Yahoo! has a great page on their Earthday site called This Green House. As you toggle through the different rooms, you can hover over the green icons and get some great environment-saving tips.

I don’t know where you’ve been if you have not noticed all the buzz (hype?) around green technology, sustainability, clean tech, greenwashing, however you want to label it. It’s not as if an environmental movement just popped up—it’s been around for over a century and it’s important to note that.

All this talk about going green reminds me of a period of time back when I was in high school. This was during California’s severe drought (back in the 90s) and there was a resurgence of the environmental trend, which had laid quite dormant during the 80s if I recall correctly. Anyway, we all joined the school environmental club, went to local environmental fairs, bought hemp bags, and started practicing water-saving tips like turning the water off while brushing your teeth. Heck, I even used to turn off the shower between shampoos and rinses, the drought was that bad. Sometime in my senior year, the novelty of going green wore off and I’m sure we were on to the next big thing– SUVs and blended mochas.

Today, the proliferation of talk around green issues has a number of factors contributing to it—the Kyoto Treaty, “Inconvenient Truth”, Hurricane Katrina, climate change and the reports published around it. And let’s not forget the star power, like Leo and Brad, being thrown at organizations like Global Green USA, who recently held their star-studded 3rd annual Pre-Oscar bash.  Face it—green has not only become cool, but it’s an imperative. No longer can we be content to toss our bottles in a separate bin, join an environmental club, and buy a Prius.

While I appreciate the buzz over going green and people’s sincere efforts in reducing their environmental impact, I hope this is not just the latest trend. Sure, companies like Wal-Mart can make a big deal out of their green efforts and we can all nod our heads enthusiastically– but slapping some white paint on your roof and publishing your carbon footprint is just not enough. Hello, Wal-Mart!! Have you looked at your business model lately??? Read Stacy Mitchell’s article on the impossibility of Wal-Mart going green for more on this.

The state of our planet is too precarious for this to end up as one of those “Trends of 2007.” This wave of green must be permanent and we need our leaders?? to implement policies and regulations that speak for the well-being of the planet and its citizens rather than for the good ole boys, like the oil industry and the NRA, that write fat campaign checks.

environment, green