Greenscamming

Fake concern for the environment

Nature

Greenscamming is the increasingly common practice of giving environmentally friendly names to groups whose agendas have little to do with the welfare of the environment.

Incidence

It was reported in 1996 that in Riverside County, California, USA, a public relations firm organized Friends of Eagle Mountain on behalf of a mining company that wanted to create the world's largest landfill in an abandoned iron ore pit. The National Wilderness Institute was formed to roll back wetlands regulation and restrictions in the Endangered Species Act. The Wilderness Impact Research Foundation was a Nevada organization that represented logging and ranching interests. The American Environmental Foundation was considered to be a Florida property-rights group. The Abundant Wildlife Society of North America was backing hunters, loggers and miners.

Claim

"Northwesterners for More Fish." The words conjure up visions of earth-shoed activists and leaping trout joined to battle greedy pillagers of the land – a powerful image. Just the kind of image a group of Washington consultants had in mind when they proposed this "grassroots coalition" for their new clients: big utilities and other companies in the Northwest under attack by environmentalists for depleting the fish population.

Even as the public has become disillusioned with large corporations, government and other American institutions, the environmental movement has remained widely popular. The widespread use of environmentally friendly names is industry's grudging tribute to the environmental movement.

No one wants to dance with the devil, so they try to come up with a name that's not too devilish. As the country's becoming more and more environmentally sensitive, it's more difficult to be burdened with a name that speaks the truth about your intentions.

Although such groups assert that environmental regulations are overly burdensome and unnecessary, they recognize the value of an environmentally friendly name.

People sometimes create groups that try to fudge a little bit about what their goals are. They want to create a patina of good guy-ness. It goes along for a certain amount of time and the press eventually picks it up.