Going Green.

For starters, I was raised as a happy little hippie recycler. I once heard a reference to my siblings and I as “granola children” to which we laughed: “Granola? We never got granola…wheat germ and plain yogurt maybe.” My Mom was Green before the term was coined. We grew a lot of our own food, our dinners were made from scratch, and instead of microwave dinners we ended up with the ‘nothing-is-in-the-pantry-let’s-pull-out-the-frozen-pesto’ kind of fast food. Mom always stacked newspapers and made monthly trips to the recyclers (this was before curbside of course). She drinks out of mismatched mugs, uses sheets from the 80’s, and hates to shop. Therefore very little is ever thrown away in my parent’s household. Mom doesn’t use trash bags, has one of the first (and not very functional) water-saving shower heads, and cuts up t-shirts for rags. I grew up throwing banana peels and other food waste under the sink in a bucket for the compost pile.
I try…there is a lot my mother does that has influenced me as an adult, however there is a line. Yes, I reuse ziploc bags…but not the plastic bag the bread came in. Josh couldn’t stand our mismatched and slightly bent silverware so I caved and let him buy a new set. Both my parents use public transportation to get to work–which I did for year until we moved and I switched jobs. I just can’t bring myself to use cloth maxi-pads.

I remember in the early nineties the whole hippie, save the earth, ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ trend hit the airwaves, fashion, and the media. This was perhaps a response to the first Gulf Crisis, the desire to purify and contain our fragile world. Or maybe it was because the word “Ozone” was being thrown around. Images of landfills, clear cutting, and baby animals with their little heads stuck in six pack rings prompted me to take action: I hand painted a gigantic earth onto one of my tie dyed t-shirts. Teen magazine had a whole spread on hippie gear: from head scarves to flowey peasant blouses. Since I didn’t have any money I handmade peace necklaces using a homemade clay recipe from “Feed Me, I’m Yours.” I painted the necklaces with bright tempera paint, coated them with nail polish, and sold them.

Now we focus less on the iconic images of the three R’s and more on the actual product. My necklaces should be painted using lead free paint, using vegetables dyes, and purified water. Houses are being built green and sold for huge prices to wealthy ‘green bandwagon’ buyers (case in point). Milk should be organic, chicken without hormones, and red meat should come from the happiest grass-fed cow or, better yet, a buffalo.

The Green chatter started bubbling as soon as people realized that temps were heating up, hurricanes were shaking, and, for reals, global warming is a fact. And then Oprah had a big special on being Green. None of her news was earth shattering: If you’re not going to use your plastic bags as trash liners then for God’s sake keep a cloth bag in your car for shopping trips. Throw away the Comet and use vinegar and lemon juice. Unplug your toasters (which I’m really bad about actually). Replace your lightbulbs. (My Mom has this dim little fluorescent from eons ago still flickering in her laundry room).

All of this recent attention on going Green has prompted me to reflect on how we as a society have grown environmentally. Who doesn’t recycle? In Seattle it is illegal to throw away paper or cardboard boxes; you receive a fine if you try to sneak them into your garbage can versus your recycling can. Gone are the “Save the Whale” stickers, hello “Go Solar,” and “George W. Bush: No Tree Left Behind.” I have ebbed and flowed as a life long environmentalist. You can repackage the concept over and over again but the fundamentals are still there: reduce your ‘carbon footprint’ (god, that’s such an NPR term) and your children’s children will still be able to play under a tree. We won’t be burned to a crisp by rising temperatures. Ice caps won’t melt and turn the world into a big swimming pool. Sure, the hardcore religious folks believe that the world is going to hell anyway, that eventually the rapture we’ll happen and the good will be plucked off this good for nothing planet. Why bother taking steps to improve the earth we live on when the righteous will be transported to heaven leaving the smog behind? This opinion frustrates me. How wonderful it would be to just throw it all to chance, the hope that the earth is meant to combust, and any effort we may put into saving it is fruitless. I like to work more for the present: right now, the earth needs me.  You know what I mean?