The Ecology Blog

In response to the growing awareness of the effects of global warming, a marketing movement that promotes green products emerged. You may look at it in a positive note given that companies are now getting more and more serious on their corporate social responsibilities. However, because of the competition in the green market, what happens is that companies merely promote green products instead of actually manufacturing them. Although it may not have any direct implication on saving the planet, the fact that it is misleading public’s opinion requires proper action.

Nothing beats the power of consumer demands and arguably it still remains to be the strongest solution to all these “greenwashing” that infiltrates the noble endeavor of buying green products. Then again, what should always be remembered is that before actually buying anything at all, make sure that you really need to do so. Before buying green products, consider if you can still buy it “used” instead. Of course, it is understandable that not all things can be reused, recycled and repurposed. In times like these, just make sure that you are making the right purchase by being extra vigilant.

Never ever buy products based on the packaging, advertising claims and promotions. Find out the accuracy and truthfulness in their claims. It may be difficult to know if the claims are biased but in this day and age, it does not hurt to suspect if a company is just into the marketing hype and if the claims are objective enough.

The best way to determine this is to seek for products that are tested by third party certifications such as ISO, Scientific Certifications Systems (SCS), Greenguard, and EPP among others.