Though we're in the middle of two wars, an economic crisis, and an historic election, the current ideology of going green is still important. While some consider it a waste of time, resources and energy, it is clear that they have yet to acknowledge the facts.

Contributing to the green movement isn't even the most difficult task. The first step to helping the environment is to recycle. Recycling is neither time consuming nor expensive (it's actually free). Curb-side recycling is becoming more pervasive throughout the United States, and it's fairly clear why. Studies find that in the majority of cases recycling is the most efficient way to dispose of residential waste. Beyond the costs, one has to consider air pollution avoided from processes like incineration, reduced hazardous waste, and the need for less space with landfills.

Even though the majority of trees grown for paper are done so on farms, some old growth forests are still used to provide trees. If this fact is ignored, one still has to consider that on average, paper waste use 35 percent of landfills. The amount of energy recycling reduces is debatable, but the fact remains that a large amount of energy is saved. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that creating paper from recycled materials reduces energy by 40 percent; the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) estimates a 64 percent reduction.

Paper waste, however, is not the biggest concern. Where paper can be incinerated to produce energy, and methane gases released and used as a bio-fuel, plastic cannot. The toxic nature of plastic compounds do not allow for this. And increasingly plastics are contaminating ocean waters, with groups like Greenpeace commenting that plastic waste has created a continent sized dump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most frustrating about this dilemma (besides the fact that no one nation is stepping forward) is that there is an easy way to avoid these troubles: recycle. Since the majority of plastic bottles and bags can be recycled, there literally is no excuse not to do so.

Green technology industry could also create a monumental opportunity for the United States and other countries. Each year the number of startups spun off from universities grows drastically. New techniques to augment the efficiency of solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal energy collection, etc. are creating a whole new field for economic growth. The easiest comparison is to the computer industry boom starting in the 1980s and continuing today in new internet startups.

These technologies not only create a great opportunity for economic powers like the United States, but also industrializing countries where the power grid is limited. Take for instance Africa. The UN cites that "Excluding South Africa and Egypt, no more than 20 percent (and in some countries as few as 5 percent) of Africans have electricity." Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European commission's Institute for Energy stated that only 0.3 percent sunlight captured from the Sahara and Middle East deserts could provide all of Europe's energy.

Cheap, renewable electricity will become increasingly important as oil supplies become diminished. Continents such as Africa have the opportunity to not only power poverty-stricken rural areas, but to offer jobs thus bolstering their economy. Regardless of one's views about the effects that humanity has on the earth's health, we cannot ignore the economic opportunity the green movement provides.