2012 was a big year for sustainability with major world events such as Rio+20 and the Summer Olympics and natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy propelling the conversation forward on a global platform. While the debate surrounding both causes and solutions continues to swirl, what is definite is that sustainability is part of a global dialogue.

Newsweek recently released its Green Rankings 2012 list, which highlights America's greenest companies. Environmental impact has become one of the biggest selling points for brands when striving to gain consumer attention. However, something I've noticed over the years is that the companies who are making green efforts can be placed into two different categories: those that are naturally perceived as green (therefore having to put very little energy into pushing their green message due to the nature of the product) and those that exercise green practices, yet whose efforts go relatively unnoticed if they are not purposely advertised.