It had to happen. Writing in the Harvard Business Review blog, Andrew Winston talks about the rise of the "conflicted consumer", the one who will buy products that are environmentally or socially preferable at the same price and quality As Winston says, this might have significant implications for the pricing of goods. If you can provide a green product at the same quality, you will win them over. If you don't or can't, they are not prepared to pay as much for your product.

All this helps explain why greenwashing is becoming such an issue, something I talked about in my blog entry here. That is one reason why we now have a greenwashing website targeting companies exploiting consumers with green advertising claims that amount to nothing.

It's run by two entrepreneurs, Kevin Tuerff and Valerie Davis, who explain more to the Washington Times.

As green awareness becomes more of an issue, we will be seeing more of these sorts of initiatives.