Green At the Gills
This morning’s edition of The Vancouver Sun contains a full page of readers’ letters commenting on Saturday’s paper, the “green” issue, edited by David Suzuki. And now I am basking in a guilty pleasure: that of discovering that I was not the only person who felt so overwhelmed by all that green goodness that I couldn’t even read it.
Bleaghhh!
I don’t blame the Sun. The environment is the number-one issue around the globe, and it made sense socially, editorially and fiscally to place their bets on Suzuki for a day. He’s Canada’s Patron Saint of Green, and his messages are crucial. (Of course, they have been for the past 20 years.) And there were good writers featured, and likely some great pieces. But I was on overdose by page two. The great pieces languished while I ran outside to play.
I don’t blame Suzuki either. Given a chance like that–to be the city’s Thought Director for a day–well, I’d jump at it, too.
But everybody knows better. The media know better. We know better. We know about media saturation … and over-saturation. We know about brand overexposure. And by putting out an edition like Saturday’s, we’re ignoring what we know and shoving the brand down everybody’s throat, extra helpings, and green tea ice cream for dessert.
Because the environment HAS become a brand. And that’s good news! It’s on the radar, big time, and people who have been ignorant of it til now are actually taking action. Those of us who’ve been green for a while have felt inspired to do even more. It’s cool to be green.
But cool is ephemeral, and now that the environment is at the top of the charts, it has nowhere to go but down. The trouble is, we can’t afford to let it fall. It’s one chart-topper that has to stay there … for everybody’s sake.
Which means it has to stay cool. Which means we have to stay interested, curious, inspired.
Which means enough with the boiled broccoli. That’s not how we like our greens.
Give me stories any day: Barbara Kingsolver’s books (any of them but especially Prodigal Summer); Carl Hiaasen’s eco-adventures for both teens and adults; E.B. White’s classics, subtle and profound.
Those of us who care, and who’ve cared for a while, do so because of the stories we’ve internalized, stories about animals’ lives and animals who’ve become part of people’s lives. We do so because we’ve seen a bit of the world, a beautiful bit, and come to love it. What we cherish, we will protect.
Read books. Share the stories with a friend. Take a walk, plant a garden, cherish the little plot of land you call home. Learn what you can, and strive to make a difference based on what you’ve learned.
Tell your own story.