Too often in my own experience “environmentally conscious” has carried some sort of negative connotation. In high school, as president of the conservation club, I was often labeled as the “granola-eating,” “tree-hugging,” “crunchy,” “save the whales,” girl could be found stomping around in recycle bins to make room for the excessive amounts of paper that went to waste in classrooms. The way people looked at me when I spent my free periods sorting aluminum cans from non-recyclables made me feel as if I should be ashamed of what I was doing. Saving the planet just wasn’t cool.
Thankfully for my and the earth’s sake, being green has become increasingly “hip” lately, yet there are many that remain in denial about the impending environmental crisis that we are creating for ourselves. Some simply won’t acknowledge the scientific evidence that’s out there, others, in the face of economic turmoil, have swept the environment issue under the rug, and then there are those that admit that we do have a problem, but insist that sustainable alternatives to our current ways would be too late, too costly. And that’s where we’re going wrong.
Instead of asking, “What can Brown do for you?” I suggest we adopt the question, “What can green do for America?” In his most recent book, Our Choice, Al Gore describes the opportunities that alternative energy can provide as a chance to develop a profitable industry which will create millions of new US jobs that cannot be outsourced and which will reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Sounds pretty good for being green.
The poster hanging in my room reads: “When you think green, think money. Economic and environmental progress go hand in hand.” We can spend the next few years coming up with excuses, or we can take advantage of the short time we have left to redefine green as not only an environmental solution, but as a promising tool to ensure America’s future success.
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Going green is a recent trend that really began to develop shortly before this current economic recession. I agree that in the past it was not considered something "hip" or "stylish" but those notions have drastically changed in recent years. Through this recession I don't believe that people have lost their willingness to go green. What may have been lost is our inventiveness as a society to capitalize on this movement. We Americans are at our best when we begin to reinvent our products, our society, and ourselves. Going green will not die out as long as we continue to spur new economic opportunities for people and businesses within the green sector. Contraire to what some may think, people don't want to destroy the world and most want to leave it better for future generations. We as leaders in our society must continue to push society forward by continuing to excite people about going green. In short we must make it the cool and hip thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI totally know what you mean. When I first got involved in the "green" movement in middle school, and I was surprised at how many students thought the issue was somehow nerdy. Maybe it just isn't cool to show that you care about things; I don't really know. Either way, when being environmentally conscious suddenly became trendy, I was ecstatic. True, the present recession is somewhat dampening the effects of the environmental revolution (as many green products are more expensive than their less earth-friendly counterparts), but the fact that these issues are on people's minds and in popular media is a huge improvement. As ever, I think further education about the topic would likely heighten awareness and hopefully lead to beneficial changes. One can only hope.
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