The headline in today’s Wall Street Journal proclaims: Economy Snaps Long Slump. In light of the fact that the US economy grew 3.5% in Q3, papers and commentators across the country are shouting, “The recession is over!”

Time will tell.

But it is certainly a good time to review the “Recession and Its Impact on the Environment” report from JWT, and ask the question: “What effect has the recession had on the environment?”

US consumers are obviously nervous about a wide array of environmental issues.

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The report from Edmunds.com must have dropped on President Obama’s desk with a loud thud.

According to calculations by the website publisher that seeks to educate automotive consumers, the Cash for Clunkers program cost taxpayers $24,000 per vehicle sold.

An extremely high price tag considering the program offered no more than $4,500 on each gas-guzzler traded in.

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In the third annual “Goodpurpose Consumer Study,” from public relations firm Edelman, 83% of consumers claimed they would change their consumption habits, if it would help make the world a better place.

Despite the recession, it appears consumers are still willing to spend on brands which have a social purpose.

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In a survey of consumers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Russia, the UK and US, Capgemini found that not only consumers, but also automotive companies, governments, utilities and other types of businesses are increasingly focusing on alternative-fuel vehicles.

In the research, 41% of consumers said they already owned a fuel-efficient or alternative-fuel vehicle, up from 36% one year ago.

Another 30% said they plan to buy a fuel efficient or alternative-fuel vehicle.

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Copenhagen is just around the corner. Last weekend the International Climate Day of Action brought out hundreds of thousands of marchers in 179 countries to support 350.org. The movement to reduce global warming is heating up.

But, strangely, the average American citizen doesn’t seem interested. In fact, the opposite.

In a poll conducted only a few weeks ago, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, found a steep drop in the number of Americans who believe in global warming.

Today, 57% of Americans believe there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. But in January 2007, 77% believed the evidence on rising global temperatures. That’s a 20% downward shift in public opinion in less than two years.

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Coinciding with the opening of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearings on cap-and-trade legislation, CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) polled Americans across the nation to gauge public support.

The poll found a majority of Americans would favor a cap-and-trade proposal to cut pollution and limit greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Respondents felt that if companies exceeded prescribed limits, they should either pay a fine or compensate companies producing smaller amounts of GHG.

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Green is getting to be so big that even big companies are doing it. And major publications are taking notice.

Newsweek magazine announced its inaugural “Green Rankings” list, the 500 greenest corporations in the US. Four out of the top five ranked companies were from the technology sector.

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What do corporate managers mean when they talk about sustainability? Apparently, a number of things.

According to the “Sustainable Production” report from the Aberdeen Group, most managers mean energy efficiency, followed by (in a tie) waste reduction and environmental impact, which were closely followed by reuse and recycling and employee safety.

The definitions of sustainability are broad, to say the least.

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According to the “Green Report,” from Ipsos MediaCT, while green and environmentally friendly programs are becoming more top of mind for US consumers making technology-related purchases, awareness is low for specific companies.

In fact, 44% of consumers don’t associate any major technology brands with green practices. Progress is being made, however. In 2007, 55% of consumers did not associate any technology companies with green practices.

The percentage of consumers who could cite specific environmental policies at each of the firms was even lower.

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“Green consumers” used to be merely a subset of consumers as a whole. But as green marketing develops researchers are identifying more subtle differences within the category.

The “Green Revolution” report, published by Grail Research, recommends that marketers pay attention to “light green” consumers as well as “dark green” consumers, who mostly purchase green products.

In fact, although they only purchase “some” green products, the light greens make up the overwhelming majority of US consumers, 76%, and are most likely to move toward buying more green products in the future.

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Every day more consumers are going green, but they are not necessarily doing it to save the environment.

According to the “Energy Trends” report from Nielsen, 80% of US energy consumer say cutting costs is their main motivation for conserving energy.

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When it comes to the environment, mobile users seem to be all talk.

ABI Research asked mobile phone users in North America what they thought of eco-friendly handsets. The answer was not much.

Merely 7% of the respondents would be willing to pay a premium for an environmentally-friendly handset.

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Server sprawl is harming the environment.

According to a study conducted by Kelton Research for 1E, at the same time that many major corporations are attempting to become more energy efficient and save money, 4.7 million servers around the world are doing nothing—and wasting $25 billion per year in the process.

In fact, 72% of the server managers surveyed said 15% or more of their servers run 24/7 without ever doing anything useful.

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Almost 50 years ago Bob Dylan told us that the answer, my friends, was blowin’ in the wind. But he didn’t mention where.

Today, we know.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Texas, Iowa and California are the largest producers of wind power in the US.

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As if war, genocide and ethnic strife weren’t bad enough.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (iDMC), in 2008 36 million people were displaced by sudden-onset natural disasters, and 55% were climate related.

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