Green environment movement continues to grow in U.S.

This story is the first in a three-part series on the trend of "going green."

To a growing number of Americans, green is more than just a color: It's a way of life.

The "going green" movement is unavoidable, from organic cotton clothing to small statements at the end of e-mails advising readers to think before wasting paper by printing.

Products on shelves wear earth-friendly badges like marks of honor, and their price tags sometimes reflect the same elevated sense of value.

Consumers are ditching their gas-guzzling vehicles and opting for more gas-efficient hybrid cars.

But how the "green" trend came to be pervasive in American homes is sometimes missed amid the hype.

Joseph Delfino, UF professor of environmental engineering sciences, said awareness really began in the 1960s following the publication of Rachel Carson's book about the negative effects of pesticides and other chemicals on the environment, "Silent Spring."

He pointed to recent pictures of the smog-filled skies over Beijing, China's capital and home of the 2008 Olympics, as an example of what several American cities looked like before the Clean Air Act, originally passed in 1963.

Increased energy use by developing nations, like China, has increased the world's dependence on and demand for fossil fuels, Delfino said. It has also affected the amount of toxins being released into the environment.

Roy R. Carriker, UF professor of food and resource economics, said the evolution and growth of the environmental movement reached its stride in the 1970s.

During that decade, most of the federal legislation creating programs for environmental protection was passed because there was broad public support for government initiatives.

"Now the context is really global in nature," Carriker said.

And since the movement has captured the attention of millions nationwide, environmentalists have rushed to capitalize on growing interest.

Laurel Brown, marketing and program director at the UF Center for Training, Research and Education for Environmental Occupations (TREEO), said that understanding green issues can sometimes be overwhelming to the average person.

"It's like there's so much information, it's hard to know where to start," she said.

Brown said that bad habits, like leaving the lights on and overusing water, are the first thing that individuals need to focus on to make a true difference. For her, it's not just about buying a reusable canvas shopping bag because you see that other people have it.

It's about using that bag faithfully.

One downside to the green movement is that new techniques are being implemented, yet the final outcome and effects of these are unknown, Brown said.

For example, low-flow toilets, installed in new neighborhoods in order to conserve water, are backing up sewer lines at water treatment plants, she said.

"I think sometimes the downfall will be if we don't look at the whole picture," Brown said.

Rob Brinkman, chair of the Suwannee-St. Johns group of Sierra Club Florida, said Americans need to drastically decrease their use of natural resources.

"The typical American requires the resources of at least five acres of land, " he said. "It has been estimated that if everyone on Earth lived the American consumptive lifestyle, it would require two or three more planet Earths."

Brinkman said he wishes he could go back in time to stop the nation's total reliance on fossil fuels from developing.

"Imagine if the same effort we have put into fossil fuels had instead been invested in solar technologies," he said.

In the end, Brown thinks early education and awareness about environmental issues are going to be a vital part of future solutions.

But with the growing awareness of environmental issues comes the opportunity for manipulation.

Brown said some advertisers are taking advantage of the public's environmental interest.

"There's the term out there called green washing, which is very similar to whitewashing," she said.

"It's when you're overusing the term green more to sell a product than through the actual changes you have made."

Brown feels it's hypocritical for companies to say they are more environmentally friendly than they truly are.

"For some folks, it's just to be part of a movement, whether they're doing anything or not," she said.

And advertisers are not the only ones capitalizing on the trend.

Brinkman feels politicians use environmental concerns and worries about gas prices to secure votes as a "cheap political ploy."

Politicians sometimes rush solutions to environmental issues without doing all the research, such as in the case of offshore drilling, he said.

Priya Vijapura, a UF biology sophomore, said she thinks green means being more environmentally friendly.

However, Vijapura said she doesn't go out of her way to do anything because she's too busy. She doesn't know of any recycling facilities in her apartment complex and feels many green or organic products are too expensive.

Vijapura thinks most college students are aware of the issues but find it too difficult to make the changes.

"We're all into our own little worlds right now," she said. "It's hard to change your habits."