I tried many of the 'greener' cleaners. None of them worked to clean anything but I hope the germs were at least gone. DH used a green lawn care product and the yard turned to dead grass and thriving weeds. He spent double the time trying to get the yard back to growing grass. He had to reseed most of it.
It uses more energy and resources to wash cloth then to use recyclable paper products. When I have a choice I choose paper over plastic and when I remember I'll take reusable bags. That's about all the green I want.

We try to recycle everything recycleable.

Do you really think the earth is going to stop spinning on its axis if you don't re-cycle, go "green", or whatever the moniker of the day is?
Do you really think the earth is going to send you a thank you for "saving" it? The earth doesn't care what you do or don't do.
If it makes you feel better to use your God-given common sense to use glass instead of plastic, carry your groceries home in a canvas bag instead of a plastic or paper one, compost all your clippings, etc. then you've succeed in you goal. That is, you feel better.
In the context of how long the earth has been spinning on its axis and perpetually repairing itself relative to the life span of a human being, I doubt that in 100 years what you compost today will make a bit of difference.
On the other hand, here's a very real problem. We have been encouraged and trained to waste our hard-earned money on buying "stuff" that is generally junk. Perhaps it's more important to consider the choices we make relative to spending our money and what we get in return over "saving the earth".
BTW, I live in the same town as Solyndra (the poster child for "green" and the oh-so-politically correct business that is now bankrupt and skimmed $500 million dollars of your and my tax dollars). Yeah, in that world, "green" is your tax dollars tossed down a rat hole and chewed up by rats.

If you feel good about what you're doing, fine. Just don't expect the earth to thank you.

Until the whole world population goes green, the people in one country isn't going to make a dent. Fast food places generate more harmful paper waste in one day then all American families do in one year.....and I don't see anyone protesting that.

Hardees used to recycle. They had special containers for their food containers as opposed to the food waste. That didn't last long. Guess it was too much work or too expensive.

I try to do what I can...recycle, compost, use less paper, only have lights on when I am using them, and have the new style bulbs, paperless for most bills. My mail these days is mostly ads/credit card offers.

Besides that, Al Gore is a certifiable NUT. A rich one now but still certifiable.

I agree with both of you. I don't like "green", doubt most of it is any good. I use to save when I was younger, not anymore.

I don't think there's a thing wrong with caring about the earth and teaching our future generations to do so as well.
Just because there's no tangible reward for THIS generation doesn't mean there won't be one for future generations. I'm sad about the 'if it doesn't benefit ME than it's not worth it' generation. I suppose that's one reason this country is leaving such a horrible financial legacy to our kids...the 'let someone else fix it' mindset.

You can write off Gore and his pro environmental pals if you like but at it's core, the message of caring for anything we take for granted is a sound one.

It's just a shame that Gore doesn't practice what he preaches. Makes it hard to take him seriously (not that I would even if he did practice it).