How about simply "smart"?

'Green' seems to have the best 'brand recognition'.
People know the if something is truly 'green' it is all at the same time - smart, sustainable, responsible, and eco-friendly.

There are variations and gradations -
Corn based fuel is green or greener than petro based fuel, but is being seen to be not too sustainable as energy needs compete with the basic food needs.

Going out and buying stuff to make a rainwater collecting system is green, but what would be greener and smarter is finding discarded stuff to make it from.

Responsibly made green clothes are pretty cool, but going out and buying them en masse is not as 'responsible' as buying what you need when you need it. (crap, did I just lose another button!?!).

Also - low impact, or no impact? ... a la No Impact Man.

Sorry- just rambling.

vsk

I describe myself as conscientious, thus encompassing being environmentally friendly, supporting fair trade, opposing animal cruelty, valuing quality experiences over consumption, etc. etc. That said, I really like verdantrous (though technically just verdant would do).

How about we quit subsisting off of catchphrases and one liners, and actually change our lives by UNDERSTANDING the issues that underly what all the soundbites gloss over and reduce to nauseating blurbs and misquotes that ultimately are just turned into marketing gimmicks until the public forgets or no longer understands what the point was in the first place!

Think a bit more people. For god sake, please start to think.

I like "Responsible" as this is all compassing and the lack thereof is indeed the root of all our evils. If every individual were more responsible for what they consumed (food, energy, information, etc.), the planet would be better.

I am sick of the term green because once again, we (mere chimps who figured out how to walk upright and create Cheeto's snack food) have gone overboard with a phrase. This occurs because we think we can impress other chimps.

Acton speak louder than words; by a long shot.

Green is just fine. It's the catch phrase for this decade, but next decade they are going to have to change it up to get more attention then before.

The use of the term has certainly drifted from it's eco-warrier roots to the domain of the corporate PR consultancies. Mozilla Firefox is going organic, Asus are making bamboo computers, Chevron is becoming the new Greenpeace. In my blog I recently posted an article 'Is Green the new religion?" which puts green hogging companies like Chevron to shame. If you care to read it here's the URL:
http://www.trade2save.com/blog/category/green-myths/

How about, "Stop being a sybaritic, selfish jerk-off."

Hmm. Too incendiary? Well I live in the suburbs, and it sure as heck applies.

Green is a color...I realize that a lot of nature is green...but a lot of it is also blue, brown, black, and every other color.

Responsible, well that's too loose because everyones idea of responsibility is different.

Sustainable...I like this term more because it means something and if you apply to every aspect of our lives certain things would qualify and could qualify and certain things couldn't. Those things that couldn't should be removed from our options.

Eco-friendly, earth friendly...these too can be a little fluffy too..."Let's introduce this species of (animal, reptile, plant) to rid our pest problem in an eco-friendly way...." Well...we know how that can turn out! Things are deemed eco-friendly all the time and then years later we find out they are doing a lot of harm.

Just my two cents worth!

Cheers,

As a researcher and theorist on the semiotics and social/cultural implications of "green" (we are currently VERY few, unfortunately), I strongly believe that people would benefit from critical analysis of the movement and what it entails. Situating "green/eco/organic/etc" movements among the overarching cultural shifts that necessarily impact them is highly productive not only for consumers at the margin ("Should I buy organic? Does it really matter?") but also for the broadening of "green" consumer understanding: how our choices are influenced (and limited), how "alternatives" are presented and the impact of this on our consumption choices, how popular science and the media push and shape advertisers' and even "green" developers' work.

That said, the way we speak about our consumption patterns has demonstrable effects on the way we think about the movement in general, as well as how it relates to other consumption choices. I think we may be running into a bit of trouble with the name game because there are very many ways to participate; some folks favor disestablishment and decentralization of governmental power over food, some want to alleviate the extreme poverty of workers in "developing" countries", some want to save the environment, some want to protect or improve their physical health, some want to do all of it. Assigning a single name to these different and intersecting trajectories is going to be a difficult and perhaps impossible task as it currently stands.

On the other hand, with the single-title idea those who oppose or don't understand (or both) "green" are unfortunately and misguidedly able to lump all of these ideas into one set and criticize it. It is here that shoddily-made quasi "green" products are able to taint the image of truly more eco-friendly, organic, "natural", sustainable, fair-trade products and practices. Just as well, on both sides, possible names such as "responsible" or "ethical" or "intelligent" can entail a host of pervasive ideologies, essentialism, moral assessment, as well as ideas about absolute justice. What about individuals and dare I say entire socio-economic groups who are barred from the "green" loop because of various reasons - primarily economic and social? What happens to these people when they can't be part of "responsible", "ethical", "intelligent", "green" movements? Are they then the opposite of these things?

I suggest we organize more effectively to better understand our DIFFERENCES as "green/etc." individuals, because these differences are a large part of how the movement(s) will ultimately succeed or fail.

Well said, JohnO.

I am sick of the phrase too, but I don't have any ideas. Hopefully we come to the point where we don't need a phrase, and everything just is "green." Wishful thinking?

It's not easy being green....

Who cares what 'they ' call it! As long as the word is out and it gets people thinking about the environment Go Green!

Those of us who write for, um, Planet Green recused ourselves??? How so?