If you'd asked me when I was a child what the world would look like in 2020, I would have predicted flying cars, hovercrafts, transporters and a colony on the moon. So, when I read that the nonprofit firm Forum for the Future (yes, such a thing exists) had published a report claiming that sustainable products and services will be mainstream by 2020, admittedly, I was skeptical.

Small and quiet hybrid cars, reusable shopping bags, eating organically; on the surface, going green isn't the easiest thing for the typical male ego to adjust to. While some people would argue that the true example of masculinity is a man who doesn't care what others think of him, let's face it, men can be self-conscious, too.

Last month's column about community-based social marketing generated a lot of mail. Most people agreed that what's needed is more innovative experimentation in the field, and that best practices for this new green marketing approach would evolve through real-life testing.

With all the talk of the Tumblrs, Groupons, Facebook, Google+, et al., uber-billion-dollar evaluations and roller coaster balance sheets, it's easy to ignore what truly underpins all social media, and much of the web itself.

We've been saying it for years: green is good for business. But as the Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP) annual Global 500 reported last week, green isn't just good for business -- it's great for business and positively impacts the bottom line.

There's a "green gap" that exists between what consumers say and what they actually do when it comes to sustainable living. There's a certain stigma that comes with being green, and because of that, there's also exclusivity. People around the world want to say that they're green, but because of the green gap, aren't sure how to actually achieve it.

I always feel a bit deflated when I meet someone and they ask, "How's your bulb organization?" or refer to me to others as "The Bulb Guy."

On one hand, environmentalists claim that companies are not doing enough to change company infrastructure and culture to really deserve the title "green." On the other end of the ideological spectrum, green marketing is considered a market and business failure that is doomed to go out of fashion any day. Is there merit to claims from these divergent doomsayers? This article aims to shed light on this issue by studying the green initiatives of the 10 most valuable brands in the world.

Everyone lauds eco-labels being put forth by such sustainability leaders as Timberland, HP and Levi's for transparency and commitment, but are they really all that useful to consumers? Likely not. These labels may be informative and project credibility, but their usefulness can -- and must -- be taken up a notch.

The auto industry is not the only one to leave out negative effects -- of course, no company or brand wants to advertise their bad side. But when a product shows direct, negative effects on the environment and on people's health and well-being, how do we let it slip by?