Happiness and sustainability go hand in hand, right? Proof that sustainable societies are happier societies (and unsustainable ones, like the U.S., are unhappier) was evident in the announcement that Vanuatu, an island nation in the middle of the South Pacific, was rated the Happiest Country in the world. (The U.S. ranked 150—all 178 ratings are here.)

If you've been buying organic in the belief that it's better for you, you're right. But if you're buying organic because you think it's better for the environment, the picture's a bit murkier. I've been harping on the importance of buying organic for years, but lately I'm starting to wonder whether where our food comes from is just as important as how it's grown, if not more so.

Amateur architect Brad Pitt is getting keen on green design. Edward Norton is greening urbs and scoring solar power for low-income Los Angelenos. Leonardo DiCaprio's global-warming documentary is due any day now; until then, Al Gore's doc, An Inconvenient Truth, is sure to scare the bejeezus out of climate-change naysayers. And believers and heathen are coming together like the proverbial lions and lambs over environmental concerns. Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the act by buying some green power - well, for its Canadian branches, anyway.

You know organic has truly gone mainstream when a conventional supermarket chain launches its own store brand. I’m talking about Stop & Shop’s “Nature’s Promise a line of “natural and organic foods” which the multibillion-dollar corporation, with more than 360 stores in New England, New York, and New Jersey, launched last October. Stop & Shop is promoting its Nature’s Promise brand with the slogan “Wallet-Friendly Organics.”

You wouldn’t know it from watching Queen Latifah’s cheery new ads, but “Wal-Mart is awash in bitter controversy”: these days—even more than usual. A new documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, bashing the giganto discount chain is barnstorming the nation and getting people all riled up about the corporation’s alleged sins against people and the planet.