· 2 min read
📖 This article is featured in illuminem’s Curated Booklist: the influential books shaping the world sustainability debate.
Title: House of Anansi
Author: John Pabon
Publisher: House of Anansi
Publication: May 2023
Sustainability topics: Ethical Governance 🏛
illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Earth.Org or enjoy below:
🗞️ Driving the news: "The Great Greenwashing" by John Pabon critiques the pervasive nature of greenwashing across industries, governments, and celebrities
• Pabon uses vivid examples, such as deceptive marketing tactics, and state-sponsored environmental hypocrisy, to showcase the scale of the problem
• He balances his critique with practical advice on how individuals and companies can genuinely contribute to sustainability
🔭 The context: Greenwashing, the practice of making misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product or service, is widespread and often shields harmful practices from scrutiny
• Pabon’s book exposes these tactics and emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing entire supply chains and corporate cultures
• He also contrasts untrustworthy sectors like fossil fuels with more trustworthy ones like pharma and grocery, while acknowledging the complexity of perfect corporate responsibility
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The book highlights the significant damage that greenwashing can do by obscuring real environmental harms and undermining public trust in genuine sustainability efforts
• By encouraging readers to critically evaluate sustainability claims, Pabon aims to foster a more informed and proactive approach to combating climate change
⏭️ What's next: Pabon advocates for a shift from superficial green claims to substantive environmental actions
• He stresses that both individual and collective actions are essential in driving genuine change, warning against both corporate and personal greenwashing
💬 One quote: "As companies continue to evolve … the available space for greenwashing will increasingly shrink," Pabon writes, suggesting an eventual reduction in deceptive practices as sustainability becomes more ingrained in corporate culture
📈 One stat: The book reports that the world discards 100 million tons of textiles annually, a figure projected to rise to 134 million by 2030
This review is part of illuminem’s Curated Booklist: the influential books shaping the sustainability debate. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting exclusive insights from the world’s largest network of sustainability thought leaders. Their views expressed do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
Discover the sustainability performance of thousands of companies on illuminem Data Hub™.
