What comes to mind when you think of the environment? Hippies? Al Gore? Crunchy granola? Regular granola? Or maybe none of the above. These days, it feels like we are swimming in a messy pool of fact, fiction and waste. With all the hoopla and assumptions surrounding what it means to be "green," it is hard to know what to believe. Many questions, opinions and lies float around with no clear indication of whether we are going in the right direction.

Oh, Magic Eight Ball, please tell us which presidential candidate will really take action in our worldwide energy crisis. How do we find out what ingredients are actually in our food? What will be the effects of global warming? And can someone figure out how to answer "paper or plastic"?

Fortunately, some of our burning questions can be answered, while others have no easy response and force us to use our best judgment. Unfortunately, many companies take it for granted that consumers won't ask questions because we are supposedly sheep driven by money, beauty and the latest convenient craze.

But if we don't think about how our actions will affect the environment, then the average person will continue to use an estimated 80-100 gallons of water per day; water, air and soil pollution will contribute to 40 percent of deaths worldwide; Americans will keep using about 86 billion plastic bags each year; and 112,000 tons of construction waste will go on to being buried in landfills annually. In spite of these facts, are you content just watching the world function as it is? If not, then ask, question and confront the big-shots. Don't accept what you are told and assume it to be correct.

Every trinket, morsel of food, drop of water and glob of shampoo has a story behind it. Every item you buy, whether it is an iPod, a pair of sneakers or a seemingly innocent bottle of water has gone through some type of journey to land in the shop around the corner.

Therefore, I challenge you to constantly find out where your products have come from, how they were made and by whom. Think about your ecological footprint: how much waste you leave behind and what you give back to the Earth.

Once you get on the eco-train - buying reusable shopping bags, refusing plastic bottles of water and reducing energy use - you realize that there are good, clean options everywhere around us. You simply have to look, and eventually the right choices will come naturally.

But no one is perfect and occasionally, green is not synonymous with cheap. In that case, defy consumerism and buy one pair of organic cotton jeans instead of five toxic pairs. Make an effort to alter your behavior in whatever ways possible. The environment matters in all areas of life: art, medicine, food, architecture, business, law and fashion. Take a stand by using eco-friendly materials, adopting a philosophy of sustainability or developing a connection with the Earth.

So, be brave and do more than replace your light bulbs. There are some nifty items out there that can satisfy your needs and make a huge environmental difference. For one, Apple just released the MacBook Air. Thin enough to require 56 percent less packaging waste, the laptop comes with a longer battery life, a recyclable aluminum case, a mercury- and arsenic-free display and polyvinyl chloride-free internal cables. Or try the solar voltaic backpack, which is designed to charge cell phones, iPods and laptops while you are outside. Or order a T-shirt from onetonco2.com, and the company will offset one ton of carbon dioxide - the equivalent saved from a passive solar home for 154 days - with each purchase.

At the end of the day, figuring out what is and is not green may get overwhelming. We live in a nation overloaded with information. So sit down, relax and pour yourself a nice, cold, organic beer.

Mira Mooreville is an LSA freshman.