Word of the Week -- GREENWASH
Golden Bay
to try to convince people that you are doing something which is good
for the environment by being involved in small,
environmentally-friendly initiatives, especially as a way of hiding
your involvement in activities which are damaging to the environment
greenwash noun [C]
greenwashed adjective
greenwashing noun [U]
greenwasher noun [C]
The term greenwash has been around since the early nineties, emerging
from the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In 1999, it
entered the Concise Oxford Dictionary, defined there as:
'Disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an
environmentally responsible public image.'
The word greenwash is a blend of the adjective green, in its sense of
'protecting the environment', and the verb whitewash, meaning 'to try
to stop people from discovering the true facts about something'. There
is also some evidence for the term blackwash, a kind of antonym of
whitewash meaning 'to bring information out of concealment', though as
yet this has limited coverage in dictionaries and much less widespread
usage than whitewash or greenwash.
E.g.:
'He found that 84 per cent believe it is now more important to teach
about environmental issues than it was in the past ... Standish also
looked at national curriculum requirements -- and textbooks -- and
concluded that pupils were being "greenwashed" by simplistic and skewed
approaches to complex issues.'
(The Independent, 6th February 2003)
'Tony Blair was accused of attempting a "greenwash" of the government's
environmental record today, as he launched a white paper on energy
provision ...'
(The Guardian, 24th February 2003)