environmental-marketing guidelines a year ahead of schedule. The so-called green guides, which haven’t been updated since 1998, outline principles for all environmental marketing. The review was supposed to begin this month, but because of the jump in green advertising claims, the consumer watchdog agency decided to act earlier.
Perhaps no industry has embraced the green mantra more than housing. And with that has come a lot more hype.
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