WASHINGTON -- You couldn't help but notice them at the recent Green Festival in D.C. By offering green degrees, colleges and universities are now trying to appeal to the increasing number of students looking to get into green business.

"I definitely want to do something that relates to sustainability for my masters or my doctorate," said Amanda Fomica, a student at George Washington University.

The environment is expected to become a moneymaker. The research firm Clean Edge predicts that wind and solar energy alone will become a $100 billion business in eight years.

"I think the main thing for me as a businessperson was that it was a real movement, that it was really happening, that it was not just a fringe thing going on. So that's what convinced me," said Haru Komuro of Sustainlane.com.

The itch to go green even has some people changing careers. Komuro had a career working for a car company Web site, but then she went to the Green Festival in San Francisco last year and she said she had an epiphany.

"I've always just felt a need to be more responsible, and so seeing these businesses actually being successful and operating responsibly was really inspiring and encouraging to me," said Komuro.

She quit her job and got hired by Sustainlane.com, which wants to make a healthy ecological lifestyle more attainable for people.

The real concern for the environment is starting to take root in this younger generation who now realize the damage must be undone on their watch.