MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – As the national GDP closes towards a near 4-percent growth for the end of the second quarter, recovering businesses are being met with eco-friendly initiatives not only to keep the economy operating more efficiently but also to further efforts at making the world a “greener” planet.   

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a joint venture with Google Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., YouTube LLC, and Herman Miller Inc., announced in May the formation of The Green Products Innovation Institute, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group aimed at ridding harmful chemicals from consumer products.   

 The institute will provide opportunities to register chemicals in California in an effort to standardize or create a state-issued seal of approval. Chief among the groups’ leaders are Brad Pitt, celebrity environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., and Chad Hurley, the founder of YouTube. Schwarzenegger believes that the Institute will advance efforts to rid carcinogens, lead, and other hazardous chemicals from skin lotions, toys, candy, shower curtains, and other consumer products. The governor also used the opening to announce an $11 billion water bond that will address ongoing issues with contaminated groundwater, an initiative set to be voted on in November.   

"This is a perfect example of a public-private partnership," Schwarzenegger said. “More than 600 wells are contaminated in California, much of that through leaking groundwater and decomposing plastic products. This is why it's very important to approve that initiative."

According to Bridgett Luther, the Institute’s head and director of conservation for California, the philosophy is to provide an unbiased third-party certification of chemicals according to the strict standards developed by the institute for consumer products nationwide.