From “downcycling” to “upcycling,” “natural” to “organic”,” knowing how to be green can become confusing for even the most eco-friendly consumer.
EDB’s guide to green living terms can help you sort through the buzz words to become a more conscientious and informed shopper.
Biodegradable: A product containing 60-70 percent ingredients that are able to break down into raw materials and dissolve into the environment within 28 days.
Cap and trade: A regulatory system in which greenhouse-gas emission limits are imposed on companies by the government. Businesses are then allowed to buy and sell greenhouse gas credits, while companies who emit fewer gases than the governmental limit can sell their emission credits.
Carbon footprint: The amount of greenhouse gases produced by the actions of an individual or organization, as a measure of that entity’s impact on the environment. Factors used to calculate this measurement include waste disposal, the amount of food and water used and the distances traveled by car or air.
Carbon offsets: When an individual or organization purchases credits guaranteeing the reduction of greenhouse gasses from one project to neutralize the effects of another.
Clean technology: Products, services and materials that use renewable resources and are more energy efficient than conventional goods.
Climate Change: Long-term changes in global weather patterns (such as temperature or precipitation) from either natural processes or human activities.
Compostable: The process of breaking down organic matter, such as food waste, into a substance (known as compost) able to support plant life.
Daylighting: The use of natural light to enhance or replace artificial lighting.
Downcycling: When products are recycled into lower-quality materials.
Eco-friendly: While there is no legal definition, this usually refers to a product or action having little to no impact on the surrounding environment.
Fair Trade: A certification label pledging that a product has met environmental, social and economic sustainability standards. Criteria include the use of reasonable labor conditions, fair prices for farmers and a focus on environmentally-friendly production practices.
Food Miles: The distance food travels from where it is produced to where it is purchased by the consumer.
Greenhouse gases: A gas, such as carbon dioxide or methane, that absorbs and holds the sun’s heat in the atmosphere.
Greenwashing: The practice of claiming a product is environmentally-friendly or sustainable, when it may not be overall. Terrachoice, an environmental marketing agency, has identified six common forms of greenwashing:
1. Hidden Trade-offs - A product that is labeled green based on only one component. While one aspect may be green, others are not environmentally-friendly.
2. No Proof - A product whose sustainability claims cannot be verified by a third party.
3. Vagueness – A product whose green claims are ambiguous. An example of this would be an item claiming to be “all-natural,” when elements like arsenic can be found naturally.
4. Irrelevance – A product making environmentally-friendly claims that may be insignificant, such as marketing a product as “CFC-free,” when chlorofluorocarbons have been banned for 30 years.
5. Fibbing – A product’s claims are simply false.
6. Lesser of Two Evils – A product, such as an organic pesticide, that claims to be green, while the entire category may have negative impacts on the environment or human health.
LEED: Designed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a national-non-profit, The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is used as a benchmark to define how sustainable a building may be. Assessment areas include energy efficiency, construction materials used, and in the case of a food establishment, how sustainable its products are.
Locavore: Someone who eats only locally-grown food, usually from within 100 miles.
Organic: Food produced by farmers who place an emphasis on sustainability and animal welfare. A label set by the United States Department of Agriculture was established in 2002 certifying that organic foods are “produced without antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, irradiation or bioengineering,” according to the USDA Organic Web site.
Natural: While this label can be found on a range of food, there is no regulatory definition for most “natural” foods. Only meat products with this label must contain no artificial ingredient or added color.
Sustainability: The practice of using resources without depleting or significantly damaging them for future generations. In relation to the food industry, sustainability involves a balance between minimizing the impact of production practices on the environment, finding practical long-term economic actions and using fair and safe business and labor practices.
Upcycling: The process of recycling a product into something of equal or greater value.
Sources:
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions. “Glossary of Sustainability Terms,” http://www.anjec.org/html/Sustainability-Glossary.htm; Accessed 21 Jan. 2010.
The Seattle Times. “Green-living lingo,” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2008016983_footwebgreendictionary.html; 28 June 2008.
The Dallas Morning News. “A glossary for green living,” http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/home/ideaarchive/stories/092007dnlivgreenglossary_0923liv.f209634e.html; 10 Sept. 2007.
Usda-Fda.com. “Organic Foods,” http://usda-fda.com/Articles/Organic.htm; Accessed 21 Jan. 2010.
Northern Arizona University. “Sustainability: LEED,” http://www.cba.nau.edu/newbuilding/leeds.html; Accessed 21 Jan. 2010.
Western Washington University. “Overview of Sustainability Terms,” http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Councils/WISE/brief%20Sustainability%20Vocabulary%20_2_.pdf; Accessed 21 Jan. 2010.
