MADISON, Wis. -- It sometimes seems that you can't enter a store without being inundated by some sort of bragging on product labels about being green, recycled or natural.

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Madison resident Heather Holtsberg is one woman working to look beyond all the hype in her own search for something truly green. Holtsberg is meeting once a week with a group of friends -- challenging each other to be eco-friendly one step at a time.

Holtsberg is walking instead of driving her car. One of her friends is accepting less packaging with her fast-food meals. Another is figuring out the various plastic recycling options.

She calls it a collaborative effort and is getting support for the idea through the group EnAct. She said that it is helping her talk about the green label and translate and balance the idea to her own life.

University of Wisconsin-Madison environmental educators Tom Eggert and Dan Anderson said that there's too much boasting about being green -- from food to packaging to products.

Anderson described it as "greenwashing" and said that it "is when you claim to be green and really aren't. You are just doing it for P.R. reasons."

"(Once you) make the claim (and) produce a green product, but then tell the truth about how it is green," he said.

Eggert said that he believes consumers can choose to make a stand with their money by what they purchase.

"Every dollar spent sends an approval to a particular company for the practices it is involved with," said Eggert.

Both Eggert and Anderson recently spoke at a seminar at Monona Terrace in downtown Madison and are calling for tougher labeling standards and suggest learning to read beyond the label.

It's the type of information that Holtsberg and her friends are continuing to share.

"There's a wealth of opportunity to learn. It's up to you to navigate through all the space," she said.

Officials said that works like "organic," "fair trade" and "stewardship" hint that a product might live up to is green claims. A seal can also indicate that a product is being held to a higher standards.

Meanwhile, Web sites like Co-op Amercia's Green Pages can be helpful in finding businesses offering environmental, social and financially-green benefits, WISC-TV reported.

For More Info:

To learn more about the Environmental Action Teams, visit this Web site. To read its "green gift ideas," available in PDF format, visit this Web site
Some green watchdog Web sites include Greenwashingindex.com; Greenwashing.net; and Corpwatch.org