Albuquerque Journal

Business and government swept up in Earth Day and the environmental movement
By Dan McKay , Journal Staff Writer

From oil companies to Wal-Mart, it's obvious that "green" sells. Private companies and government agencies alike have scrambled this year to announce what they're doing for the environment— especially to combat global warming.
   
You'd be forgiven for thinking every day is Earth Day.
   
But this year's official, annual celebration of the environment is Tuesday. In Albuquerque, it will be a day for recycling on college campuses and giving away energy-efficient bulbs at grocery stores.
   
The growing popularity of everything green isn't lost on longtime activists.
   
James Olmsted, who recently founded an environmental club at Central New Mexico Community College, said he's no longer seen as a radical for supporting environmentalism.
   
"Mostly that's because it's actually being embraced commercially," said Olmsted, who's 53.
   
Companies have gotten into the act, too.
   
Wal-Mart this year opened a high-efficiency store in Bernalillo designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, and it has launched a nationwide campaign to promote energy-wise light bulbs. The Public Service Co. of New Mexico, meanwhile, has aired ads touting its wind-energy program, and oil companies are promoting their own environmental efforts.
   
And if that's not enough, the presidential election, Al Gore's film and the high price of gasoline have helped keep green issues in the news, activists say.
   
Government initiatives, local and national, have capitalized on the interest: