How to Spot Greenwashing Claims When You Travel

如何在旅行时识别“漂绿”宣传

Finding legitimately eco-friendly travel options is difficult, not to mention time-consuming. The gap between sustainability claims and practices can be quite large, and greenwashing isn’t always easy to identify. 寻找真正环保的旅行选择不仅困难，而且非常耗时。可持续发展的宣传与实际做法之间往往存在巨大差距，而“漂绿”（greenwashing）行为并不总是那么容易识别。

But there are signs to look for. Researchers in Turkey recently identified five key categories to describe the most common forms of tourism-related greenwashing: eco-certifications, inadequate waste management, misleading carbon offsetting claims, destination-based overconsumption, and the use of the “green development” label to mask social injustice and environmental harm. 但我们还是可以寻找一些迹象。土耳其的研究人员最近确定了五大关键类别，用以描述旅游业中最常见的“漂绿”形式：生态认证造假、废物管理不善、误导性的碳抵消声明、目的地过度消费，以及利用“绿色发展”标签掩盖社会不公和环境破坏。

“Businesses facing demands for environmental and social responsibility frequently engage in gestures that are largely for show,” the authors wrote in a paper published in May in the journal Frontiers in Sustainability. 作者在五月份发表于《可持续发展前沿》（Frontiers in Sustainability）期刊的一篇论文中写道：“面临环境和社会责任要求的企业，经常会做出一些很大程度上只是为了作秀的姿态。”

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned, the paper makes clear, but there are also ways to cut through the noise. Independent and robust certification systems play a huge role; local businesses are also important, since corporate chains are often associated with problematic greenwashing, particularly at the luxury level. “Sustainability must not be viewed as a communication strategy but as a structural commitment that is measurable, inclusive, and ethically embedded,” the authors wrote. 论文明确指出，虽然有很多理由值得担忧，但也有方法可以过滤掉这些噪音。独立且稳健的认证体系发挥着巨大作用；本地企业也很重要，因为大型连锁企业往往与存在问题的“漂绿”行为挂钩，尤其是在豪华酒店领域。作者写道：“可持续发展不应被视为一种传播策略，而应被视为一种可衡量、具有包容性且植根于道德的结构性承诺。”

The first thing to keep in mind when you’re planning your trip is that it is going to have a negative impact. Any company telling you that it helps the environment, as opposed to explaining what it’s doing to reduce its footprint, is a giant red flag. Everything beyond that takes a little more effort to spot. Consider these things as you book your travel. 在规划行程时，首先要记住的是：旅行本身就会产生负面影响。任何声称自己“有助于环境”而非解释其如何减少足迹的公司，都是一个巨大的危险信号。除此之外，识别其他问题需要多花点心思。在预订行程时，请考虑以下几点。

Do Those Little Cards Asking Me to Reuse My Towels Do Any Good?

那些要求我重复使用毛巾的小卡片真的有用吗？

Linen reuse programs, where you decline daily replacement towels and hopefully sheets, have become standard—and they do, in fact, save enormous amounts of water, as well as detergent and energy. If you’re traveling, you really should participate; many people still don’t. 布草重复使用计划（即拒绝每日更换毛巾，最好也拒绝更换床单）已成为行业标准——事实上，它们确实节省了大量的水、洗涤剂和能源。如果你在旅行，真的应该参与其中；目前仍有许多人没有这样做。

In terms of assessing a hotel’s green credentials, though, a towel program should be standard practice. 不过，就评估一家酒店的环保资质而言，毛巾重复使用计划应该只是基本操作。

PSA for any hotel operators: According to social psychology research, more people will participate if you use a “general norms” approach in presenting it. Placards should say, “Join your fellow guests in saving water”—as opposed to pitching it in more altruistic terms like “Help save the environment by reusing towels.” 给酒店经营者的一条建议：根据社会心理学研究，如果你在宣传时采用“普遍规范”的方法，会有更多人参与。标语应该写成“加入其他客人的行列，一起节约用水”，而不是用“通过重复使用毛巾来帮助保护环境”这种更利他的措辞。

Look for Substantiated Claims

寻找有据可查的声明

The best way to evaluate a hotel is to look for credible third-party certifications from programs that set scientific benchmarks and involve mandatory audits, such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and EarthCheck. The more widely-known LEED certification, the platinum standard in particular, is best-in-class in terms of a hotel’s construction but doesn’t tell you much about its daily operations or local environmental and economic impacts. In nature-rich regions, the nonprofit Rainforest Alliance also certifies hotels that meet certain sustainability and biodiversity conservation standards. 评估酒店的最佳方式是寻找可信的第三方认证，这些认证项目设定了科学基准并包含强制性审计，例如全球可持续旅游委员会（GSTC）和 EarthCheck。更为人熟知的 LEED 认证（尤其是白金标准）在酒店建筑方面属于一流，但它无法告诉你太多关于酒店日常运营或对当地环境和经济影响的信息。在自然资源丰富的地区，非营利组织“雨林联盟”（Rainforest Alliance）也会对符合特定可持续发展和生物多样性保护标准的酒店进行认证。

What to avoid: self-created credentials or eco-awards. Those signs on websites and at hotel check-in desks—“Best green hotel!” or “Voted most sustainable hotel in the city!”— are often marketing ploys or the result of some kind of paid promotion. 需要避免的是：自创的资质或生态奖项。网站上和酒店前台的那些标志——比如“最佳绿色酒店！”或“被评为市内最可持续酒店！”——往往是营销噱头，或者是某种付费推广的结果。

Many companies make zero-waste pledges but often rely on single-use products that are said to be compostable or biodegradable but are not actually composted; they also use energy and new natural resources to produce, even if they’re composted later. Others make plastic reduction pledges that are often narrow in scope, referring to single items such as cups or cutlery but ignoring others; or switching to boxed water instead of bottled, even though the boxes are made with plastic and are not very recyclable. 许多公司做出“零浪费”承诺，但往往依赖于那些声称可堆肥或可降解、实际上却并未被堆肥的一次性产品；即使它们最终被堆肥，其生产过程也消耗了能源和新的自然资源。另一些公司做出的减塑承诺范围往往很窄，仅涉及杯子或餐具等单一物品，而忽略了其他；或者将瓶装水改为盒装水，尽管这些盒子含有塑料成分且并不容易回收。

Unfortunately there’s no easy tool for fact-checking such claims, since there are effectively no regulations governing what companies can say about how eco-friendly they are. 遗憾的是，目前还没有简单的工具来核实这些声明，因为实际上没有任何法规来监管公司关于其“环保程度”的宣传。

The main thing to keep in mind is that the burden of proof is on the company. If they say they’re reducing waste, for example, then spend a minute evaluating what they tell you about how they’ve done that—are there enough categories or products talked about that you can visualize some sizable cuts in waste? Also think about major sources of waste that they don’t mention. Often, businesses generate a lot of waste behind the scenes—do they mention waste that they’ve eliminated in housekeeping or kitchen prep, perhaps? 需要记住的核心是：举证责任在于公司。例如，如果他们声称正在减少浪费，那么花一分钟评估一下他们所描述的减排方式——他们提到的类别或产品是否足够多，让你能直观地感受到浪费的大幅减少？此外，还要思考他们未提及的主要浪费来源。通常，企业在幕后会产生大量浪费——他们是否提到了在客房清洁或厨房准备过程中消除的浪费？

A good rule of thumb is that if something sounds too good to be true, it—unfortunately—probably is. 一个好的经验法则是：如果某件事听起来好得令人难以置信，那么很遗憾，它很可能就是假的。

When you come across mentions of carbon footprint, whether it’s a hotel or a tour operator, the main thing to look for is whether they’re reducing their own emissions or relying on carbon credits to make the claim. Reducing direct emissions should always take priority. If they’re doing both, they will share details with you on the specific steps they’re taking to reduce direct emissions, as well as some context for why the carbon credits platform they use is reliable. If details are scarce, best to look elsewhere. 当你看到关于碳足迹的提及（无论是酒店还是旅行社）时，主要看他们是在减少自身排放，还是仅仅依靠碳信用额度来支撑其声明。减少直接排放应始终是首要任务。如果他们两者兼顾，他们会与你分享减少直接排放的具体步骤，以及他们所使用的碳信用平台为何可靠的背景信息。如果细节匮乏，最好另寻他处。

Influencers are another common source of misleading information, particularly those that are paid to create content about a specific business or region. Beware the socials! 网红是另一个误导性信息的常见来源，尤其是那些受雇为特定企业或地区创作内容的网红。警惕社交媒体！

Accommodation Extremes: Ecotourism and All-Inclusive Resorts

住宿的两极：生态旅游与全包式度假村

The ecotourism sector is a hotbed of sustainability falsehoods. The best way to evaluate an ecotourism hotel or tour operator is to look at how specific it is in its claims. If there’s talk about nature, is it mostly pictures with few details about how it minimizes its footprint? Or does it get specific? Businesses that put in the work are usually explicit about doing so. Meaningful sustainability efforts take time and money, and businesses that go to the trouble also tend to share the details of what that looks like. 生态旅游行业是可持续发展谎言的温床。评估生态旅游酒店或旅行社的最佳方式是看其声明的具体程度。如果谈到自然，是否大多是图片，而缺乏关于如何减少足迹的细节？还是说他们给出了具体说明？真正付出努力的企业通常会明确说明其做法。有意义的可持续发展努力需要时间和金钱，而愿意为此投入的企业往往也倾向于分享这些努力的具体细节。

There should be details about energy sources and water conservation practices (gray water…). （文中此处原文中断）应该有关于能源来源和节水措施（中水……）的详细信息。