Tomorrow is the year 2007 Earth Day, which started in 1970. Could the year 2007 be the Green Year, the tipping year in which government and industry embraced the importance of environmental sustainability just as the public is beginning to accept, and as the environmental movement has represented. Whether or not the environmental movement began in 1962 with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, this year has been marked by profound reports and a Supreme Court Ruling. Further, magazines such as Time and Newsweek, and The New York Times have reported extensively on climate change and global warming.

In fact, Newsweek had a special report in its April 16th edition entitled “Leadership and the Environment: Moment of Truth. As the article pointed out, “the ranks of global-warming deniers have mostly been forced to concede that the Earth really is getting warmer.” Two points are worth mentioning about the article. The first is the environmentalism that has been encorported into California’s environmental laws, and how the state has set the benchmark for how industry, government and individuals can play a role in achieving “green accountablily.” Companies such as One Source Green, dedicated to green construction and archetecture represent a new cadre of industry emerging in California.

But California is not the only state where environmental action is taking place. Seattle’s mayor, Greg Nickels, has emerged as one of the leading environmental politicians in the country. Sensing that climate change was impacting his city, Nickels drafted a document that would put the Kyoto Protocol into effect (even though the Federal Government did not sign off on Kyoto). His document, called the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, was presented at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2005, and so far 435 cities have signed on (he indicated he would be happy if about 140 did so!). One fact that is significant is the 435 cities that have signed off this agreement represent more than 70 million people, and new jobs are emerging such as “sustainability director.”

Perhaps one of the most important events of the year was the Supreme Court’s 5 – 4 decision insisting the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2, and that it should not defer to White House claims that they are adhering to the Clean Air Act. Now the EPA has legal authority to move on reducing greenhouse gases by regulating emissions. More importantly, the decision puts the government on notice that environmental sustainability and global warming are issues that can not be ignored, but must be encorporated into American culture.

This has also been the year of reports and other forms of publications that clearly show that Earth’s climate is changing, and that change must include human activities as one of the variables contributing the heating up of the Earth. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued two reports this year (a third will come out later in the year) that thousands of scientists agree with that identifies the science behind climate change, and the impact of human industrial activities that have contributed to climate change.

Clearly, Earth Day 2007 is a day that should shine green.