Being Green: The Biggest Trend to Hit the 21st Century?

From fuel-efficient cars, to renewable energy, to organic-cotton Levis, green is becoming the new everything. And this is most likely just the start.

As we settle into the 21st century, we are witnessing what may be the biggest trend of the next century: Green and Sustainable Living and Innovation. Just take a look around, and see what you notice. Most likely you’ll see more and more people bringing their own fashionable, ‘eco-friendly’ bags to stores, consciously buying products that are better for the planet, and proactively supporting businesses that have environmentally conscious business practices. From entire countries to huge corporations to local shops, green is becoming a bigger point of focus.

Last year, the World Watch Institute issued a report stating that climate change and other environmental problems are essentially inventing a new sustainable global economy.

One of the top global futurists, Dr. James Canton, has predicted the following trends:

• Sustainable Innovation will become one of the largest global markets of the 21st century as the public's awareness about the risks to the environment heighten.

• Climate change will become a strategically important global trend to consumers, business and nations as threats to health, life, property and security grow more profound in the 21st century.

• CleanTech, is becoming one of the largest global industries as the public's desire to create a more environmentally sustainable world grows in popularity.

• The Green Corporation will become the gold standard adopted by business as the environmental management becomes a social responsibility issue that affects consumer purchasing

So what does all of this mean? Whether it’s in your job, business, or personal life, a focus on going green and sustainable living is going to become more of a way of life. So get ahead of the game and jump on the green train!

The State of the Earth

Here’s the truth: Life on earth is changing before our very eyes and we need to do something about it.

Some Alarming Facts and Statistics You Should Know….

• Humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. This statement comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, and overseen by the UN and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• Global warming threatens to extinguish hundreds of millions of human lives and nearly a third of the planet's wildlife.

• Between 1970 and 2004, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 70%.

• With the destruction of the tropical rainforests, over half the plant and animal species on earth, as well as numerous indigenous cultures will disappear forever. Many scientists predicts that by 2060 there will be no rainforests remaining—almost half are now gone.

• The rate of wildlife extinction now is 1,000 times higher than the normal rate of the past.

• Glaciers in Greenland are melting twice as fast as they were five years ago.

• Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning.

• At least 36 states in the US will face water shortages within the next five years

• Greenhouse gasses are probably the main cause of ocean temperature increases in hurricane formation areas.
  

• There's been a 100% increase in the intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms since the 1970s, most likely due to the increased amount of CO2 emissions to our atmosphere.
• Just in 2005, 1836 people lost their lives from Hurricane Katrina (705 people are still considered ‘missing’) and it cost the US over $89.6 in damage, the costliest storm in US history
  

• The rate of ice melting doubled in less than a decade (between 1996 and 2005).

• Montana’s Glacier National Park will have no glaciers left by the year 2030— it now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910.

• Glaciers in the Alps will melt away by 2050. And 2050 is a conservative estimate—if they keep melting at the current rate, most glaciers could vanish by 2037.

Do you see why we need to do something now? But there is hope.....we can begin to reverse the destruction we have caused the earth by altering our actions.

The window is closing and the next 10 years may be the most important.