The Eco Challenge 
What does it mean to go Green?

What is Eco? We hear about such things as the eco challenge, eco tours, citizen eco drives, even strange things like the lesser-spotted Umberto Eco (hee! really a fabulous Italian author of historical mysteries like, "In The Name of The Rose")!

ECO though is from the word ecology. You'll hear it being bandied about in terms like the Eco-System or referring to environmentally-friendly products like The Eco Kettle.

The online dictionary defines eco:

Main Entry: eco-
Function: combining form
Etymology: Late Latin oeco- household, from Greek oik-, oiko-, from oikos house
1 : habitat or environment <ecospecies>
2 : ecological or environmental <ecocatastrophe>

And defines ecology as:

Main Entry: ecol·o·gy
Pronunciation: i-'kä-l&-jE, e-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
Etymology: German Ökologie, from öko- eco- + -logie -logy
1 : a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments
2 : the totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment

And defines human ecology as:

Main Entry: human ecology
Function: noun
1 : a branch of sociology dealing especially with the spatial and temporal interrelationships between humans and their economic, social, and political organization
2 : the ecology of human communities and populations especially as concerned with preservation of environmental quality (as of air or water) through proper application of conservation and civil engineering practices

I think this last entry gives us the clearest application. To be eco-conscious, we have to be concerned with the preservation of environmental quality - that includes the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, the soil that we grow our food in and on. Furthermore, it involves a state of custodianship towards nature - the oceans, rainforests, the wildlife, fauna and flora of this haven in space which is Planet Earth.

How They Put the "Eco" in The Eco-Kettle
Tea kettles are evolving. Discover how to 'save the world while on your tea break' with the latest evolution in tea kettles.

Er... Who is Umberto Eco again?
Hullo-oo! Didn't we cover this already? Okay, here's a page just for you Umberto fans. You did know that Umberto is a passionate environmentalist didn't you? 

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