Green glossary-The color green has become closely associated with healthy enviornment. Therefore, "living green" "green products, "green business," and similar tags indicate activites related to positive enviornmental goals. Here are a few other common words used in "green" conversations.

Alertnative or renewable energy: Sources of energy that cannot be used up and usally contribute little to greenhouses gases. These include solar, wind, geothermal, biomass(plants) and photovoltaic conversion systems. This excludes fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum.

Biofuels: motor fuels made primarily of recently-dead plant material harvested for the purpose. This is different from fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, which are derived from long-dead bioogical material. Biofuels can reduce carbon in our atmosphere, thus helping to counter climate change.

Carbon footprint: an estimate of how much carbon dioxide an entity(person, family, or building) produces and releases into the atmosphere.

Composting: biological decomposition of organic materials such as leaves, fruit and vegetable peelings, etc., by bacteria, fungi and other organisims into a soil like substance used to enrich garden soils. This enrichemnt nourishes the soil and helps increase moisture retention, thus reducing the need for more water.

Eco-friendly: having minimal to no harmful or threatening impact on the natural environment .

Green: qualities or actions that have little to no negative effect on the natural environment and usually have a positive effect on the environment.

Organic: foods raised without the use of artifical input such as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, antibiotics, animal byproducts and sewage sludge. Regulated by the U.S Department of Agriculture.

Recycled: manufactured from used or waste materials that have been reprocessed for further use.

There are no univerally-accepted definitions for most of these words. The definitions provedied here are from a variety of sources and are for guidance only.
Source http://www.pca.state.mn.us/