With cool stuff like this, it's easy being green

When you look out your kitchen window you notice the lawn morphing from dirty straw to verdant blades, jade spikes of crocus leaves emerging from the damp mulch, emerald buds clinging to the bushes along the back fence.

When you look inside your kitchen you see green, too. And not only the lime tint of your new 100 percent bamboo dish towel, but the "green" in your cutting board made with renewable cork, the lunch kit for your kids that's totally recyclable, the pot scrubber comprised of ground up corn cobs.

Maybe you don't see those things now, but that is the kitchen of the future - and I'm not talking about 2020 here. Those were just some of the eco-friendly products unveiled at the International Home and Housewares Show earlier this month at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Industry watchers had predicted a slow down in "green" products, and while it's true the economy has consumers choosing budget-friendly over environmentally friendly, that didn't stop dozens of companies from touting their ecowares.

Going green in the kitchen means more today than just using drinking water from BPA-free plastic bottles. Manufacturers creating dinnerware out of recyclable materials, re-purposing coconut shells and rice hulls for serving bowls and re-imagining nonstick cookware. Here are a few of them.