See some of the top greenwashing ads, vote on them and submit your own top choices for fun or to help educate others at the Greenwashing Index.

Nearly everybody (and especially every company) wants to claim they are green these days. It is not only cool to be green, but many people prefer to buy an environmentally friendly product or, at least, buy from an environmentally friendly company when they can. As a result of this, we have many more green businesses and green products than we had 10 or 20 years ago. However, we also have many more businesses trying to convince people that they or their products are environmentally friendly when they are not.

A fun, if not a little depressing, interactive website called Greenwashing Index allows you to post, view and rate ads about "green" products.

A collaborative project between EnviroMedia Social Marketing and the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, the Greenwashing Index could be a useful tool--especially for people not entrenched in environmental information or environmentally-friendly living--to examine and identify the differences between unfounded or completely inaccurate green claims and authentically green businesses and products.

You can sort articles on the site according to those that are considered most authentic, worst offenders or most recent. You can also view ads by economic sector.

The site doesn't have a ton of activity at the moment, but it is current and I think there is great potential here for evaluating "green" products as they become more and more common. At the least, reading through the ratings, one can develop a more critical eye when it comes to this matter and can be better prepared to evaluate the authenticity of a new ad they see on TV, the internet or somewhere else.

For some fun viewing and evaluating such ads, check out Greenwashing Index. Also, keep an eye on Earth & Industry, as we will compile our own list of greenwashing leaders soon.

Image Credit: changecase via flickr/CC license