Woopee look at me I'm green!
Date: May 29, 2015
James Adonis is one of Australia's best-known people-management thinkers
It's all the rage for businesses to strut their environmental credentials. Do you buy it?

Countless businesses publically profess their environmental sensibilities then proceed to trash the planet.
In the recent past, businesses engaged in philanthropy and environmental practices without fanfare. It was just the right thing to do. That no longer seems to be the case. Doing something good for the planet or for a favoured charity is now a carefully crafted marketing strategy. The primary intent is symbolism – an attempt to nab more customers, rather than make a real difference.
Such window dressing might not be a big deal. Many business leaders think if they're going to spend money greening the office or helping the community, they may as well make a dollar out of it. Which is perhaps understandable. Maybe.
That's why so many businesses display a list of philanthropic logos on their website. Or why they feel the urge to declare the percentage of profits they donate to charity. Or why they include environmental messages in their email signatures. What's the point of being so open if not to woo the public?
The problem with such an approach, according to US Professor Bruce Johansen, who conducts research in this area, is that it's greenwashing; a ubiquitous pantomime of inauthentic corporate social responsibility. In his new book, Eco-Hustle, released last month, he focuses on the looming threat of global warming. He writes: "So what are many of us doing at the door of hell? We're selling tickets to the show, or ignoring the problem."
He especially criticises the many brands that try to convince us they're organic, sustainable, fair trade, natural or whatever the latest fad might be: "We now wallow in a sea of green exploitation – so much