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In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees advertising claims. It recently began hearings to determine what can qualify as a green ad claim. The FTC last revised its advertising guidelines in 1998, and it’s a good bet that by the time it gets around to phrases like “carbon neutral” and other catchphrases for the many alleged shades of green currently being tossed about, there will be an entirely new lexicon at the disposal of greenwashers.

Which means that for now, the policing of greenwashers is basically up to citizens and consumer watchdog groups like the Green-washing Index and the environmental marketing organization TerraChoice, which recently released a study called “The Six Sins of Greenwashing,” finding that 99 percent of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study were guilty of some form of greenwashing.

The Six Sins of Greenwashing

Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off: for example, “energy-efficient” electronics that contain hazardous materials; 998 products and 57 percent of all environmental claims committed this sin.

Sin of No Proof: for example, shampoos claiming to be “certified organic” but with no verifiable certification; 454 products and 26 percent of environmental claims committed this sin.

Sin of Vagueness: for example, products claiming to be 100 percent natural when many naturally occurring substances are hazardous, like arsenic and formaldehyde (see appeal to nature); seen in 196 products or 11 percent of environmental claims.

Sin of Irrelevance: for example, products claiming to be chlorofluorocarbon-free, even though chlorofluorocarbons were banned twenty years ago; this sin was seen in seventy-eight products and 4 percent of environmental claims.

Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: for example, organic cigarettes or “environmentally friendly” pesticides; this occurred in seventeen products or 1 percent of environmental claims.

Sin of Fibbing: for example, products falsely claiming to be certified by an internationally recognized environmental standard like EcoLogo, Energy Star, or Green Seal; found in ten products or less than 1 percent of environmental claims.

One of the most visible and controversial instances of a company going green is Wal-Mart, which made headlines and outraged environmentalists when it hired Adam Werbach, the former president of the Sierra Club and current president of the green consultancy Act Now, to champion its sustainability effort. While many in the sustainability movement renounced the move as an act of betrayal, including some green clients who immediately fired Werbach, others saw his move as potentially visionary: Rather than mashing one’s head up against the opposition, why not enter into a dialogue with and enlighten them? Not coincidentally, Citizen Group was instrumental in helping Werbach and Act Now implement and market their sustainability program via a series of print ads and online materials. The key to Wal-Mart’s effort, Raj told me, was the way Werbach met the corporate challenge of being environmentally progressive and progressively profitable.

“Hopefully, as demand for this kind of effort grows and acceptance grows,” Raj explained, “there will be change on a global scale. The naysayers are behind the curve. Every presidential candidate, to some extent, is for clean energy. It just comes down to policy.”

In addition to Wal-Mart and Amnesty, Citizen Group has done sustainability-based marketing campaigns for clients such as Pabst beer and the Philadelphia Eagles and a green initiative for Major League Baseball. This last included communications materials and Web sites for all thirty teams about how and why to go green. But, Raj noted, “They haven’t yet greened. They’re greening. I’ve learned a lot from people like Adam about how to be a true activist. It takes time. It’s not as wham bam as we’re used to in advertising.”

Before I left, I asked Raj if a market economy based on the consumption of more, more, more could ever be truly sustainable. “I’m not against consumption,” he said. “But