Why Companies Need to Greenwash

In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at how corporations use greenwashing to not only mask their polluting practices but also change what change means. Specifically, I look at how greenwashing is just another example of the resilience of capitalism. Greenwashing allows companies and corporations like Fiji, Coke, and Nestle to continue polluting and emitting. By telling its consumers that they're doing good and then turning around and doing the exact opposite, these big multinationals are able to protect their bottom line. In order to greenwash, companies only have to throw a pittance at sustainability projects and then just market their "green initiatives" heavily. Greenwashing is an insidious tool of the capitalist class and is crushing our ability to decipher what is actually making change.

Check out other Climate YouTubers:

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:04 - What Companies Claim They're Doing
3:14 - Why Companies Greenwash
7:07 - Why Corporations Won't Save Us
8:58 - How We Change
10:52 - Sponsor Spot
13:13 - Outro

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#Greenwashing #Capitalism #ClimateChange

[OurChangingClimate]

💡 What company do you think greenwashes the most?
👍 Consider commenting and liking the video!!! It really helps this video beat that unruly algorithm!

[chenoir]

I have a friend who graduated in environmental politics and went on to work at Danone at their environmental change division. She becale depressed really fast. Basically her work was "find a way for us to do less than the bare minimum to appear climate-consciencious". And she was overworked doing that.

She wanted to make a difference, and that's really sad.

[gijsbrans]

Not greenwashing, but another issue that recently reared its head near me:

Recently a car manufacturer wanted to cut down a about 200 years old forrest to build a factory there. Nearly all forests in my country were removed previous to the 18th century. That means that this forrest was one of the older ones in the country. Not only that, but over its two centuries of existence it developed a great ecosystem with many endangered species of bats.

As a response many environmentalists started to protest the cutting down of the forrest. This was practically ignored by the media. That is, until some workers started counter protesting the environmentalists because they were afraid they would lose their jobs. And this did get a lot of media attention.

For people who do not realise what this is: the capitalist class/the company in question are using the liberal media to put the workers and the environmentalists against each other, divide and conquer. The truth is that both these groups, or rather both the forrest and the workers, are the victims of the capitalists that are exploiting them. The factory doesn't *need* to be built there.

As for the government, it handed out the permit to cut down the forest pretty much right away. This is in violation of laws that say it should protect endangered species, and proves once again that the government too serves the capitalist class.

[ItsOgre]

“We’ve planted over 2000 trees, meanwhile we’ve been a huge investor in the planet extinction/fossil fuel industry” - Canadian banks

[RialuCaos]

This is important information that everyone should know. People shouldn't expect corporations to offer a solution when the solution is counter to their goals.

[IgnorantSeeker]

This channel is such a guide for me on our collective way forward. I'm currently in China where concern for climate is lukewarm because many other things threaten our sense of security (but I guess capitalism still plays a big part) and people just don't have a means to meaningfully, safely and effectively express political will. I wish I can be a part of change in some way eventually and thank you for what you do! It's so important~

[AnkurShah]

Excellent video as usual, Charlie! I think Chevron, Nestle, BP, and Coca Cola would be tied at number one for greenwashing in my list.

[TripleGia]

I love how one of the examples of greenwashing is praising carbon capture, which is just "let's throw even more money at the problem instead of dealing with it at the source! We need to keep making money!" It's so funny.

[LeviHildebrandYT]

Such an important topic to cover, especially as more and more companies switch towards "sustainable" versions of their already-detrimental products. Those first two sections really hit close to home, more consumption will never lead to less impact. Great video!

[mahendradevam]

I wish these types of videos would get more views. It brings a lot of realities of what's happening

[lucasschreyer]

I literally just handed in my final thesis about greenwashing TODAY. One hour later he posts a video that explains the topic better than I could within 100 pages

[peterjol]

Almost all problems could be solved very simply by making it financially worthwhile for people to SHARE the jobs we can agree we NEED people to do and work much LESS...no more of this insane infinite growth system on a finite planet ...no more unemployment or job shortages, no more doing any useless jobs, Just a world where everyone fit and healthy is SHARING in doing the work we can agree we NEED to have done. Of course that would end up with making money become completely pointless and that's actually the goal, it's not and has never been 'money' that we NEED.

[HollisPresnell]

I work in a company that tries to create a sustainable image. They sell different flours, grains and similar baking/cooking products that are mostly packaged in plastic with the assumption that they were at least milled/made by the company.

In reality they mill maybe 20% of what they sell and the rest is just stuff from other companies that package their product in plastic/cardboard/paper bags. We put it into tote bages then it's packaged and resold at 2-4x the original price. A lot of the stuff comes from big names like Blue Diamond almond flour or Red Star yeast.

Yeah, all that trash, plastic and resources it takes to move all of that just for profit is not sustainable.

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

I know that my personal carbon footprint is peanuts compared to a company, but this is exactly why I start all new purchase by looking at it.

By looking at my footprint first and understanding where it is worse, that lets me look at a general category like “transportation” in order to try to find greener options. This further lead me to decide to use a bike to get to the train and take that to work in order to reduce my emissions.

Compare this to watching a car ad which says “buy our Tesla in order to save the planet!” Sure, my emissions would technically be better than driving a gasoline car, but I also miss out on that HUGE improvement by using public transportation!

[frommarkham]

Companies will generally never care about the environment, or at least, actually do something meaningful that'll help the environment because their goal is to make money. Unless we coerce them with laws to do so, and properly enforce them, most companies won't do anything that's actually meaningful(such as cut their emissions by a huge amount, and being honest about it)

[kristaw]

God I feel guilty working for ANYBODY nowadays.

[angelawildman]

Exactly why I’m not falling for Disney’s campaigns to help the Earth and their Animal Kingdom animal prison, as much as I love The Lion King and a lot of their other art.

[ginaslevinsky]

I appreciate that the ads I'm getting for this video are for the Pela Lomi composter, a product that doesn't need to be produced and is wasteful itself.

[kekiki]

Nestle could give a masterclass in Greewashing.

[mariusmark]

Excellent informative video! While I personally agree that capitalism is a big part of the climate crisis we are in right now, I think that mixing climate content with proposals to end capitalism makes it a lot more inaccessible for many people, especially Americans... I'm not saying it's wrong to make this conclusion, I'm just saying i think it's smarter to have more people on board with climate issues than to convince with the end goal. Just a thought... I value the educational power of your channel and I would love if you considered my point! Thank you ❤️