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The word "green" gets bandied about quite a bit lately, and although it's something you've probably heard about, you may not know exactly what it means. "Green," in general, encompasses the entire movement to become more environmentally conscious.

You can go green in several ways, from powering your home with green energy or by changing small things in your everyday life like light bulbs. Green can apply to the way you fly, the way you drive, the way you build and more. You can choose to embrace a green way of life, and do everything you can to be environmentally conscious, or you can pick specific ways you want to change your life to become green.

Green energy has become something of a global phenomenon, enough to put the Irish, Kermit and Christmas Trees firmly in the background. Green energy, organic, go green and a whole modern dictionary of similar terms are all over major media and the Internet. Scientific evidence shows that this generation will have the greatest impact on the environment within the next 50-100 years, and businesses are beginning to push hard for renewable energy.

Now is simply a great time to learn about going green. Yes it's important for electricity and natural gas companies, as well as federal and state agencies, to research and develop renewable energy for future generations. But it does not take away from the fact that you can go green at home in many affordable and easy ways.

Here are a few major reasons to go green:

Burning fossil fuels is pumping billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, not to mention increasing dependency on resources such as oil and coal, of which there is not an endless supply.
Renewable energy is 100 percent clean and uses resources that are sustainable—sun, water, wind, etc.—and do not negatively impact the environment.
The less we consume, the fewer resources are consumed to feed the demand. Homes are poorly designed, and tend to over consume precious resources. Conserving energy can be done by simply switching to LED or Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL) in your home. LED lights use up to 90 percent less energy than traditional lighting.
Save money on your energy bill. You would be amazed how cutting back on water consumption, wasteful lighting practices and buying efficient appliances can save you a good chunk of cash.
Using recyclable or organic products means that toxic materials are removed from the production. The more we dispose of in landfills, the more valuable and costly materials are being wasted, as well as producing more greenhouse gases as these landfills decompose.

The next decade will be crucial in implementing changes that will aim to reverse the affect of global warming. Historically, periods of warmth could be attributed to various factors: the sun, volcanic eruptions and changes in the earth's orbit have all factored into these warming periods. But the single most significant factor in recent climate change is humans. Statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show a major increase in greenhouse gas emissions within the last century.

Since the Industrial Revolution, nearly 3.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide has been added to the earth's atmosphere annually, a 35 percent increase. Scientists are concerned that the Arctic is heating nearly twice as fast as the rest of the planet in the last 50 years, and because of the 7 human contributions to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the dangers associated with rising temperatures could be realized in the near future.

Leading Causes of Global Warming
Fossil Fuel Consumption

The burning of fossil fuels is considered the greatest threat in global climate change. According to the EIA, the U.S. contributes more than 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions from energy production. In fact, power plants produced a whopping 2,459,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006.

Vehicle Emissions

More than 20 percent of all carbon emissions in the U.S. come from automobiles, large trucks and airplanes.

Landfills

The gradual decomposition of trash in landfills produces more than 34 percent of methane emissions. Methane isn't as concentrated in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but does trap more solar heat than other gases.

Deforestation

The destruction of forest populations is seriously interrupting the natural maintenance of carbon through photosynthesis, emitting million of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Fossil fuels are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, contributing 3/4 of all carbon, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. Burning coal, petroleum and other fossil fuels at extremely high temperatures (combustion) is the primary means by which electricity is produced, but also leads to heavy concentrations of pollutants in our air and water.

The real problem is that the atmosphere already absorbs a ton of greenhouse gases naturally, but is trapping up to 25 percent more of the sun's radiation due to annual increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Just think of the atmosphere as a very thick blanket of insulation—a blanket of insulation that grows thicker and more absorbent by the year.

Here are some eye-popping statistics from the Energy Information Administration:

3.2 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide annually.
More than 2.5 million metric tons of carbon is produced by power plants.
98 percent of U.S. energy production comes from non-renewable sources, a.k.a. fossil fuels.
The U.S. consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil per day, with more than one million tons of coal consumed annually as well.
The increased awareness surrounding global warming and the importance of renewable energy is vital, but the fact remains that fossil fuel production and consumption has hundreds of years of history, and the use of renewable energy is still in its infancy.

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