What is Green?

On my way to the office today I saw a billboard advertising 360 Vodka. The worlds first Eco-Friendly Vodka. Eco-Friendly Vodka?

After checking out their website, it appears that they have gone a long way to make the production of their product more energy efficient, and have used recycled bottles, labels, and packaging. Is that what makes something green?

As an Architect, I see a lot of what we call "green washing." That is when you take a product and talk about all it's good, and green, qualities, but don't tell the whole story. Although I applaud the Vodka manufacture for making there product's manufacturing process as green and efficient as possible there are still two things they are not addressing.

1) Transportation: I'm not sure where the factory(s) is(are) but I am sure that they are shipping their product all over the world amassing a huge carbon foot print in the process as they get their product onto store shelves.

2) Raw materials: Most Vodka is made from potato's or grains. In the distillation process you are taking a raw material that has many nutrients necessary to human life and producing a product that has little nutritional value.

As consumers we have to be cautious of the claims that manufactures make. Be willing to ask questions and dig a little deeper. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a teetotaler, but perhaps a better solution might be a locally brewed beer or wine.