It Ain't Easy Being Green
Back in the Eighth Grade, I had a kinda hippie-ish Earth Science teacher. I vividly remember her slogan: "Earth Day Every Day." She pounded that motto into our head to the point that my BFF and I still mock it to this day. But I would much rather sit in her class than see what's happening almost 15 years later.
I am so sick of "Green." Like almost everything that starts out with good intentions, "going green" is now more of a marketing ploy than a movement. An overwhelming number of magazines this month have some article on going green. "Go green with Fido", "How to have a green wedding", "Make your home green." I was surprised I didn't see the music mags with "See How Metallica Lives Green."
How about an article separating fact from fiction? One addressing that cloth diapers can often times be worse for the environment than disposable diapers. I was floored when I learned that in college as was the rest of my class. That organic farming requires far more land to produce the same amount of food as conventional farming. And, if the world switched to organic farming, 10 million square miles of forest would need to be cut down. Touting "carbon offsets" while you jet across the world in your private aircraft does not impress me. It's inane.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle. I occasionally take a bag to the grocery store to use instead of getting more plastic bags, though I reuse those for other purposes also. I'm not for world pollution. I'm just about balance. And truth. Or at least weighing both sides of an issue. The world population, especially the US, is incredibly wasteful, and if we don't curtail our actions, there will be consequences. But I don't want to be told that I now need to eat a "carbon-friendly" diet.
I'd rather go hang with Kermit.
I am so sick of "Green." Like almost everything that starts out with good intentions, "going green" is now more of a marketing ploy than a movement. An overwhelming number of magazines this month have some article on going green. "Go green with Fido", "How to have a green wedding", "Make your home green." I was surprised I didn't see the music mags with "See How Metallica Lives Green."
How about an article separating fact from fiction? One addressing that cloth diapers can often times be worse for the environment than disposable diapers. I was floored when I learned that in college as was the rest of my class. That organic farming requires far more land to produce the same amount of food as conventional farming. And, if the world switched to organic farming, 10 million square miles of forest would need to be cut down. Touting "carbon offsets" while you jet across the world in your private aircraft does not impress me. It's inane.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle. I occasionally take a bag to the grocery store to use instead of getting more plastic bags, though I reuse those for other purposes also. I'm not for world pollution. I'm just about balance. And truth. Or at least weighing both sides of an issue. The world population, especially the US, is incredibly wasteful, and if we don't curtail our actions, there will be consequences. But I don't want to be told that I now need to eat a "carbon-friendly" diet.
I'd rather go hang with Kermit.