Green Goodness: a Grounded Look at Being Green

A new movement has begun to first go green and then to change it to blue so we’ve all gone (or are going) blue…

Huh?  Blue’s the new Green (which is the new Orange, which is the new Pink, which is the new Black ~ in case you hadn’t heard)?  Why on Earth are we changing our terminology of this revolution/ecolution/evolution now?  And what repercussions could follow changing the terminology?  The Green Life will give you a GREAT update on the upcoming (?) eco-lingo.

I can see why the push would be made ~ who isn’t sick of “green” “green” “green”, a word so abused and overused and has no concrete meaning anyhow?  Darn this catch-22!

From Durham to Raleigh to Pittsboro to Chapel Hill to Clayton to Wake Forest, the entire Triangle is getting down and getting dirty to celebrate Mother Earth this Saturday (April 19th).  Here are some of the Rockstar events going on THIS weekend, as well as which ones you are apt to see me! Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this picture at a business expo last week, insinuating the bank is about the green:

Further, they handed out a flier explaining they give you 5% yields for using your check card… and in smaller print explain that the bank plants a tree (via the Arbor Day Foundation) for every new “Go Green” account opened during the year (how about if you go in and ask for a plain ol’ checking account?  Does it qualify?).

That’s their green spiel.  In it’s entirety. 

Oh, except at the bottom of the flier where it says it’s printed on recycled paper (post-consumer fiber content percentage is noticably missing). 

Is this all we expect from the term “green”?  Do any of you feel the implications of such ads are acceptable?  If not, is their a way to stop it?  Should the responsibility to support “greener” initiatives ultimately fall on the consumer, or the businesses and their marketing departments?

After having quite a debate in a recent post (see comments) about the importance of third-party testing of products, we can all conclude that companies must be accountable for their products and actions. 

Green Daily (a while back) shared The Six Sins of Greenwashing… and in my opinion, it works two ways.  The comments section is pretty alive with one poster on a more than self-righteous ground, feeling that if you don’t move into use only a bus, stop buying anything at all and make your own food, cleaner and clothing, then you can’t make a difference.  She says some relevant stuff but then follows it by saying that only a select few actually care about the environment. 

That, to me, is greenwashing ~ the type that SCARES off people from making any difference in altering things along the way in their everyday lives; the type that teaches people that no matter what they do, they are irrelevant in the big picture ~ unless they foresake everything they know, as they have known it. 

I, inspired by those that lead in this movement of social and environmental responsibility, believe that positive encouragement leads to great change.  On the flip, gloom and doom motivates very few.

Mark Twain said (and I’m not the only one who LOVES this quote): 

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.

The sin she (the aforementioned commenter) commits is as bad as driving a 1985 Suburban and throwing your cigarette butts and Mickey D wrappers out of your window ~ she implies ‘You are not good enough and your difference Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been so in love with all my healthy products ~ my earthy shampoos, moisturizers, cleansers, lotions ~ and though they’ve got some good stuff, they also have some carcinogens.

An independent study just came out, and I’ve been reading the press releases on this all weekend.  Not fun, but a lot of supposedly credible products still aren’t perfect, containing 1,4 Dioxane, a proven carcinogen which is not purposely added to your favorite bath routine but instead is a byproduct of the petrochemical that causes it to get all lathery. 

By the way, this includes children’s bubble baths and products too, including from the leading names in baby care products.

This proves that I have yet to find the “perfect” and proven answers in ”green”.  Instead, it’s another shade of Read the rest of this entry »

In case you hadn’t heard the buzz about the Sustainability Conference coming up, held for two days at the McKimmon Center on NCSU campus:

Save the Date: 5th Annual North Carolina Sustainable Energy
Conference: Our Future Now!!!

April 8-9, 2008
McKimmon Conference and Training Center
NC State University, Raleigh, NC

Information and registration: http://www.energync.net/conference

I won’t be at this one, but if you go, let all of us know the deal.

~Sustainably Yours, Ashley Sue

So, I’m desperate to dye my hair, and I’d go purple if I worked a different industry right now, but as I’ve got to keep a “professional” look, I’m searching for something less… well, drastic.  But the dye I choose has to be natural.

What does “natural” hair dye mean, actually?  After a simple google search, I found out the FDA doesn’t have any regulations on hair dye at all.  All chemicals are fair game ~ and so is the terminology that the company chooses to market its dye.  (None of that was actual news, but OK)

So “natural” can actually mean Read the rest of this entry »

A smorgasbord of green rolled up into a messy little sushi just for you: 

A.  I know my title looks crazy right now ~ and yes, I changed the blog name… a whole post will soon follow, as well as some meat on it in the “who’s ashley sue” page, which will also be updated this weekend.  Hopefully by this time next week, my blog will look normal (whatever that is) and will be completely stable. 

B.  Check out this fantastic little ditty that Ginny from the Blog posted on recycling and new years resolutions and frustration, and see if you can help inspire Joey down in the comments section…

C.  Check out this great link sent to me via Lisa that shows the Raleigh Philosophical Society’s stance on the necessity of consumerism to the vitality of our downtown… sadly, I can’t disagree… perhaps we can have cool stores like Father & Sons instead of Targets though…

D.  Hands down the best 30 minutes you can spend watching the internet is this nifty whiteboard magic… seriously.  I was really skeptical of sitting through a 20 minute video, but it pulled me in and gave me food for thought for the last two days.  I’ll be posting more about it later. 

Thanks ~ had to get that off me ~ whew.

Do you ever simply want to GAG when you here that another corporate retailer, fuel supplier, grocer, etc. is “going green!”?

I feel increasingly fed-up with the economic adulteration of today’s hippest catch phrase, used to define the entire efforts of a company when the truth of it is they are doing only one or two things to be greener… and honestly, things they likely should have taken up before they saw how “cool” (aka profitable via press release) people think “green” is.  Yuck.

For instance, a certain commercial aired a number of months ago~ strong message, strong images, total farce.  At least, total farce is what those who actually think in an environmental sense saw in this mega-corporation’s commercial.  City Hippy gives a perfect rundown.  Marc’s dad and I broke it down the same way the first time we saw it.  Bah!

We have other problems with “green” too (me and my split personalities, you know).

“MisterMom” Randy further explains the problem with our term du jour:

I am afraid they will simply be the latest fad, only to be replaced next spring by the next thing. Furthermore, I’m not sure it really matters if we “go green” or not…

So much of the damage we cause in this world is secondary. We don’t see it, but it exists, because we demanded it, non-the-less. We want tomatoes in Chicago in January…

I try to recycle, conserve on gas, buy organic, etc. SO WHAT. Ultimately I use too much, buy too much, spend too much, throw away too much, etc…

Randy says it perfectly in that 

[we’re] not trying to exploit children in Pakistan or Malaysia. [We’re] just living [our] lives, enjoying the materials goods that are available to [us].

Randy’s right.  The majority of us either don’t know all the ways we’re messing things up, or we know and don’t exactly know how to do it differently (given our individual constraints). 

That’s why it’s so important, I think, to keep doing those “little” things and to stay aware of where we fall short: so we can make a change when that new idea comes to us (like the fact I just chucked two plastic shower curtain liners away that I had let get gross with mold~ oops).

The efforts and conciousness of people like Randy are why I am sick to my stomach that so darn many corporations now claim to have “gone green” due to the efforts they’ve begun but regardless of ALL the things they choose to overlook. 

I personally could respect a company a lot more for saying they are “working toward green”, “going greener”, “starting a green initiative”, or something else equally relevant without being all-encompassing.  Bah!

… and I step off my pedestal… Thank you for your time and attention.

Occasionally you’ll see me put “green” in quotation marks.  I’m not trying to mock anything, but the term “green” is actually one giant ameoba of meaning, miscontrued meaning, and abused connotation leading to economic adulteration. 

I use “green” as describing a collective effort, by an individual or a community, to introduce non-toxic and sustainable ways of living, eating, cleaning and travelling ~ as well as to reduce the amount of our own toxic consumerism (a later post) and trash we “throw away” (a later post).

Basically, what I want you to understand is that as my blog grows, the things I post are the things that I personally believe are steps toward living a life that is more sustainable, healthy and practical ~ for the life that you hold within your body and soul… for the life of an Earth that is older than we can really grasp that we damage by using “convenience” and “accepted” as an excuse to continue the habits we (individuals) currently foster.

There you go.  So if I sound preachy or rambly, or if you don’t understand how a certain post fits in, comment on it or drop me a line.  We’ll chat.

I’m just letting you know I feel like that post relates to living a better life.  The life I want to live in a world I can feel good living in.

BTW, Marc’s birthday (Marc is my Beau, in case you had not latched on yet) was a while back, but look at how I “greened” up the celebration with a from-scratch cake and icing (besides the unbleached and organic ingredients).