One of the more interesting experiences available on today’s Internet, thanks to the growing sophistication of search engines, involves automatic translation. When we tried the trick with the English word ‘greenwash,’ the Portuguese phrase offered was lavagem verde, which
seemed to miss the point. In English, the term greenwash is a fusion of ‘green’ and ‘whitewash,’ the latter a form of cheap white paint applied to the outside of houses. The term is generally used by environmentalists to refer to what they see as corporate propaganda attempting to mask poor environmental performance. Now, once again, there are growing concerns that corporations are busily at work with pots of greenwash, with serious implications for the credibility of the whole field of sustainability-linked communication.

Read the article in Portugese.