Green Man Thriving

Sustainability - a better concept than Green?

We here about Going Green everywhere. So much so that I believe that the concept is too vague and needs to be given context when we make a "Green" claim (some say it's never meant anything but we won't address the extreme ideologues who believe that.)  Is it reducing energy use? Is it removing toxins from the environment? Is it living with a lighter footprint, consuming fewer resources and spewing less waste, the three Rs of Reduce, Reuse, and Re-cycle?  Is it a "more just" distribution of the world's resources and goods? Localism? Veganism?

I think "Green" means all these things, which is both its power and its limitation. I prefer to focus on the notion of Sustainability in Green Man Thriving. Sustainability is, I believe, a more narrow notion of how we produce an optimal economy in relation to the enviroment for the foreseeable future. Sustainability is about the inadequacy of the price mechanism in markets to build an economy which brings the most happiness to the most people.  So, unlike Green, Sustainability has no pre-conceived commitment to any mechanism or any way of being or even who benefits or loses-- any "isms" -- that I think are part and parcel of "Being Green."   I think that makes Sustainability a more rigorous and less controversial notion which opens these concepts to more people. That is its power, and where I prefer to focus now.

Earth Day, just another day

It has always seemed to me that the Earth Day celebration of recent years has become trivial when compared to the global issues it tries to address and the necessary consciousness it tries to foster. Great that we celebrate by planting a few trees or educating people on the Three Rs of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Just seems pathetic compared to the earth's massive enironmental degradations and its sick and obese twin the world economy.

Ok rant over...  I along with many others in the Tampa area will do our tribute to the earth, pathetic as it might be, at Earth Day: A Call to Action, sponsored by the Pinellas County Interfaith Environmental Coalition, at the Unity Church of Clearwater 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (2465 Nursery Road, 727-531-0992.) You will be able to meet your fellow "greens," "treehuggers,"  and environmentally conscious neigbors. An Eco-Fair will feature eco-friendly organizations and vendors. Check out the "Veggie Car" that runs on vegetable oil, and the kids can build a "Tree of Life."

So please come and keep the flame lit...

We see the monster, and it is us

Americans use an average 500 plastic  grocery bags per year. That's how many bags make up the plumage of the Bag Monster that went on a rampage at the recent Seattle Green Festival. I managed to corner the monster and he seemed in good spirits.  He is confident that he, and his 299,999,999 buddies, will continue to be able to clog landfills, kill wildlife, and use up non-renewable oil.  He loves that one out 10 Americans think "plastic bags are awesome" and seven of out 10 "don't care."  His only fear is that "a bunch of hippies" at the Festival are pushing a fee on plastic bags or even a ban in several states.

The rumor at Festival is that if you flashed a cloth tote bag at the Monster, he will squeal and flee.  We hear that the Monster will melt into a puddle (of non-hazardous liquid) if the tote is made from hemp.

Remaking a Better Greener World With Creative Strokes of Many Colors

 The Green Festival in Seattle painted a wonderous, inspiring portrait of a better world.  It offered a remarkable variety of alternatives - in the way we eat, where we get our food from, how we dress, where we obtain our news, how we travel, what we do with our waste -- just about everything we do.  The "creative strokes" are wonderful, varied, and inspired, like the wall mural on the left made from waste materials produced by the Festival. (Indeed, over 95% of the trash generated there was recycled, some now art.)

While some creative strokes will not ultimately fit into the big picturein the future, I think this is the spirit that can regenerate the economy, the earth, and so many individual lives.