Living Green

In a June 2008 trend report by TrendWatching.com companies are now offering more eco friendly products to consumers based on a higher demand for green products. However, according to the report, these products have transformed from eco-ugly to eco-chic and now eco-iconic. Before green products, were over-priced, ugly and performed worse than their counterparts. Now they have become fashionable and even iconic, sporting bold, simplistic designs to show off their love for the environment.

Green products have hit supermarkets and super stores every where and are now being targeted to normal people and not just tree-loving hippies as in the past.

Cleaning products such as Method and Clorox Green Works have removed the chemicals and replaced them with products from earth such as plant oils and biodegradable recycled plastics for their containers. Shoe companies, such as the Nike Considered line and Adidas Grün Collection have used recycled materials in their construction. Stores such as Ikea and grocerie markets now offer recycled, reusable bags to use instead of brown paper or plastics bags. There is even a new trend in architecture that uses natural resources, such as solar, wind and water to reduce energy costs.

Many people have made a conscious decision to change their lifestyle to live a more earth friendly life. Many people have become interested in free-range meats and poultry as opposed to meat factories. California is even voting on Prop 2 on November 4, which will increase the size of animal pens, creating a better and healtier environment for the live stock. Car manufacturers are looking into alternative fuel sources for their automobiles. Sports cars, such as the Tesla and soon even a Prosche have turned in their gas tanks for electrical cords. European manufactures have converted turbos, once used to drastically increase horsepower to the engine, to now increase fuel efficiency in their turbo-diesel models. A lot of people are now looking towards public transportation as a better mode to travel in cities that have an adequate system.

It's nothing new, that people today are living more eco-friendly than 10 years ago. This attitude has even made fun of on the tv show Southpark, with jokes about being "smug". However, how many people are making eco-conscious decisions about cutting their carbon foot print?

Wikipedia defines the carbon footprint as the carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive global amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases emitted by a human activity or accumulated over the full life cycle of a product or service.

Offsetting your foot print is important to the environment, because it is not just the responsibility of large corporations and the government to invest in carbon credits. While large industries pollute a lot, they do so because of the demand for their product by us.

The Conservation Fund, a highly respected NPO that rates 4 stars on Charity Navigator, has developed a new program that allows individuals to off set their carbon footprint. The program is known as Go Zero and works by planting trees in the U.S. Since 2000, the project has restored 20,000 acres of forest in the U.S. and planted 6 million trees.

Many of you have made conscious efforts to buy eco-friendly products to help our environment and make it enjoyable for our generations to come. Take this action one step further by off setting the resources you do use, such as electricity and gas for your home or fuel for your car, and donating to the Conservation Fund's Go Zero program. Not only will you be helping our environment, you will also be developing more forrest within the U.S. for us to enjoy.