"Sustainability, "green", "energy efficiency", and "carbon footprint" are buzzwords and phrases that we toss around nonchalantly. But perhaps we should take a moment to think about what it really means for a company to say that it is energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

That's what Johnson Controls did with this Chicago-based man-on-the-street video called "What the heck is Sustainability???", a two-minute short that asks city-goers to define environmental terms. Aside from a few particularly knowledgeable interviewees, most people didn't have a clue. (Ed Note: Let's try this with "Ethonomics" next week, hilarious results I'm sure.) Johnson Controls, a company that created the first electric room thermostat and has since expanded to automotive, building and power solutions, has put up a website to help us explore the world of energy efficiency and carbon footprints, but this video is worth a look--if only to start your own dialogue about environmental buzzwords.

[Via GreenerBuildings]