"Going Green,"  "Eco-Friendly,"  "All Natural."  We, environmentalists or not, are bombarded with these environmental catch phrases daily.  What do these words really mean?  And does their casual and vague nature obscure real issues and/or solutions?

In a recent Natural Resources club meeting, the slogan for the upcoming Earth Day events was being discussed.  The slogan agreed upon is "Making Noise."  When asked about the origin of this slogan, the NR Club president, Stephanie Weyer, explained that she figured everyone was sick of all the environmental buzz words.  I couldn't agree more!  If I hear one more person use the word "green" when not referring to the color of his Christmas sweater, I may scream.

These words have become so common and meaningless that they are often used to describe things that are actually perpetuating environmental degradation.  For example, a classmate of mine mentioned that he had seen a billboard proudly announcing "CARBON-NEUTRAL COAL!"   This story was met with several loud chuckles from the front row of the class as we all had the same thought:  Coal is made of carbon! 

As companies attempt to green-wash (oops, another buzz word) everything from cars, to cleaning products, to fuels, are they really blinding the average American's eyes to the truth?

I feel like the average citizen is extremely misled when it comes to what will and does really help or harm the environment.  We feel like a champion when we replace an incandescent light bulb with a compact florescent bulb – knowing that we have "done our part for the environment" – while simultaneously producing hundreds of pounds of garbage and hopping in our 9 mpg SUV. 

If we are ever to see a change (another buzz word?) in American mindsets about the environment, we must focus on real information (you know, the kind with numbers attached) and fight the urge to glaze over the real issues with optimistic catch phrases. 

Come on, it's the "green" thing to do.