Earth Day goes political and corporate

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google went green and so did dozens of comic strips while President George W. Bush planted a tree on Tuesday to mark Earth Day, an environmental event that has become increasingly political and corporate.

Thirty-eight years after Earth Day began as a series of grass-roots "teach-ins" about environmental conservation and pollution, April 22 has become an occasion to focus attention on human-generated climate change and the policies around it -- a topic not on the public mind in 1970.

The method for getting the message across has certainly evolved. Google.com's online search site featured a lush logo with letters made of moss-covered boulders, a tree sprouting from the "L" and a waterfall flowing beneath it. Clicking on the image led to a list of Earth Day-related sites.

The comics pages in many U.S. newspapers featured strips with environmental themes. "Zippy The Pinhead" was typical: the short-sighted residents of Dingburg save the Earth by packing dirt into suitcases and keeping them in a storage locker.

Bush was in New Orleans for the so-called "Three Amigos" summit with leaders from Canada and Mexico, where the U.S. president planted an oak tree in Lafayette Square -- a symbolic replanting of the some 250,000 trees stripped away from the city by 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

PLAN TO RAISE FUEL EFFICIENCY

The Bush administration, which has weathered criticism for its stand on environmental issues, offered a plan on Tuesday to boost fuel economy for cars and trucks to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil and curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan would require the U.S. and international fleet to average 32 miles per gallon by 2015. The energy bill Bush signed in December requires that autos average 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase over the current standard.