It seems not too much has changed in the quarter of a century since the term greenwash was first coined to describe attempts by hotels to look green.
It was the 1980’s when US environmentalist Jay Westerveld criticised hotels for advertising their towel recycling programs but shunning recycling elsewhere in their business.
The term is now used to refer to any cynical attempt by a business to cash in on environmentally conscious consumers by implementing measures that in fact save the business money.
There’s a great account of greenwash here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwash
Hotels are still amongst the worst. Every hotel asks guests to hang their towel up, few allow guests to recycle. Almost none outside of the exclusive eco category audit their recycling programs.
Despite decades of attention these big businesses still refuse to properly address their environmental impact. Ironic really given they have the most to lose from climate change (what with the risk to Australia’s natural tourist attractions).
Our attempts to raise these issues with them have fallen on deaf ears, so far. Their Association has failed to consider environmental sustainability and attacked The First Star for seeking to draw attention to their record.
By joining The First Star you’ve said you want to stay in hotels that care about their workers and their environment. Now that we’re building a community of ethical travellers we need your ideas about how we can get these hotels to change.
Many of these cahins are also responsible for terrible environmental practices elsewhere in the world. We’re working with our partners to be able to bring you more details of this sort of behaviour: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/environmental-travel-the-greenwash-410815.html
If you want to know more about the Hotels’ Greenwash, visit our site, join the discussion.
