Go green, be green, stay green

Green, green, green. Once a simple color, now an effort put forth my multiple corporations and organizations around the world to keep planet Earth green, help save the environment and consume earth friendly products.

In the last couple years, green products have increased tremendously while more and more people are starting to become environmentally conscious.

Consumers are buying organic products like Kashi’s natural foods, organic lawn care like TruGreen and hybrid cars like Toyota's Prius. And companies are starting to drop subtle hints of becoming green in order to increase public awareness and tell the world “look, we are green!”

But are these companies that are starting to focus on sustainable living using it as a marketing tool because becoming green seems to be the trendy thing to do?

It seems as though going green is a great marketing strategy for companies to start increasing public interest in their products or business.

According to E Magazine, IBM has started recycling defective semiconductor chips, then sending the silicon to manufacturers of solar cells which saves money, reduces waste and contributes to the solar power industry. E Magazine gave IBM coverage because of their small effort in becoming a sustainable company.

Toyota’s new hybrid car the Prius, is named one of the best cars for sustainable living. Car companies like Toyota are discussed everyday in the media for their work in starting to make living environmentally friendly. All at the same time, Toyota’s trucks seem to be the complete opposite of a sustainable product making their Prius look like a minor change in the “save the planet” theme.

NPR recently recognized Georgia company Range Fuels for starting to develop a plant that will be devoted to making cellulosic ethanol- ethanol from waste. With this Georgia plant becoming first to start making celluslosic ehtanol, maybe other fuel companies will follow these sustainable footsteps.

Companies are starting to make minor changes in saving the environment that impacts the entire world. Companies are also utilizing sustainable efforts as a marketing tool which seems like a great idea because it benefits the consumer, the company and the planet.

However, while all of these small changes are a start, hopefully every company will start contributing significantly to going green, being green and staying green.