“Greenwashing” hasn’t always been an issue in American commerce, but with the recent trend in sustainable living, countless American citizens have fallen prey to advertisers and companies putting on the façade of sustainability and environmental awareness to get you to buy their products.

For those not in the know, “greenwashing” is a term used to describe the practice of businesses spinning their products as environmentally-friendly or showing that their company is attempting to adopt more sustainable practices. In our day-to-day lives, confusing statements are consistently heaved at unsuspecting consumers. “Buy our product,” they say. “If you do, you’re helping the environment.” It’s not an inherently bad idea, but there are several key problems in the practice that are ultimately hurting the sustainability movement.

First off, consumers need to understand that the most sustainable thing they can do is cut their consumption in general, as opposed to just consuming things that claim to be more sustainable. Putting solar panels on your giant suburban home or buying a Prius to go with your SUV is not a sustainable move. Limiting your use of resources is.

From food packaging to cleaning products, sustainability is the selling point most companies go for when tagging their products as green, organic or some variation on the theme. Though they advertise a message of sustainability, many of the companies behind these products have made no effort at lowering their environmental impact, using the image of environmental consciousness as a business ploy instead.

A good example of this can be seen in the allegations against Comcast in Wired magazine. Comcast has implemented an “ecobill,” alleging that their clients can use less paper by switching over to it. The company itself, however, uses large amounts of paper for direct marketing.

Another example of harmful greenwashing is bottler Poland Spring’s ecoshape bottle, which they tout as being environmentally friendly. In reality, 80 percent of the bottle ends up in landfills.

One of the more outlandish claims made is the one concerning clean coal, an issue supported by the Obama administration. Fred Pearce, science writer for The Guardian, recently referred to it as “pure and utter greenwash.”

Outside the personal spectrum, greenwashing has infiltrated higher levels of commerce and government in a harmful and deceptive manner. The Bush administration’s Clear Skies Act, for example, has environmentalists up in arms, arguing that it has actually weakened air pollution laws.

International laws have been even harder to implement and enforce effectively. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 has still not been ratified by the United States and does not apply to developing nations like India and China, now two of the largest polluters in the world.

Greenwashing is harmful because it takes away from legitimately sustainable businesses. Consumers who want to rise above the influence of greenwashing need to go back to the idea that buying and consuming less is the way to go.