Greenwashing: Research Shows Some Hotels are Not as “Green” as They Claim
Wiser World Travel, a travel company started in 2007 by Peggy Lichter, received an offer from a company that promoted “green travel”. They offered to promote her company on their website for $100. The catch? They did not ask Lichter to provide any evidence that her business did in fact implement eco-friendly practices. This certainly caught her attention!
Wiser World Travel is a company that matches people who desire to travel in an eco-friendly way to hotels that truly are what they claim to be. She researches the green practices of these businesses in order to decide if they are upfront about their claims.
Lichter learns some very interesting facts in this business. While attending an industry-related conference sponsored by a hotel that promoted itself as environmentally conscious, she found that the air conditioning was set at such a cold temperature, people had to wear sweaters inside to stay warm.
The term “greenwashing” means marketing or promoting a product or business as being environmentally friendly when it is not. It is simply a ploy to sell a product, not an attempt to save the Earth.
Green American helps people differentiate between those businesses that are genuinely green, and those that put on a front in order to sell products and services. They are a non-profit organization that requires its members to pass a screening process in order to qualify for a Green Business Seal of Approval. They provide information both good and bad pertaining to eco-friendly practices of hundreds of businesses on their website, www.greenamerica.org.
