Remember when we eagerly anticipated Y2K, adorned with ridiculously bedazzled year 2000 glasses?

That exciting new year was more than a decade past. And now as I sit down to reflect on environmentally-forward progress throughout the past year, I surprise myself with the swift nature of days, weeks, months. Has it really been an entire year since I sat down to resolve the destiny of what the upcoming 2010 would look like? Sure enough, here I sit one year older, one more year of business under the belt (phew), and dreams of perhaps the best year yet to come.

Lego container as a bike basket (Pic | find eric)

My life on the front line of eco retail–combined with the most-viewed, most talked about, most purchased enviro-finds–leads to this handful of green trends for 2010.

Reusable Bottles Stay Strong

They’ve infiltrated progressive coastal terrain through mid-America countryside and have picked up fashionable new designs and styles. A departure from plastic reusable jugs has yielded stainless steel all the way. Big business started swapping out single-use for reusable with a special employee treat – a logo-branded stainless steel reusable bottle.

Reusable Everything

And its reusable too has been the leading track on my record this year. Bags have been around for decades. Now we have insulated cups for cold drinks; special ceramic mugs for hot, steamy brews; reusable straws; snack wraps; lunch bags; and on and on and on – all so conveniently cleaned in the dishwasher or washing machine for infinite reuse.

Backyard Chickens (and other agrestic insects or animals)

If you’re not into chickens, maybe it’s goats or ducks or bees. Whatever the desire, a surge of urbanites are finding themselves curiously desiring a flock of cluckers to lay a daily egg or fertilize the back yard, or a hive of honeybees to pollinate and provide rich, delicious honey. A collection of municipalities changed their archaic city codes in 2010 to welcome fowl into backyards everywhere and surely more will follow suit in 2011.

Backyard Chickens (Pic | Will Merydith)

Square Foot Gardening

Mel Bartholomew‘s tried and true technique for growing fruits, veggies, and flowers with less space, less water, and no pesticides while bringing in more yield, less weed pulling, and overall an easier garden experience proved to be quite popular among greenies and aspiring gardeners this year. Mel’s Square Foot Gardening book has sold more than 2 million copies, and vermiculite became a household name.

“No bag, thanks.”

Last year this one wouldn’t have made my list because last year I had more than one customer not only take a bag, but ask me for another just to have because they’re cool and made of corn, not plastic. This year, it didn’t happen. Not once. Many retailers now encourage less single-use bagging by offering perks or charging for bags.

Food Rules

Did you see the new Haagen-Dazs ice cream touting only 5 ingredients? Education regarding the unpronounceable ingredient list on most products is on the rise, yielding a trend to get back to basics and make food the way it should be made – with ingredients you know and can pronounce. And, with Michael Pollen’s presenting an eater’s manual (Food Rules, released in 2009), and currently ranking among the most popular books in Amazon, I’d say it’s a popular trend.

(Homemade) Dandelion Jelly by vigilant 20

Urban Homesteading

A divine eco-trend of 2010 has been the rise of urban homesteading. Urbanites living in metropolises across the nation have picked up the lost art of canning, preserving, sewing, knitting, and then some.

Other notable green trends and events of 2010:

- The decline of Monsanto when Wall Street abandoned the AG giant, calling its stock the “worst stock of 2010.”

- The largest oil spill in history.

- We saw a big-ass wind project take shape in our mid-Atlantic region with action anticipated off the coast in 2016.

- We might remember 2010 as the year our local weather got really wacky.

Amelia is the owner of Green Alternatives in 5 Points Farm Market.