Pros And Cons Of Greenwashing

“Buying green, saving green, acting green,” is the new mantra hummed by numerous amounts of people in the world today. Becoming environmentally conscious has grown to a state where everyone shames those who leave a light on when they leave a room or when they leave the tap on a second too long when brushing their teeth. Can abiding by these rules solve our never ending issue of climate change? An overwhelming no can arise from that. Green consumers these small acts are enough to reach their goal of helping slow down the end of the world, although it may be the reason climate change is getting worse. Many who choose to buy green are distracted from the large corporations who fabricate “ecofriendly” products so that they are able to make a large
A green consumer is someone who invests their money into items that will not cause anymore damage to the environment in comparison to non-ecofriendly products, an example of this is someone buying an electric or hybrid car instead of one that runs off gasoline. Though, with green consumerism comes with greenwashing, which is uncommon but it still has its occurrences. Greenwashing is when businesses sell a product that is considered green or eco-friendly, but it truthfully is extremely hazardous towards the environment. Before the 2015 lawsuit on car emissions against Volkswagen, their cars were considered a better choice in automotive transportation because the emissions released into the atmosphere were said to contain less toxins, when in reality Volkswagen’s emissions were just as bad as any other diesel vehicle. Looking at corporations like Volkswagen, many people are able to see the effects of greenwashing and the fallacies that may hide behind green
These consumers feel as if they are doing enough towards their part in solving climate change with these small tasks, when they are truly not doing enough at all. Green consumers should feel obligated to help regulate large corporations, “All who appreciate the enormity of the climate crisis still have a responsibility to make every change possible in their personal lives.” (Tidwell) People who consider themselves environmentalists need to go beyond buying green, they need to change all that they would consider harmful. When those who are able to help the environment the most are distracted from the larger picture, less will be done in the process of stopping the large corporations from continually