What is Greenwashing?
Context:
Recently, the United Nations Secretary General has warned private corporations to desist the practice of Greenwashing and mend their ways within a year.
Relevance:
GS III: Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- What Is Greenwashing?
- Effects of greenwashing
What Is Greenwashing?
- Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound.
- Greenwashing involves making an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than is true.
- In addition, greenwashing may occur when a company attempts to emphasize sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices.
- Performed through the use of environmental imagery, misleading labels, and hiding tradeoffs, greenwashing is a play on the term “whitewashing,” which means using false information to intentionally hide wrongdoing, error, or an unpleasant situation in an attempt to make it seem less bad than it is.
Examples of Greenwashing
- A classic example of greenwashing is when Volkswagen admitted to cheating emissions tests by fitting various vehicles with a “defect” device, with software that could detect when it was undergoing an emissions test and altering the performance to reduce the emissions level.
- A plastic package containing a new shower curtain is labeled “recyclable.” It is not clear whether the package or the shower curtain is recyclable. In either case, the label is deceptive if any part of the package or its contents, other than minor components, cannot be recycled.
- A trash bag is labeled “recyclable.” Trash bags are not ordinarily separated from other trash at the landfill or incinerator, so they are highly unlikely to be used again for any purpose. The claim is deceptive because it asserts an environmental benefit where no meaningful benefit exists.
Effects of greenwashing
- There is a growing body of evidence that shows consumer sentiment is slanted toward being green and environmentally sustainable.
- When a company, product or service is caught or discovered to be greenwashing, there is a general sense of distrust that occurs. Consumers will no longer trust the brand or product in question, and might also begin to question other claims.
- Companies engaged in greenwashing – consumers will likely choose other organizations that are more ethical.
- Greenwashing can degrade customer satisfaction, erode brand loyalty and potentially affect repeat purchases.
- On Planet – Ultimately, the biggest effect of greenwashing is existential.
- Each act that an organization or individual doesn’t take with real green initiatives has a potential negative effect on the planet.
- With the effects of climate change continuing to manifest on humanity, there is no time to waste in taking steps to help improve sustainability such that humanity and Earth itself will continue to survive.
-Source: The Hindu
Pashmina Shawls
Context:
Recently, Custom officials complained about the presence of ‘Shahtoosh’ guard hair in Pashmina shawl, which is obtained from endangered Tibetan antelopes in many of their export consignments.
Relevance:
Prelims, GS-III: Agriculture and Allied sectors, GS-III: Intellectual Property Rights
Dimensions of the Article:
- What are Pashmina Shawls and what is the history behind them?
- How is the Pashmina Shawl produced?
- Changthangi or Pashmina goat
- Pashmina wool
- Changpa
What are Pashmina Shawls and what is the history behind them?
- Pashmina Shawls are a fine variant of shawls spun from cashmere wools. A cashmere wool itself is obtained from the Changthangi goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) native to the high plateau of Ladakh.
- Pashmina shawls gained much prominence in the days of the Mughal Empire as objects of rank and nobility. Babur first established the practice of giving khilat – giving ‘robes of honour’ – in 1526 to members of his court for their devoted service, high achievements or as a mark of royal favour.
- Through the enthusiastic use by Empress Joséphine – the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte – the pashmina shawl gained status as a fashion icon.
MSP for hand spun, hand woven Pashmina fixed
- In a significant step towards promotion of Handicrafts, the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Kashmir has announced a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for GI certified Pashmina shawls.
- The MSP of Pashmina was determined after three consecutive meetings that were held at Indian Institute of Carpet Technology through discussions and considering various types of expenditures incurred during different stages of manufacturing.
- Among the various benefits of adopting Minimum Support Price policy, it will help in reviving hand spinning and hand weaving and will help grass root level artisans who work hard to promote these crafts by virtue of which Kashmir is famous.
GI Tag for Pashmina
- In order to preserve the centuries old art of spinning and weaving of genuine pashmina fabric and to maintain international standards the Government of India (Under WTO) has established a quality mark for genuine Pashmina that will identify items the genuine fiber known as Pashm obtained from the goat living in Ladakh of Kashmir region.
- Geographical Indication (GI) Label on Kashmir Pashmina acts as a certification that the product possesses certain unique qualities not found elsewhere and is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin, under the Paris Convention and Lisbon Agreement.
BIS Standards for Pashmina
- Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of Pashmina products to certify its purity in 2019.
- The certification will help curb the adulteration of Pashmina and also protect the interests of local artisans and nomads who are the producers of Pashmina raw material.
- It will also assure the purity of Pashmina for customers.
- It will ensure better prices for the goat herding community in Ladakh as well as for the local handloom artisans producing genuine Pashmina products.
How is the Pashmina Shawl produced?
- Every winter the goats from whom pashmina is acquired shed their coat.
- In the spring the undercoat is shed, which is collected by combing the goat instead of shearing them as is the case with other wool collection activities.
- The pashmina wool is produced by the people known as the Changpa, a nomadic people who inhabit the Ladakh region. The Changpa rear sheep in a harsh climate where temperature drops to −40 °C .
- Raw pashmina is exported to Kashmir where the combing, spinning, weaving and finishing are traditionally carried out by hand by a specialised team of craftsmen and women.
- The major production centre of pashmina shawls is in the old district of Srinagar.
- It takes about 180 hours to produce a single piece of pashmina shawl.
Changthangi or Pashmina goat
- The Pashmina goat is a breed of goat inhabiting the plateaus in Tibet, Nepal, parts of Burma and neighbouring areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
- It is also known as ‘Changthangi’, ‘Changra”.
- They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, also known as pashmina once woven.
- These goats are generally domesticated and are reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.
- The Changthangi goats have revitalized the economy of Changthang, Leh and Ladakh region.
Pashmina wool
- Pashmina is a fine type of cashmere wool.
- The textiles made from it were first woven in Kashmir.
- Often shawls called shahmina are made from this material in Kashmir and Nepal; these shawls are hand spun and woven from the very fine cashmere fibre.
- Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of Pashmina products on August 2019 to certify its purity.
- Kashmir Pashmina has been accorded Geographical indication (GI) tag under Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
Changpa
- The Changpa are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh and in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The homeland of the Changpa is a high-altitude plateau known as the Changtang, which forms a portion of western and northern Tibet extending into southeastern Ladakh.
- The Changpa of Ladakh are high altitude pastoralists, raising mainly yaks and goats.
- The Changpas rear the highly pedigreed and prized Changra goats (Capra Hircus) that yield the rare Pashmina fiber (Cashmere wool).
-Source: The Hindu
Measles Outbreak in Mumbai
Context:
Mumbai is currently witnessing an outbreak of measles. Between September and October, a total of 84 cases of measles have been reported in the city.
Relevance:
GS II: Health
Dimensions of the Article:
- What is measles?
- What are the symptoms?
- How important is it to take measles vaccines?
What is measles?
- Measles or as it is called ‘khasra’, is a highly contagious viral disease which affects mostly children.
- It is one of the leading causes of death and disability among young children.
- There is no specific treatment for measles but there is a vaccine to stay protected from the disease, which is both safe as well as cost effective.
- Death due to measles are caused by the complications associated with the disease like blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Spread:
- Measles spreads by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
- As per reports, an infected child with measles can spread the virus to others for about eight days, starting four days before the rash appears and ending when the rash has been present for four days.
What are the symptoms?
- Symptoms appear around 10 to 14 days after exposure to the virus.
- The main symptoms are fever, dry cough, running nose, sore throat and rash.
- The rashes look like small red spots which remain slightly raised and give the skin a splotchy red appearance.
- The face of the rash breaks out first. Within days, it spreads to the rest of the body.
How important is it to take measles vaccines?
- Young children, who don’t receive measles immunization, are at highest risks of being exposed to measles and its complications, including death.
- The WHO recommends immunization for all children with two doses of measles vaccine, either alone, or in a measles-rubella (MR) or measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) combination.
- As per the guidance of National Health Mission, in India, measles vaccination is given under the Universal Immunisation Programme at 9-12 months of age and the second dose at 16-24 months of age.
-Source: Indian Express
Energy Transition Accelerator
Context:
The US has unveiled a new carbon offset scheme called Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) for climate finance.
Relevance:
GS III: Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA)
- Benefits of ETA
Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA)
- ETA is carbon offset plan that will allow companies to fund clean energy projects in developing countries and gain carbon credits that they can then use to meet their own climate goals.
- The plan will be developed by the US along with the Bezos Earth Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation.
- It would receive inputs from public and private
- The concept is to put the carbon market to work, deploy capital otherwise undeployable, and speed up the transition from dirty to clean power.
Benefits of ETA
- It may be good for renewable energy projects for sure and for those coal plants that are very old and unviable and which India wishes to shut down.
- The scheme comes at a time when there is growing mistrust among developing countries about developed nations failing to deliver on climate finance commitments.
