How often you aware of the word "Greenwashing"

• How often do you see the words "green", "nature", "organic" on a product package?
• How many times you bought these products because they seems to have less impacts to the environment?
• Would you doubt whether their claims are true or not?

When a company exaggerated a part of supposed environmental friendliness, but shirks commitment to sustainability on a larger level, some might call it simple ignorance or a half-baked attempt at going green — but it is called the "greenwashing".

Greenwashing refers to a product or company that claims itself as sustainable, but spends more effort marketing and advertising itself as green than actually implementing practices that minimize environmental harm.

There are 7 sin of greenwashing that helps us to identify the companies that uses greenwashing, here is the link to the website: http://sinsofgreenwashing.com/findings/the-seven-sins/
However, I notice that nowadays not only products like food and daily necessities, but also buildings. Many of them uses green roofs, green louvres and green ratings to attract people. One example is the $6 billion "Dubai Pearl’ - a mixed-use city within the city of Dubai is being planned for an area near Dubai’s new business centers. According to the developers, the program will promote energy efficiency, “smart technology”, a column-free design, and a walkable environment that will enable community living. But to be honest I doubt whether Dubai needs and can even support another massive residential, hotel and office complex of the Dubai Pearl’s scale.

Model of Dubai Pearl 

According to Dubai Pearl’s press office, the 40 acre site will include:

-15,500 parking spaces- 1500 residential units
- 1400 offices and a retail zone- A population of 30,000 people.

The site has included a lot of green and blue zone which requires a huge amount of water to maintain these zones, I don't think it would be a big problem if Dubai is a coastal city , but Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates still rely on desalination, which means massive amounts of water will be needed to keep Dubai Pearl working. Furthermore, information on what sustainable materials for the buildings’ interiors and exteriors is still lacking. Therefore, I think the "sustainable" title of this development seems to be misused. We often see renderings of buildings with a green facade or lots of greens in the surroundings, and it gives a "sustainable" image to the people but the system behind those façades are not sustainable. As a urban designer, I think we should create a sustainable built environment instead of a "green" building.

Reference:

"Greenwashing: How To Spot False Environmental Claims." Curiousmatic. 2016. Accessed March 17, 2016. 
https://curiousmatic.com/greenwashing-how-to-spot-false-environmental-claims/. 

"The Heart of New Dubai." Welcome to Dubai Pearl. Accessed April 03, 2016. http://www.dubaipearl.com/.

"Dubai Pearl Is Another Massive and Dubious “Green Building” Project in The Gulf." Inhabitat Green Design Innovation Architecture Green Building. Accessed April 03, 2016. http://inhabitat.com/dubai-pearl-is-another-massive-and-dubious-“green-building”-project-on-the-gulf/.