The Meaning of Green
By Terry Winkelmann
When my partner and I opened Home Eco three years ago, the word “green” wasn’t at all established yet, at least around these parts. I reread my business plan recently, and in describing our idea for this strange new business, I used the word “green” only twice—and once was to describe the color of paint planned for the walls!
Trying to enunciate our vision for the store, we used terms like “low-impact living,” “sustainable lifestyle” and “planet-preferred products.” In one sense, it’s taken four decades for the environmental movement to catch on in the mass marketplace. In 1962, Rachel Carson wrote “Silent Spring” and drew our first attention to the growing use of chemicals in pesticides and their unintended effects on life.
From our perspective, the last three years have been the tipping point, a snowball of widespread greening. It’s to the point now that green doesn’t need to be explained so much as questioned. What is greenwashing, and what is real?
In looking up the term “green” on Wikipedia, to see where they think it got started, I was surprised to learn that the lexicon now includes degrees of greenness: Light Green, Dark Green and Bright Green! Humph. News to me. Light Greens, Wikipedia says, see protecting the environment as a personal responsibility and lifestyle choice. Dark Greens seek radical change in how people live and regard the world to cure the effects of industrialized capitalism. Bright Greens believe the key to a more sustainable future lies in creating new technologies, better design and social innovations. Think hybrids, renewable energy and closed-loop or zero-waste production cycles.
Being green to me is not just a matter of protecting the innocent leaves and grasses but a convenient, marketable shorthand for sustainability.
The term “sustainability,” as first codified in a 1987 UN report, describes a means of configuring human activity in a way that meets the needs of society while preserving the ability of future generations to do the same.
In my view, that describes nothing less than the next evolution of man. Hence, green is a process, one that involves many steps—some of them deceptively simple—along the way to building a better world through a more conscious and conscientious way of living. I don’t think it need involve a huge effort, like working out or dieting. Rather, like the aphorism that claims frowning takes more muscles than smiling, it’s just a matter of letting your eyes naturally open, instead of squeezing them shut, desperately reaching for ways to legitimize and deny the destructive path our culture has been on.
Can you save the planet by shopping? No. But you can make a real difference by shopping wisely, consciously choosing renewable, sustainable and recycled products and rejecting toxic, damaging, unethical, unsustainable ones.
And while it’s true that planned obsolescence is the enemy of sustainability when it comes to manufacturing, some things are better off being replaced before they give out altogether. Take light bulbs, for example. Wendy Reed, communications manager for the Energy Star program, says why wait for bulbs to burn out before replacing them?
“You can start saving energy now, or six months from now, and either way the incandescent bulb is going to end up in the trash,” she said.
Speaking of Energy Star, this government program didn’t even exist 20 years ago. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced the rating system in 1992 as a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Today all new appliances are required to carry an Energy Star label informing the buyer of their estimated annual energy cost. To determine how much energy your existing refrigerator or dryer consumes, try a Kilowatt meter. These are energy meters that will tell you how much electricity your current appliances are using so you can decide if it is worth replacing them before they wear out.
Thinking about tuning up your gas mower? Think again. One of the most manicured lawns in my neighborhood is mowed about every 10 days to only the sound of squirrels and birds, generating zero pollution, by a quite-fit gentleman with his push mower. Most weed trimmers and leaf blowers are two-stroke engines, which means that they burn oil by design. Most gas-powered lawn tools will make more pollution in an hour than an automobile will in an entire day.
Being green definitely involves making choices and asking questions about where things come from, how they’re made, and involving what materials.
But bottom line, being green is really simple. It’s about the long term over the short term. Reduce your consumption. Reuse and repair things. Recycle, buy recycled, and upcycle. Compost. Carry your own bags. Leave the car at the curb whenever you can walk or bike instead. Shop locally. Don’t commute. Minimize your footprint. It’s only natural.
You can e-mail Terry at terry@home-eco.com,www.home-eco.com 314-351-2000
