Better Than Bumper Stickers: 9 Green Vanity Plates Spreading the Environmental Message

Buying green says something about us, and that's why the Toyota Prius has sold so much better than other hybrids. Unlike, say, the Honda Civic or Ford Escape hybrids, it has unique styling and shouts, "I recycle, I save energy, I care about global warming."

But sometimes even driving a Prius isn't enough. Personalizing license plates is another way to get the word out, and the car owners on the following pages are saying it loud and clear with eco-messages. It takes no great stretch of the imagination to visualize the cars these plates are attached to: mostly plug-in electrics, but also biodiesels and maybe natural gas vehicles (like the Honda Civic GX), too.

These photos were taken in our greenest state, California, by Mike Kahn, who recently launched the Green Stock Media agency "to visually promote the broad spectrum of environmental and sustainability issues, one image at a time."

Kahn shot this plug-in hybrid beauty in Palo Alto, California.