Swimming in green, or drowning in CO2?

The great greening of America gets mixed reviews, according to the inaugural GreenBiz Index, a first-of-its-kind benchmark of “green” released today.

Much-hyped greening is real, but incremental, concluded Joel Makower, author and expert on corporate environmentalism. In the report, “The State of Green Business 2008,” he noted the move toward a carbon tax or carbon cap-and-trade scheme that could reduce greenhouse gases, but said there’s a lot of work remaining. He lauded the auto industry’s foray into plug-in electric hybrids, although the cars remain years away from an appearance on your car dealer’s lot. Corporate truck fleets, like Wal-Mart’s, have committed to shedding gas-guzzlers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Consumers found all sorts of green claims on store shelves, but remained wary of the earth-friendly pledges. Well building went bust, green building provided a bright spot, with energy-efficient construction expected to double in size to a $4.7-billion market by 2011.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer