Sustainability Terms Glossary

Every day, a new eco-friendly term pops up on social media or product packaging. We often encounter sustainable-sounding phrases without fully understanding what they mean. While we can’t guarantee everything is as environmentally friendly as it claims, we can empower ourselves by learning more about green vocabulary. Here is a reference tool to help. Explore this glossary of sustainable keywords. Shop wisely, be mindful of consumption, and have a better awareness of where your money goes.

Here’s a simplified and alphabetically ordered list:

• Alt (Alternative):
• • Short for alternative, often used for plant-based alternatives like alt-pork or alt-chicken.
• Bio contributive:
• • Brands use this term to indicate they are restoring or returning the resources they use to minimize environmental impact.
• Biodegradable:
• • Materials that naturally break down over time with the help of bacteria, returning to the environment. Not all biodegradable products are necessarily safe due to potential harmful chemicals.
• Bioplastics:
• • Plastics made from organic materials like cellulose, vegetable oils, or starches, as opposed to traditional petroleum-based plastics.
• Blind Spots in Purchasing:
• • Global supply chains frequently encounter blind spots, such as failing to anticipate trade disruptions and supplier risk. The result is significant challenges for manufacturers and their customers, which neither can afford.
• Carbon Footprint:
• • Measurement of carbon emissions produced by an activity, individual, or product. Reduction benefits both the planet and individual health.
• Carbon Neutral:
• • When a product or activity’s carbon emissions and absorption balance out, resulting in net-zero emissions.
• Carbon Offsetting:
• • Actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as planting trees or using renewable energy, to achieve carbon neutrality.
• Carbonomics:
• • Term describing the costs associated with decarbonization efforts.
• Carbon Score:
• • This scoring system is often used to help individuals and businesses make more informed and sustainable choices by considering the environmental consequences of their consumption or operational decisions.
• Circular:
• • In the fashion industry, it involves keeping products and materials in use by using durable materials, participating in resale or thrift shopping, and upcycling.
• Climate Change:
• • Long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns, largely caused by human activities like burning fossil fuels.
• Climate Emergency:
• • Urgent situations requiring action to prevent irreversible damage to the environment, declared by many governments globally.
• Compostable:
• • Products that break down quickly without leaving harmful traces, often requiring specific facilities for decomposition.
• Eco-friendly:
• • A vague term used by companies to imply their products do not harm the environment.
• Electric Vehicle (EV):
• • Vehicles using electricity as a power source, environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
• Energy Efficient:
• • Products or activities using less energy compared to similar ones to provide the required power.
• Ethical:
• • Ensuring fair treatment of employees, particularly in terms of wages, hours, and rights.
• Flexitarian:
• • Dieters who regularly substitute meat with plant-based foods but aren’t strictly vegetarian.
• Fluff Fuel:
• • High-grade Refuse Derived Fuel produced through shredding and compressing plastics.
• Green:
• • Pursuing environmentally responsible practices that sustain natural resources.
• Greenhouse Effect:
• • Natural process warming the Earth’s surface, vital for life, but can lead to climate change with increased carbon dioxide levels.
• Greenwashing:
• • Creating a false image or making unsubstantiated claims to mislead consumers about products’ environmental benefits.
• Natural:
• • Refers to something that exists in or is derived from nature, without significant human intervention or artificial modifications. It can vary in meaning depending on the context, industry, or regulatory standards.
• Net Zero:
• • Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance.
• Organic:
• • Produce grown without chemicals, synthetic pesticides, or genetic modifications.
• Plant-based:
• • Eating patterns emphasizing meals mostly derived from plants, including alternatives like soy or mushroom-based products.
• Pollution:
• • Introduction of pollutants into the environment causing adverse effects.
• Recyclable:
• • Products that can be repurposed, but not the most sustainable solution.
• Renewable:
• • Resources that naturally replenish over time, such as energy or certain materials.
• Reusable:
• • Items that can be used multiple times without being changed into a different product.
• Socialwashing:
• • Related to the more familiar term of Greenwashing, Social Washing refers to companies making misleading or deceptive claims about their social impact, such as human rights, diversity and inclusion, and charity involvement.
• Sustainable:
• • Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Tokenism:
• • Symbolic gestures, like using reusable bags sporadically, may seem eco-friendly, but they often overlook significant sustainable habits.
• Upcycling:
• • Creative reuse of discarded items to create new items with greater value.
• Vegan:
• • Avoiding consumption of animal products in both diet and ideology.
• Vegetarian:
• • Not eating meat or sometimes other animal products for moral, religious, or health reasons.
• Virus-washing:
• • Similar to Greenwashing, using pandemic-related marketing ploys.
• Virtue Signaling:
• • The public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.
• Zero-waste:
• • Aimed at resource conservation through responsible production and consumption, though achieving true zero-waste is challenging.

Given the current environmental conditions, there’s a rising prevalence of these environmentally conscious terms in online discussions and the media. Unfortunately, they are often misused and can be overwhelming. We hope that companies move beyond mere jargon and concentrate on practical solutions. Taking responsibility and clearly explaining these terms to consumers and customers should be the priority. Here Simply Sustainable Lifestyle has given you a glossary of terms that might come up and confound you. Use this tool to easily understand labels, ads, and the media.