Over the past year or two, we've seen a boatload of "green" slogans, a maze of "green" billboards. We've heard solemn vows from companies of varied stripes, proclaiming that they're doing more for the planet than their competitors - while continuing to make suitable profits.

Judging by the evident interest in environmental issues, you'd think we were all taking steps every day to make our world a better place.

Many of us are. Millions of Americans do take those small steps in their daily lives, which add up to a big difference - whether it be shutting off unneeded lights, driving less, or recycling trash. Plenty of profit-making organizations really do take environmentalism seriously, and alter their plans and products accordingly. Best Buy, for instance, has recently earned credit for "green" initiatives - and was permitted to exhibit at the 3rd annual Green Festival in Chicago, in mid-May 2009. They demonstrate that a corporation can be green and profitable at the same time.

For many, though, the claims ring false. Calling yourself or your organization "green" means nothing at all. Actions speak vastly louder than words, however noble the latter may sound. All the green-background billboards and environmentally-focused slogans in the world make no difference if your everyday behavior, and your decisions, speak in a different tongue.

A manufacturer that touts the use of recyclable materials in its plane renovation or construction might indeed deserve abundant praise. But only if its products also fall into the sustainable realm, and its practices provide backup to forward-thinking themes. Keep turning out gas-guzzling SUVs, or rely on sweatshop labor, and all your other allegedly concerned initiatives sink from meritorious to meaningless.

"Green" isn't just about global warming, fuel-efficiency, CO2 emissions, organic foods, and recyclable apparel. It's about a person or company's total worldview: where they fit into the entire planet's welfare. That means steering clear of harsh labor practices, customer mistreatment, ignoring or dismissing community preferences, unflinchingly sending jobs overseas, and a host of other ills that deserve scorn, not admiration.

Alisa Gravitz, executive director of Green America, notes that her organization supports a "holistic and inclusive definition of green."

Unfettered profit-seeking isn't the mark of a "green" company. Neither is the urge to always beat the competition - to always be better, stronger, or more successful than the next guy or group. "That's an adolescent view," said John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, speaking at Chicago's Green Festival. Too many companies have been driven by the goal of maximizing profits "regardless of the social and environmental costs." A pattern for tomorrow, Perkins believes, would permit suitable profits, but only when accompanied by the goal of ultimately attaining a just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Doing so isn't easy, he admits, because customers clamor for low prices and investors covet high stock returns.

Perkins brings up another troubling point: the people we select as "icons" to be admired and emulated. Rather than movie stars, rock musicians, sports figures, and winners of American Idol, when will be start honoring people who improve the world?

Actor/activist Mike Farrell, perhaps still best known for his role on TV's Mash, observed at the Festival that the profit-at-all-costs folks don't want citizens thinking too much about the ultimate price that will be paid for avarice and disregard for human welfare. "They want us laying back and dreaming about winning the lottery," he explained, enthusiastically consuming their goods rather than taking steps that might make a real difference to a truly "green" future.