Whether you’re a citizen, consumer or investor, it is fast becoming a key life skill to make out greenwashing, a word meaning a company claims that its products are environmentally friendly but actually not green at all. Misleading, or not proved claims about benefits to climate can make it harder for people to make informed decisions. They can also weaken real efforts by companies to clean up their act and deal with the climate crisis.

The basic problem is a lack of clarity. Indeed, when it comes to spottıng greenwashing, it can actually be more helpful to focus on the color grey—because it is the many grey areas that have helped make greenwashing appear in particular places. These grey areas might be around measurements, definitions, best practice, standards or regulations. Even the language we use is very imprecıse, leaving lots of room for vagueness, confusion or complete cheating. For instance, what do words such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco” even mean? You have no standards, measurements or definitions to judge by.

These problems are increasingly important when it comes to the greenwashing of investment products, such as pensions and investment funds. In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in consumer demand for funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance (管理) criteria, often referred to as ESG funds. According to the financial data provider Morningstar, the value of assets (资产) held in UK funds grew from £29bn at the beginning of 2017 to £71bn by the end of 2020.

With that much money at risk for high profits, misleading claims can effectively hamper the flow of money and resources into really green new plans and businesses, preventing global efforts from dealing with the climate emergency. “I describe it as the ‘teenage years’ of responsible investing, with a lot of experimentation, and a lot of people trying out new things.” says Ashley Hamilton Claxton.

Play is part of a parent-child friendship

Play is a crucial element of friendship with children. With babies and very young children, we parents play with them,engaging in back-and-forth activities like hide-and-seek and tower building. 【小题1】 They pull us into play, and we feel pleasure.

But delight hits a setback when our child learns how to say “no”. From this point onward —into adolescence —we focus on getting a child to behave.【小题2】 It’s parenting belief, not specifically defined, but often translated into “because I said so”.

While parents must help children learn to meet adult demands, when we limit our parenting focus to “command and control” we can crowd out “delight”. 【小题3】 If we can leave space for child-driven activities —without adult demands —we can return to delight. These interactions expand our relationship and help our child learn self-regulation and communication. It’s not the same as peer friendship, but we are being a friend.

【小题4】 The key is following your child’s lead. As they get older and they are deep into other things, friendly play might include teaching you to play their favorite video game or share their YouTube. Your child won’t want you to be their primary friend in these spaces, but being curious and kind is a way to be a friend and a parent. You will be an uncool friend who will never fully get it, but you will be a friend.

【小题5】 Especially as they get older, they will set more limits on it. But if you make a habit of friendly play with your child, that space will always be there between you, and it will vastly expand your parenting toolbox.

There have been big changes in the attitudes of most parents over the last few years.Physical punishment is banned in schools in most countries, and in many countries there are moves to ban all physical punishment of children even at home. However, many parents still believe that they have the right to use some physical punishment to deal with certain misbehavior at certain ages.

It's easy to find reasons to allow some physical punishments. One is that many parents find it very difficult to abandon physical punishment completely. Parents argue that this was the way they were brought up and that it did not do any harm to them. They believe that for the child's sake they have the right to discipline the child in any way they consider fit, including using some physical punishments.The other one is that physical punishment can be quick and effective.There is not much point reasoning with a screaming child in the supermarket.

However, there are several reasons why we should stop using physical punishment. One point is that most parents are not trained to deal with misbehaving children. They don't have enough resources or choices to handle the situation.As a result, they immediately react by hitting the child even if there are other solutions to the problem. Another point is that unless people are challenged or forced to change their belief, they may keep following negative habits. An example is seat belt use.Now most people wear seat belts without thinking, while years ago the idea of using seat belts was strange to most people. In the same way, banning physical punishment will force people to change their habit.

In conclusion, parents have to change some of their belief and ideas about how children should be raised.It's possible to avoid the use of physical force, and doing so will help us move closer to the dream of removing violence from our society.