[Dalya’s Note: This guest post by Christopher Zara, writer at International Business Times, was originally published on September 16, 2013 on International Business Times. Today we pick up where Christopher left off in Part 1.]

The Federal Trade Commission published its first-ever “Green Guides” in 1992, an effort to provide a set of best practices that can help marketers avoid making deceptive green claims. Last year, the FTC guides were updated for the first time since 1998. Ottman said green marketing has seen a lot of changes in those 14 years, including the introduction of phrases such as “sustainable” and “renewable,” which can serve as helpful descriptions when used accurately but can just as easily descend into empty jargon.

In an effort to codify the recent changes to the FTC guides, Ottman coauthored a new report, “How to Make Credible Green Marketing Claims,” which was released Monday by Advertising Age. In it, Ottman and her coauthor, David Mallen — deputy director for legal affairs at the National Advertising Division (NAD) — present a detailed discussion of what’s new to the FTC guides. The 48-page report also includes information on why it’s important for marketers to make credible green claims, and how companies risk damaging their reputations when they don’t. The goal, Ottman said, is to help demystify the legalese-heavy green guides for marketing professionals who are tasked with conveying a product’s environmental benefits to the general public.

“Until now, nobody’s tried to translate all of this for your day-to-day marketing people,” she said. “The lawyers can read it but the marketing people can’t.”

Ottman said that most greenwashing disputes are resolvedsor by the NAD, a self-regulatory body housed within the Better Business Bureau. The division keeps a running list of advertising-industry disputes on its website. “Everybody wants to stay out of court,” Ottman said. “It’s faster, it’s cheaper and what have you.”

A champion of environmental issues since childhood, Ottman was a freshman in high school in 1970, when she attended the first Earth Day. “What bullying is in the United States right now to high school kids, the environment was our big cause,” she said. “I’m a classic baby boomer that way.”

But she lamented that the green efforts of companies today all too often involve fine-tuning existing products, rather than creating products with the environment in mind. She cites Tom’s of Maine, the all-natural toothpaste brand. While she commends its recyclable aluminum tube, she said her ultimate goal is to help companies okokbrainstorm innovative products that would do away with the tube altogether — not to mention the toothbrush, the water and the box the tube comes in.

“That’s what I want to have a hand in doing,” she said. “You can’t solve these problems by tweaking existing products. You can’t tweak your way to green.”