greenwash

greenwash

English

WOTD – 17 March 2012

Etymology

Blend of green (“environmentally friendly”) +‎ whitewash

Pronunciation

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Noun

greenwash (plural greenwashes)

1. A false or misleading picture of environmental friendliness used to conceal or obscure damaging activities.

   Coordinate terms: whitewash, bluewash

   • 2010, Meegan Jones, Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide, →ISBN, page 38:

     People can be cynical about companies hiding behind green ideals, their radars finely tuned to detect a greenwash.

Translations

misleading picture of environmental friendliness

Finnish: viherpesu (fi) French: écoblanchiment (fr)

Spanish: lavado verde m, lavado verde de imagen m, greenwashing (es)

Verb

greenwash (third-person singular simple present greenwashes, present participle greenwashing, simple past and past participle greenwashed)

1. To disseminate such information about (something).
   • 2011, Elaine Wellin, Kristen Seraphin, Project Censored, Censored 2012: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2010-11‎, →ISBN, Health and the Environment:

     But what happens more often is that media “greenwashes” dirty energy sources (coal, gas, nuclear power) as “clean”—a particularly dangerous notion because it belies the threat they pose to our planet and human health.

Translations

to disseminate such information

Finnish: viherpestä

Related terms

• bluewash
• whitewash
• green tape

Anagrams

• Greenhaws