Just the other day I was telling a friend about some of the eco-projects I’m working on and sadly, yet not unexpectedly, she rolled her eyes. “Everything in Seattle is going green,” she said, adding that she wasn’t particularly interested in the movement.

I don’t fault her for feeling this way. In fact, this attitude is becoming more and more typical than the days of yesteryear when idealism, opportunity and the spotlight was set on the environmental stage. In fact, I remember the very moment it went mainstream because I was there- Sundance 2005 at The Inconvenient Truth premier.

Obviously, one man (Al Gore) did not create this era on his own (like he did the Internet hahaha), but the film was a catalyst to green because it reached the mainstream in a way that got more than the average eco-joe talking about it. Now it’s 2008 and we’re at a point where corporation and political groups have found ways to exploit the trend for profit, ultimately causing greater skepticism about what is truly the best eco-move.

At the beginning of the movement everything seemed as easy as driving a hybrid, recycling, reusing, and shopping organic. Today, not so much. Add corporate greenwashing combined with a good dose of media scrutiny and you have a child’s fingerpainting of today’s greenish landscape. It’s messy.

With green, studies show that consumers are increasingly feeling like they’re effort is never good enough. It’s kinda like a struggling relationship - just when you think you’re doing something right, your other half points out that you’re doing it completely wrong.  It’s disheartening, confusing and frustrating. Hybrid or bio diesel? Glass bottles or biodegradable plastic? Local or organic? All these second guesses and questions as the NYT points out are the result of the hype. The good news is that environmentalists are beginning to take note and create tools that help consumers move beyond the green noise, if they’re willing.

In response to the confusion, the Natural Resources Defense Council last year unveiled Simple Steps, a how-to campaign that broke up advice into three tiers, according to the interest and commitment level of its audience. When you log on to simplesteps.org you can select the depth of information you desire on the basis of whether you want to spend a minute, a morning or a month adopting green habits.

I do not think green is going away, but like all social, political and economic movements, it will evolve. I have not lost hope.