What is Green?

Lets face it. These days, everyone seems to be trying to go green. From Mega Big Corporate boardrooms to Planet Green Network bedrooms everyone seems to be talking about “going green”. Green choices are everywhere. We’ve got green this, green that… green green green green green.

But what does all this “green stuff” actually mean? Glad you asked!

Here’s a basic law of nature. Everything in nature is connected. Consequently economics (what people choose to drive, wear, eat, work at, play at, or entertain themselves at) has an effect on the environment. Economics and ecology can’t be separated.

But, the people of our dear planet only recently got the memo about this whole “economics/ecology thing”, so lately we’ve been trying to whip ourselves back into shape. The idea of trying to re-align the economic things we do with the ecological world, is what we call “being green”.

So what exactly does “being green” mean for us exactly?

At first glance, being green seems very complicated, confusing and frustrating. The questions become endless. Must I drive a wimpy little electric car instead of my sexy SUV? Should I feel guilty if my printer paper isn’t bleach free, or should I go completely paper free? And if it’s so free why is it so darned expensive?

At its core, being green is simple. It boils down to this question. Are we working WITH or AGAINST Mother Nature? Of course, Mother Nature is simply an anthropomorphication (and I’m not sure that’s even a real word) of all the principles of nature that govern the biological world. Here are two ways Mother Nature works.

1. Everything in nature is BALANCED. Oxygen that allows animals (including us people types) to breath is generated by plants. They, in turn, absorb the Carbon Dioxide we exhale… so nothing gets out of balance.

2. There is NO WASTE in nature. Zip. Zero. Nada. All water on the planet is reused in a very sexy, elegant and closed system. The same water that was used in Julius Caesars day… is the same water that’s being used today. It’s constantly being recycled by Mother Nature.

So you may be saying… hey Steve thanks for the fifth grade science lesson, but how does this help me get green?

Because Mother Nature creates no waste and everything remains in balance… it’s the perfect template for us to design our economies and our personal actions around.

So our best test for “is it green” is to ask ourselves are we WITH or AGAINST Mother Nature.

Simple huh?