Bein' Green
Written by Jen Tuesday, 17 March 2009 17:30
Blog
This morning my daughter donned a string of green Mardi gras beads, complete with a five-inch, flashing shamrock pendant. "Think I need a green hair bow?" she asked. "No, that's appropriately understated," I answered.
She bounced out the door, happy to flaunt her Irish roots. On other days, my daughter is still the greenest of the bunch. After all, she is the most likely of my children to patrol the trash for recyclables errantly tossed. (As a result, our recycling bin is always overflowing.) Yesterday she expressed her concerns over the global use of lawn fertilizer. In her presence, one dares not discard an unused ice cube; it is wisely used to water house plants. She is, quite frankly, a most sincere earth lover.
We respect and encourage her efforts to safeguard the planet, while engaging in spirited family conversation about using the trendy term "green" to reflect eco-friendly everything. Once described in terms of shades, hue, golf, or used to imply envy or nausea, "green" has become tired, overused and beyond irritating. Now we're building green buildings using green technology and filling them with green features and furnishings. Can I still have a green lawn and drive a green car? And what does that mean exactly?
We could say we're just living frugally, reducing chemicals, wasting less, using common sense, conserving our world's resources, etc. Even the cumbersome "environmentally-safe" or "eco-friendly" are more palatable terms than "green." Ugh! (Apparently, I'm not alone. "Green" tops the list of Lake Superior State University's list of banished words for 2009. The comments are hilarious.)
But we'll solve this crisis another time. Right now I've got an Irish meal to make and a wall paint color to choose. Perhaps green would be appropriate?
