Earth Day has certainly come a long way from its grass roots inception, particularly in New York City.

On Friday I stopped by the iconic Grand Central Terminal, where Earth Day NY was presenting a massive Earth Fair and CitE of the Future Exhibit (to coincide with Thursday's Times Square celebration, where Mayor Bloomberg announced the cities intentions to reduce environmental impact). To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the holiday, Earth Day NY partnered with EarthEra to carbon balance the massive transportation hub with 100% wind power. Perhaps more intriguing though was the massive corporate presence at the event, where many companies and individuals had booths set up to show and discuss what they are doing to help the environment.

Some of the more fascinating displays from smaller companies included Anvil Recycled clothing, Bike New York (teaching urban cyclists to be better riders) and arena show “Walking with Dinosaurs,” which actually had a lifelike dinosaur roaming the streets of Manhattan and drawing major crowds (yeah, just your normal Friday in New York). There were also free massages, giveaways of chap stick (oddly from the theater production of Wicked) and street musicians.

With regard to larger companies, there were the Toshiba, Toyota and various other displays. Tucked away in a corner was a very interesting look at Siemens and their efforts to bring wind power and high-speed, environmentally friendly train lines to the U.S. Siemens is an Earth Day sponsor and campaigning to mark this week with "one billion acts of green."

The whole event made me think even more about the fascinating New York Times story that ran earlier this week, titled "On 40th Anniversary, Earth Day is Big Business," essentially delving into how much the yearly holiday has shifted from shunning a corporate presence to becoming a staple for many companies' marketing plans. This event only drove that point home. The story adds the following:

"The eagerness of corporations to sign up for Earth Day also reflects the environmental movement’s increased tolerance toward corporate America: Many “big greens,” as leading environmental advocacy organizations are known, now accept that they must take money from corporations or at the least become partners with them if they are to make real inroads in changing social behavior."

What is your company doing to change social behavior? How can you increase your visibility and presence to show you are being responsible? What did you do to celebrate Earth Day? To find out more about Earth Day NY, visit www.earthdayny.org.

(Disclosure: Siemens Corp. is a sponsor of The Energy Collective)