A lot
has been written lately about "green
fatigue." We've heard reader comments along the
lines of: "If I see one more green article, I'm
going to scream."
We
understand. We have our own lament about the glut of
green PR pitches jamming our e-mail and letter boxes
every day. Some of the products touted are sensible
(low-VOC paints), others farcical (a popcorn fork that
saves "thousands of trees" by eliminating
the need for paper napkins to wipe greasy fingers).
Doom-and-gloom
types worry about a growing apathy or backlash against
eco-conscious behaviors. I don't see it. How many
people are going to stop recycling, switch back to
toxic paints and cleaning products and buy a
gas-guzzling SUV because they are tired of bogus green
claims?
In my
view, the problem and its solution lie in language. A
little restraint on the part of activists, producers,
consumers and the media in deploying terms such as
"organic," "sustainable,"
"natural," "eco-" and of course
"green" would go a long way. Ditto for
"carbon footprint," "embedded
energy" and "life-cycle analysis." All
those things are important, of course. But can we all
stop talking about them so much and make good choices
quietly?
With
any luck, in the near future, stories about
formaldehyde-free cabinets and biodegradable
detergents will be presented simply as stories about
cabinets and detergent, because safer, healthier
products will become the norm.
To that
end, well-meaning Earth lovers should resist the urge
to hurl eco-insults such as "green washing,"
"green bling" or even "green porn"
at manufacturers they view as insufficiently pure.
Surely it's a welcome development when SUV makers and
chemical companies make baby steps toward cleaner,
safer products.
In many
ways, things are looking up for Mother Nature. Food in
supermarkets is fresher and healthier than it was a
decade ago. Cars are cleaner and homes are more
energy-efficient. We can do even better, to be sure.
But the best way to get the widest number of people on
board is to dump highfalutin talk about
"mitigating climate change," for example, in
favor of plainspoken ideas about living reasonably.
Let
green go back to being a color, already.
