A couple hours ago, Apple put a banner with the words "A Greener Apple" on the front page of its website, linking to a personal letter from Steve Jobs. In it he says in effect that Apple's consumers, employees, shareholders and the industry "want us to be a leader in [becoming greener], just as we are in the other areas of our business. So today we're changing our policy."

That's right, people: you've done it -- you've moved Apple.

It's not everything we asked for. Apple has declared a phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures' pledge to phase them out by 2009. Way to go Steve!

Steve has promised greater transparency, and more changes - excellent outcomes.

But while customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling knowing that their gear won't end up in the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, Apple isn't making that promise to anyone else.  Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow's e-waste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling. Apple should too!

Apple hasn't gotten an actual green product to market, but no other electronics manufacture has either.  That's a race worthy of the wizards of Cupertino.

So there's still work to be done. But for the moment, we're smiling and saying THANK YOU Apple fans!

Reach over your shoulder and pat yourself on the back. Now put a happy tune on your iPod and do a happy dance. You've just convinced one of the world's most cutting-edge companies to cut the toxic ingredients out of the products they sell.

And let's thank Steve jobs for this: "Today is the first time we have openly discussed our plans to become a greener Apple. It will not be the last." Please blog your appreciation to Steve Jobs, and your hope that he'll go even further in Greening Apple to the core!

It's like too much ice cream, isn't it? The Green my Apple site has also been awarded best Activist site in the 11th annual Webby Awards.

The winners were chosen from nearly 8,000 entries from 60 different countries.

The judging panel consisted of: David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, and R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg.

It's a victory that has a bittersweet taste, in that the Webby Awards celebrate a world made possible by the very electronics industry which our e-waste campaign is challenging, and which our Green my Apple project is but a part.

So as we join the bragging parade of Webby Winners, we also take a moment to think about who bears the cost of our digital lifestyle, and how much we look forward to the day when we can buy our gadgets secure in the knowledge that they don't contain poisons, and that they'll be recycled responsibly. And we hope that the day comes soon when all of us who have advocated for that future can share in the button-popping pride that comes from winning not just an award, but an entire campaign.