There's no doubt the green movement is big, but is the trend here to stay?
Local environmentalists say people long have been concerned about the environment, but their support for solutions to environmental problems seems to ebb and flow.
The flows come when issues are obvious and people have an understanding of the actions they must take.
The ebbs come when issues are too nebulous and people lack a clear focus for their actions.
"The general public has a threshold for only being able to think about one or two environmental problems at any given time," said Eric Compas, assistant professor of geography and geology at UW-Whitewater who teaches classes in cultural ecology.
So what brought us over the limit this time?
Part of the answer might be a movie made by a politician.
Al Gore's blockbuster film, "An Inconvenient Truth," seared the concept of global warming into the popular consciousness, and people once again got fired up about the environment.
"It's been a dominant issue that again has allowed the environmental movement to find a single focus," Compas said.
But with every up comes a down.
"There will certainly be an ebb to the current interest," Compas said. "If you look at some of the recent public polling, given the economy, interest in the environment is at the lowest it's been in a long time."
Staying power
Local environmental activist Julie Backenkeller said she hopes the green movement has staying power.
"I hope it's real," she said. "If it isn't real, if it's just a trend … we're going to end up moving backward instead of forward—and that would be a disappointment."
Regardless of what has most recently spurred people into action to protect the environment, Backenkeller believes it's finally becoming clearer to people that something must be done.
It certainly was clear to her after reading Joseph C. Jenkins' alarming book, "Balance Point: Searching for a Spiritual Missing Link."
In the story, Jenkins likens the earth to an apple, Backenkeller explained. Ants crawl all over the apple, eat the apple until it's gone and move on to the next apple.
"And the point is, where are we going when we've used everything this earth has?" she said. "Where's our next earth?
"We're on a finite planet and it can't go on forever."
Backenkeller said the idea made her think twice about her actions.
"Silence is acceptance," she said. "If I sit here and do nothing, it means I think this is all fine. There comes a point where you have to decide if you're part of the problem or part of the solution. If you sit back and allow things to happen, you're part of the problem."
Backenkeller said protecting the environment starts with little things done by individuals, but it's the big things put in place by the government that will have a real impact.
"Time is wasting," she said.
That doesn't mean we haven't made progress, Backenkeller said.
"Definitely ...but I'm a very impatient person, so to me, I think we can do so much more," she said.
Gauging green
Compas said the stage is set for a significant change in global environmental policy.
The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that called for the reduction of greenhouse gases produced by industrialized nations, is about to expire.
A meeting of world environmental leaders is scheduled for December in Copenhagen, Denmark, to develop a new climate agreement for the period of time after 2012, when the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol expires.
"We're ready for the next global agreement," Compas said.
But given the current state of the economy around the world, the upcoming conference could offer a glimpse into how committed the world is to protecting the environment, he said.
"If we want a gauge of how strong the current wave of being green is, it's coming in the fall," Compas said.