If we were really green, we would:
- carry around our own hand towels.
- stop using toilet paper.
- stop buying pre-packaged single-serving items.
- stop making new cars, but figure out how to make old ones work better.
- reuse containers.
- use less electricity.
- turn back time and keep our old big monitors and t.v.'s out of the trash before the flat-screen invasion.
The point is, we're not green in America. We're not going to be green. We might be able to reach yellow in a few homes, but never green. I find it severely ironic that green has become such a marketable catch phrase. So now, in additional irony, more products are being produced to help make us "go green."
If we went green, our market would crash. Toilet paper makers would have to wrap up their businesses. Ziplock would be zipped. We've got to stay un-green to keep our market thriving. Unless we alter the good producers to manufacture other items. Boy, it's complicated!
I do have a friend, Ms. Green, that I believe is the most green person I know, and also practices what she preaches politically as well. She's a rebel of sorts. A Ghandi of green, if you will. Although, she has a tendency to be a bit more vocal than Ghandi.
Ms. Green has taught me so much about living green, when it used to be called "saving the environment." I switched many products because of her (which shall remain nameless for privacy's sake). And I developed environmental guilt when I don't recycle (especially plastic 1s and 2s ). It was frustrating for awhile, but now I appreciate the guilt, and do my best to always recycle.
I've noticed that the amount of recycleable materials that I have as trash, is quite a large amount. And I'm just a family of one. Maybe my difference doesn't count a lot, but I do believe that as lovers of God we need to be responsible with what God has given us. We don't need to worship the Earth, but we do need to be honorable with gifts from God. Maybe the more we try to erase the fingerprint of God with man-made beauty, the more God will make his majestic print visible (perhaps that's what Al Gore was really trying to get across). [That's just a random statement, so don't take it to heart too much. I was just thinking.]
So, maybe instead of using that plastic water bottle, just get a glass of water, or fill up a container from home. And use a square or two less of Mr. Whipple's stash.
