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Clean & Green or Dirty Business? 5 Corporate Greenwashing Tricks to Watch Out For

There are two sides to every story. Shell says it can drill offshore in remote Alaskan waters safely because it has a containment program that is better than BP’s – while Greenpeace points out that a bad spill in the Arctic would endanger polar bear winter birthing grounds. In 2008, Shell was rebuked by a Canadian media watchdog group for using the word “sustainable” to describe a tar sands project that, according to the World Wildlife Federation, would destroy large areas of virgin Canadian forests.

How are we to know whose side of the story is the truest? Are companies gulling us into buying so-called green products that aren’t really green? Many make environmental claims that are real and represent a true commitment to the environment – or at least to satisfying current consumer demands for eco-friendly products. But others make claims that are misleading, that relate only to the tip of the iceberg (so to speak) or that are outright false. So how can you tell? How can you be sure that a company’s perhaps well-intended green policies are really as green as they are meant to be? Here are five signals that a business may be engaging in deceptive green marketing, aka “greenwashing.”

1. A company advertises “all natural” ingredients, but doesn’t reveal what those ingredients are, what percentage of them are used in a product, or how they are processed.

Terms such as “all natural” and “organic” are marketing claims – and may not be proven, tested, or even relevant in some cases. In one Canadian television expose, for example, investigators found carcinogens, pollutants, and hormone disrupters in many health food store products that were promoted using these buzz words. ( “Peeling back misleading green labels,” CBCNews, March 18, 2011 ). While there are guidelines for how companies should label their products – the USDA requires products labeled as “organic” to contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients (learn more at the USDA National Organic Program website, “Understanding Organic Labeling” ) – many manufacturers are making liberal use of legal loopholes.

Mortgage Rates: Understanding the Risks | San Antonio Mortgage ...

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Today brought a second day of mild recovery for mortgage rates. Last week, the Current Market Best-Execution mortgage rate rose somewhat abruptly after repeatedly failing to improve ( READ MORE ). Although today’s improvements don’t bring the Best-Ex rate back to previous levels, they have helped lender-related closing costs move a bit lower than yesterday. CURRENT MARKET *: The “Best Execution” conventional 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen to 4.625%, but fewer lenders are readily quoting. More lenders are offering 4.75% instead (extra margin in rate sheets).On the FHA / VA 30 year fixed "Best Execution" is still but just 4.375%, 4.50% is more likely to city. 15 years fixed conventional loans are the best at a price of 3.875%. Five arms are even better year for the price of 3.

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