killer green

Happy new year- is everyone sufficiently greened out? I know, we all still care about the environment; in fact, aren't we on a roll, carrying our groceries in sacks, buying the eco-friendly MacBook Air, eying the newest hybrid cars? So if we're so busy trying to take care of the environment, why am I starting to feel nauseated about every company and product still pushing their green-ness? What does it mean to be green, anyway? This year might mark the over-saturation of the green brand. Ecology and recycling are in, but is "green" becoming too ubiquitous?

Today's case study: a new non-profit social organization called Green For All. Green For All's message is simple: "Green pathways out of poverty." Supported by the House and Senate, and endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, this initiative will establish training and jobs for a new "green" workforce, a radical enterprise considering our current administration's dismissal of all things environmentally forward. In this case, Green for All's "greening" does cover a great deal of distance, from healthier living conditions to energy innovations, giving itself room to evolve in years to come. Green For All's proposed plans resonate strongly with long-term social and environmental change, but will the brand survive it's surface read? Are we more likely to ignore this initiative as another extension of some "green" Al Gore campaign, since we already gave to Live Earth last year? Can we stand to have another green-branded campaign, no matter how civic-minded?

"I'm so sick of green," my classmate answers when i ask about the word. "It doesn't mean anything, like organic." Here lies the rub: how do we know what green is? Is it a suggestion, a nod towards the verdant vegetation in parks and backyards, or an intense mantra for sourcing everything we consume to its root, as to not endanger our retreating natural world? Is there a better way to say "green", a term that won't tire us out, like the way presidential candidates flog the word "change"?