greenwash
English
Etymology
Blend of green (“environmentally friendly”) + whitewash, 1980s.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
greenwash (plural greenwashes)
- A false or misleading picture of environmental friendliness used to conceal or obscure damaging activities.
Translations
misleading picture of environmental friendliness
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Verb
greenwash (third-person singular simple present greenwashes, present participle greenwashing, simple past and past participle greenwashed)
- To disseminate such information about (something).
- 2011, Elaine Wellin, Kristen Seraphin, Project Censored, Censored 2012: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2010-11[1], →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.
- 2016 August 20, Bruce Watson, “The troubling evolution of corporate greenwashing”, in The Guardian[2]:
- The commercials were very effective – in 1990, they won an Effie advertising award, and subsequently became a case study at Harvard Business school. They also became notorious among environmentalists, who have proclaimed them the gold standard of greenwashing – the corporate practice of making diverting sustainability claims to cover a questionable environmental record.
Translations
to disseminate such information
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