Greenwashing & Rainbow-washing

Greenwashing, Rainbow-washing, Redwashing

What do these terms mean? What do they have in common?

This week, we delve into the similarities between greenwashing and rainbow-washing (pinkwashing) by corporations and governments. We ask what red-washing can tell us about the institutional logics driving greenwashing and rainbow-washing.

Allegra shares info about the corporate co-optation of Pride and pinkwashing by the Israeli government. Amalie brings examples of greenwashing by oil and other companies. We discuss how these dynamics are connected through neoliberalism, colonialism, and more!

We bring up the following resources:

Greenwashing:

[11:00] Guardian article about the FIFA World Cup (2023)

[12:09] Toronto Star article about greenwashing by the Pathways Alliance (2023)

[12:53, 15:27] Guardian article about carbon offsets (2023)

[14:42] UN Report by Catherine McKenna & others (2022)

[33:38] Guardian article about Earth Day (2019)

Rainbow-washing (pinkwashing):

[4:38, 18:18] Master's Thesis by William Sipe (2018), Ball State University

[8:18] Tweet by the U.S. Marines

[8:43] Study about sexual harassment and assault in the military (2020)

[26:55] Article about Israel’s pinkwashing by Ghadir Shafie (2016)

[28:37] Photo Essay by Lihi Ben Shitrit (2016)

[29:18] Instagram of Queers 4 Palestine TO

[30:45] Al Jazeera article about Israel’s pinkwashing (2014)

Redwashing:

[19:55, 24:30] Report from the Yellowhead institute by Robert Houle (2022)

[22:28] Report from Climate Justice U of T (2024)

[23:49] Articles about RCMP violence against Wet'suwet'en land defenders:

• The Guardian (2019)
• Inside Climate News (2024)

[25:50] Article by Drilled Media quoting Chief Na’Moks (2023)