‘It’s easy being green’.

‘Green is the new black’.

Are you tired of simplistic eco slogans and soundbites yet? This may come as a bit of a surprise — but I’m really starting to hate Earth Day. One might think that the editor of environmental-leaning publication like Inhabitat would live for Earth Day, but the opposite is true for me. I’m starting to come to the conclusion that Earth Day is just a shallow marketing opportunity for companies to jump on the green bandwagon and try to make some extra cash using eco-caché. Having one single day designated as Earth Day gives people and corporations an excuse to pay less attention to the environment the other 364 days of the year. The greenest and most innovative companies are not the ones running Earth Day marketing campaigns and giving out eco totes on April 22nd. In fact, you wouldn’t believe some of the ridiculous green-themed press releases I received over the past few weeks leading up to Earth Day. Read on for five of the most egregious examples of greenwashed Earth Day marketing gimmicks I’ve seen, and chime in with the most ridiculous gimmicks that you’ve run across in the comments – we’ll be collecting your submissions and adding them to our post!

Read the rest of Top Five Dumbest Greenwashed ‘Earth Day’ Gimmicks

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: carbon offsets, earth day, earth day 2010, eco tote bags, eco water bottle, environmental activism, environmental responsibility, gimmicks, green design, Greenwashing, sunchips bag, sustainable design

Earth Day is tomorrow – and our inboxes are already filled to the brim with marketing gimmicks and greenwashed products. In a sad turn of affairs, the environmental message behind Earth Day has been drowned out by marketing bravado and buried beneath mountains of “eco” tote bags and redundant reusable bottles. We’ve shared what we think are the 5 dumbest Earth Day gimmicks – and now we want to see the worst examples of Earth Day greenwashing that YOU have ever run across. Leave a comment below with the most audacious Earth Day greenwashing gimmicks you’ve seen and we’ll publish the most deplorable!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: earth day, earth day 2013, earth day gimmick, earth day sale, eco incentives, Environment, green design, green products, Greenwashing, is it green, sustainable design, Waste

Read the rest of Dubai Pearl is Another Massive and Dubious “Green Building” Project in The Gulf

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "leed", "sustainable development", Baccarat, Bellagio, dubai, dubai pearl, dubious dubai buildings, eco design, green buildings in dubai, green design, holistic luxury, LEED gold, MGM Grand, Palm Jumeirah, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, united arab emirates

On Monday, Walmart released its annual Global Responsibility Report highlighting the corporate behemoth’s progress towards meeting sustainability goals. Just how green is Walmart? On many counts, Walmart has made serious improvement. The company reduced waste, sold more locally-grown produce and increased its use of renewable energy. But it still has a long way to go before we can comfortably use the words “Walmart” and “sustainable” in the same sentence.

Read the rest of Walmart Toots its Own Horn with Release of Sustainability Report

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: big boxes, corporations, global responsibility report, green, Greenwashing, retail, Shopping, stores, Sustainability, sustainability index, wal-mart, walmart

Walmart’s Sustainability Campaign is now in its seventh year, and according to a new report by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, the retail giant’s progress has been less than stellar: “At its current pace, Walmart will need roughly 300 years to reach its goal of 100 percent renewable energy.” With the installation of solar panels on 130 Californian super stores, and the purchase of 180 million kilowatt-hours of wind power in Texas each year, the ISR reports that Walmart still only manages to derive less than two percent of its power from these renewable sources, and with operating profits of $25.5 billion last year Walmart noted in their most recent sustainability report that “it has sometimes been difficult to find and develop low-carbon technologies that meet our ROI.”

Read the rest of Institute for Local Self-Reliance Calls Walmart’s Sustainability Campaign Greenwashing

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: big box stores, corproate greenwashing, Environmental Defense Fund, greenwashing business, institute for local self reliance, John Boenher, renewable energy, roy blunt, walmart green, walmart greenwashing, walmart sustainability

Pink fried chicken? We’re all for advancing breast cancer research, but it’s sickening how some corporations are playing up to the public’s desire to find a cure by turning all of their products pink this month – even ones that might cause cancer themselves! We’ve rounded up 10 ridiculously pinkwashed wares from benzene-spewing cars to BPA-laced chicken soup that you probably want to think twice about consuming.

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Bloomingdales, eco beauty, eco-fashion, eco-friendly cosmetics, eco-friendly makeup, Estee Lauder, Ethical Fashion, ford, green beauty, green cosmetics, green fashion, green makeup, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Philosophy, pinkwashing, sustainable beauty, sustainable cosmetics, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable makeup, Yoplait

Read the rest of 6 Most Dubious “Green” Projects from Dubai

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: blue crystal, burj al arab, Burj al Khalifa, dubai, eco design, green design, shipping containers, solar powered desert oasis, sustainable design, top 6, world islands sinking, world's highest tennis court, world's tallest building

Proctor & Gamble (P&G) – the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world – has just vowed to brush aside the greenwashing of its past in favor of a truly sustainable future. The mega company — which owns such brands as Tide, Crest, Secret Deodorants, Bounty Paper Towels and Eukaneuba pet food, to name a few — just announced its sustainability goals with an in-depth interactive website that shows consumers just where they plan to go. P&G has set goals to make all of their products 100% renewable energy, zero waste, zero pollution, and 100% recyclable , however they’ve not set a single date. So, are they serious – or is this all talk and no planned action?

Read the rest of World’s Largest Consumer Goods Company Proctor & Gamble Vows to Go Green

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: consumer industry, consumer products, eco beauty products, eco home cleaning products, green beauty products, green consumer products, green home cleaning products, manufacturing industry, p and g, Proctor and Gamble

Shale gas is viewed as a cleaner, cheaper alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Granted, unconventional gas burns 30% more efficiently than coal, but the process used to get it out of the ground is far from clean. Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ has been causing quite a stir in the US in recent years, particularly in north-eastern states such as Pennsylvania as the dangers related to the exploration and development of shale gas have made their way into mainstream consciousness. Perhaps this is what prompted the $25 billion Canadian global oil and gas company, Talisman Energy to publish a 24-page coloring book for kids explaining the merits of shale gas extraction. Talisman is hoping to ‘educate’ kids on the fun and exciting world of fracking by introducing them to ‘Talisman Terry, your friendly Fracosaurus’.

Read the rest of US Kids Targeted by ‘Fracking’ Cartoon

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: coal, fossil fuels, fracking, green design, hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas, renewable energy, shale gas, sustainable design, talisman energy

Read the rest of O’Mighty Green: A Satirical Commentary on Greenwashing in Architecture

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", color green, eco design, green, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green washing, Greenwashing, Living Walls, o' mighty green, star architecture, star strategies + architecture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, the color green

The GreenWashBall is a device that you toss into the washing machine to clean your dirty laundry in place of detergent. An innovative concept, but not the first of its kind – “laundry balls” like the GreenWashBall are abundant, including the Miracle II Ball, the Laundry Solution ball, and the Mystic Wonder Laundry Ball. They are supposedly popular in Europe and the laundry ball industry is hoping to gain popularity in the U.S. Completely cutting the use of detergent is enticing from both ecological and economic standpoints, but how exactly does the GreenWashBall work, and can it up to its claims?

Read the rest of IS IT GREEN?: The Laundry Ball

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: detergent free laundry, eco friendly laundry, green laundry product, greenwashball, Greenwashing, laundry ball, soap free detergen

If you suspected that the contents of some “green” household products were misleading, the chemists who met at the 241 National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society have evidence to back up your intuition. A recent study shows that some popular consumer cleaning products such as laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid and hand soap that claim to be eco-friendly are not 100% petroleum-free as claimed. Chemist Cara A.M. Bondi led the study which tested the carbon origin of each product.


Read the rest of Study Reveals Some Green Cleaning Products Aren’t as Eco as They Say They Are

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: American Chemical Society, Cara A.M. Bondi, carbon-14 dating, green cleaning products, petrochemical free, petroleum-free, plant-based carbon

Read the rest of Yellow Pages Finally Launches Phone Book Opt-Out Website

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: delivery, directory, Eco, green, Paper, phone book, Printing, rant, recycling, soy ink, Sustainable, Waste, website, yellow pages

Kimberly-Clark just announced a new toilet paper that — gasp — has no tube. Instead, the paper uses a proprietary winding process that allows the roll to be used up until the very last sheet. An astounding 17 billion paper tubes are used each year in the manufacture of toilet paper, so a small design change like this can literally save millions of pounds of disposed cardboard a year. We applaud Kimberly-Clark with a caveat — currently the new “Naturals” labeled product contains no recycled paper content, which is a much larger environmental concern.

Read the rest of Is New Tubeless Toilet Paper Just a Green Tease?

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: green design, green toilet paper, green wash, Greenwash, recycled toilet paper, sustainable design, tubeless TP

The “Greenest of All Buildings” was recently completed in Mumbai, India and we couldn’t be more appalled. The Antilia house which unveiled its first renderings just over two-years ago has become a frightening reality, egregiously boasting 27 stories at 568 feet high, with a total area of over 398,000 square feet of living space. What at first glimpse looks and sounds like a typical skyscraper is far from it – the Antilla is in fact a $1 billion family home built for India’s richest man (and Forbes’ fourth richest man) Mukesh Ambani, his wife, and three children. Constructed within a country estimated to have one-third of the world’s poorest population, the Antilia truly exemplifies the disease of excessive consumption, extreme wastefulness, and unsustainable living that is permeating today’s society.

Read the rest of World’s Largest and Most Expensive Family Home Completed

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Antilia, antilia house, fake green houses, green washing, greenwashed architecture, Greenwashing, Hirsch Bedner Associates, India, Mumbai, perkins + will, world's largest family home, world's largest house, world's largest residence

It’s natural! It’s compostable! It’s biodegradable! It’s non-toxic! We’re living in a world of green claims that can sometimes seem unrealistic and unprovable. Well yesterday, the US Federal Trade Commission proposed a host of revisions to the current Green Guide to make those claims a little clearer and to make it harder for companies to claim false green credentials. It covers everything from recycling, to composting, to the chemical makeup of a product and just might help the general public out in deciding what products are truly environmentally friendly.

Read the rest of Government Proposes Tighter Rules to Curb Greenwashing

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Biodegradable, compostable, government claims, government seals, green claims, green seals, Greenwashing, how to avoid greenwashing, how to tell if a product is eco friendly, how to tell if a product is green, non-toxic, product green claims

Here at Inhabitat we love hearing about multi-national corporations undertaking incredible measures to become more Earth friendly, so with the recent announcement that all of Sunny Delight’s US and Spanish companies have gone certifiable zero waste to landfill, we’re inclined to give them a standing ovation for their eco-efforts. But unfortunately, there’s another equally dire aspect that requires us to sit back down – because while green in production, the beverage itself remains a sugary mess. Shaped in the minds of many as a timeless favorite, Sunny Delight is in reality one of many sugar-laden drinks causing obesity problems across the world. So while the company’s recycling initiatives are laudable, we still feel making a drink that keeps the world’s population healthy is even better.

Read the rest of Sunny Delight Reaches Zero Waste Goal, But Is Still Bad for You

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: is sunny d good for the environment, is sunny d good for you, orange juice drink, sunny d zero waste, sunny delight zero waste, zero waste company

If you’ve been shopping, watching TV or surfing the web at all, you’ve undoubtedly noticed all of the companies taking their products and services green. While this is generally a good thing, we can’t help but notice some brands going about it in all the wrong ways: producing useless ‘eco’ wares that defeat the purpose of being made of sustainable materials or even blatantly greenwashing. If you’re interested in making your company more eco-friendly, and want to do it the right way, check out our list of the top 5 things you
shouldn’t do while trying to go green.

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco business, environmental business, environmental policies, going green, green business, green your business, Greenwash, tips to green your mistake, top 5 business mistakes

If you’re reading Inhabitat, you’re no doubt aware of how popular the ‘green’ trend has become. Businesses have finally started to realize that the environmental movement is here to stay, and that there is money to be made in going green. This is something that Inhabitat readers and concerned citizens should be happy about… sort of. While it is great that so many businesses finally see the green in ‘going green’, too often businesses approach going green in all the wrong ways – producing useless ‘eco’ products, tone-deaf marketing, or even worse: greenwashing. Check out our list of the top 5 mistakes that businesses make when trying to go green.

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco business, environmental business, environmental policies, going green, green business, green your business, Greenwash, tips to green your mistake, top 5 business mistakes

It goes without saying that there have been some truly impressive and useful innovations in world of eco-friendly products, but with everyone racing to develop the next big thing there are bound to be a few flops. Here at Inhabitat we applaud every effort to help us reduce our carbon footprint and live greener cleaner lives, but we can’t help but notice that some attempts have missed the mark. This list is comprised of our favorite silly eco inventions, products and ideas. Really, what fun would it be if we only covered the good stuff?

Read the rest of Top 5 Silliest Eco-Inventions

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Eco Button, PETaPOTTY, silly eco-inventions, solar-powered bra, solar-powered fan cap, top five silliest eco-inventions