"Green?"

I am a little confused about why it is all of the sudden considered hip and cool to be "green", to have a garden and to hang your clothes out on a line to dry. I thought that it was just "old fashioned". That is how I grew up. We didn't have food to eat unless we grew it or killed it. I remember helping my Grandma wash clothes on her old wringer washer and then hanging them out on the clothes line. I realize that this is better for the environment to use less electricity and all, but I just saw a show where the woman was talking about these things as if she had just invented them herself as a way to save the environment.