Sure, I got teary-eyed watching a short bio on Simone Biles on NBColympics.com and issued triumphant fist pumps when Kenyan Vivian Cheriuyot overcame an impressive lead by favorite Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia to win the 5,000 meter, her first gold medal in four Olympics.

Green products and initiatives are already a tough sell for many audiences, but marketers make it harder when they ignore or assume facts, or are simply unaware of certain dos and don'ts.

No one likes being condescended to, but it's easy to do if you treat every audience the same. With super green audiences, strong messaging about saving the earth and its creatures is preaching to the choir, so you don't have to temper much. But if you want to expand your audience to consumers resisting the green "movement," you need to find another way because scare tactics and shame just don't work.

Historically, I have not been an early adopter. Heck, I still had a flip phone well after the iPhone 4 launch. Years after organic food caught on, I was still eating fast food everyday. However, I have just broken my mold and become one of the first few (defined loosely) to eat Certified Transitional food. That's right, you heard me. Certified Transitional.

Successful marketing is all about approach, but how do you market something while simultaneously downplaying what are typically its selling points? Very skillfully.

By the time I saw the Metrolink train billboard, it was too late. I was already cheerfully guzzling natural resources and spitting out emissions along the 5 Freeway from L.A. to San Diego. I gasped and shook my head at my stupidity and selfishness for driving to Sustainable Brands, which took place June 6 - 9. Conference check-in officials seemed to sense my crime and asked, "Did you take the train or are you a hypocritical fraud who drove? And are you sharing a hotel room or wasting resources in a room by yourself?"

NERD ALERT: I spent Sunday embarking on one of my favorite new pastimes: reading through corporate responsibility and sustainability reports* of Fortune 50 companies. Why would anyone do such a laborious thing? Well, in typical consumer-facing media, most brands are not overtly blasting messages about their sustainability efforts, and I was keen to learn what some of the biggest companies are doing and saying about sustainability.

Much as we wish everyone was committed to going green, we're just not there yet. Still, there are often ways to promote green products and services without labeling them as such outright - which still helps the world, while taking the pressure off decision-makers whose company values or mission may not align with the green movement directly. Here's how.

"I can't get this food to Africa, so I don't wanna hear about it!" My girlfriend grunts as I scold her for leaving yet another never-to-be-eaten left-over box in my fridge. She knows I'm a hypocrite. I'm as guilty as everyone else when it comes to food wasting-about once a month I fill up an entire trash can with moldy or suspiciously smelling food. And I have started to feel guilty.

Though there's a certain contingent of the population utterly devoted to going green, there's still plenty of resistance out there. Whether it's ignorance, laziness, or downright denial, not everyone recycles, conserves, or even buys into the idea that these things are important. Some of them are even in Congress.