The U.S. House and Senate may become a deeper shade of green, according to some environmentalists.

Some environmentalists are projecting that when Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in January, there will be a new focus on environmental issues.

On the state level, Gov. Ed Rendell is currently working with The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), as well as state-affiliated universities, to study and examine wildlife resources as part of his ongoing efforts to improve and enhance the environment, according to a press release. On Monday, Rendell announced his investment of $1.2 million to protect Pennsylvania's wild resources.

A trend toward environmental protection is one that environmentalists such as Jan Jarrett, vice president of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture), hope to see in the near future.

"We are making progress," Jarrett said. "We hope the new Pennsylvania House does not try to derail the recently enacted mercury regulation or the clean car regulation."

The two regulations Jarrett referred to were recently passed in Pennsylvania.

In November, the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted to approve new regulations that aim to protect the health of children by reducing toxic mercury pollution made by the state's coal-fired power plants.

The IRRC also recently approved new regulations requiring cars sold in Pennsylvania to meet more protective pollution standards beginning with the 2008 model year, Jarrett said.

Politicians and environmental organizations are not the only ones taking an interest in ecology, though. College students are also getting involved.

General Electric and mtvU are currently sponsoring a competition between universities to produce new and creative ways to make "green campuses."

According to a press release, teams from colleges must develop a plan to create a positive environmental change on their campus, then create a proposal, complete with a budget and a timeline for project completion. The top 10 finalists will be featured on mtvU and the winning team will receive a $25,000 grant to implement their plan.

Brad Fryer (junior-finance) said this is a good way for students who are serious about changing the environment to get involved.

"I'm very interested in coming up with a way to make Penn State more environmentally friendly," Fryer said. "I would be more than willing to implement my plan if it was going to be successful and I really believed in it."

As the New Year approaches, PennFuture, as well as other environmental activist groups, say they will be working hard to relay their plans and concerns to newly elected officials.

One such advocacy group is PennEnvironment.

Nathan Willcox, a PennEnvironment energy and clean air advocate, said there are two key points that should be considered when looking at the new political climate.

"First, there are people in leadership positions that are much more friendly to the environment and environmental issues, and second, on both sides of the aisle there are a lot of new Democrats and Republicans who are elected partially on stances of being pro-environment," Willcox said.

Willcox said once Democrats are in the majority, he thinks there would be fewer attempts to roll back existing environmental laws.

"Democratic leaders know that the environmental community is part of its base, so pushing for environmental rollbacks won't help them in the next election, " he said.