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A couple months ago I went to the Chicago Green Festival downtown, a huge trade show of environmentally responsible companies and products, and I've got to tell you, it's a surprisingly diverse crew. I met with a hip, trendy designer with a Blackberry and a messenger bag who would rather die than give up his flatscreen TV. I saw an elderly couple who grow organic vegetables for their community, and an attractive blonde wearing a T-shirt that said "100% organically grown" right across her impressive homegrown… melons. There were corporate stiffs selling the latest technology - and 100% pure stereotypical tree-huggers handing out samples of chocolate hemp milk. You heard me. Hemp milk. (Yes, I had some. It tasted like sucking on rope. Organic, hand-made rope.)
What the hell happened? Don't corporations hate hippies? Since when do the elderly and designers hang out together? And what was that hot chick doing anywhere near the hygienically challenged hemp dude? The key to understanding these strange bedfellows is to understand one simple fact: the green movement, as it turns out, is not the effect of one cause, but an amalgamation of many causes that all happen to have a similar goal.
The easiest way to think about it, not to throw this in here lightly, is that it's kind of like religion. You have a bunch of different groups that all fit under one category because they all have a common ground - i.e., 72 virgins in heaven; or in this case, a cleaner, healthier planet - but between the groups there's a fair amount of disagreement as to the best way to go about achieving that goal. So join me as I take an adventure through the denominations of the Church of Green.
Tree Huggers
Tree Huggers are easy to start with, because many people have the misconception that this is the only green group around. Tree Huggers believe we need to save the planet for the sake of the plants and animals, and thus hate deforestation, pollution, and generating waste that piles up in an ever increasing number of landfills. This is different from most green people, who are saving the planet for some gawky naked monkey that makes sandwiches every once in a while. Believe it or not, Tree Huggers are the ascetic monks of green. If done right, they lead very strict lives; organic food, natural building and product materials, low-to-no-electricity living, and hemp - although I never really understood that last one. Lots of vegetarians, vegans, and fruitarians. Oh, and switch deep meditation with hallucinogenic trance. Hardcore tree-huggers live their version of the pure life outside the rigors of society, similar to monks, but are also known to be outspoken and even militant about their beliefs.
Gore Disciples
This next one is easy to explain, because prophets are a major part of many religions. Enter Al Gore. Really. Gore Disciples, as I like to call them, are people, often the elderly but really from every walk of life, who saw An Inconvenient Truth (or some similar catalyst) and were converted to the green cause. They now follow Al Gore and his dream like he was Moses himself. Their focus is global warming and spreading the word, because they just now found out what's wrong with the world they're leaving their grandchildren. This involves a wide array of topics, so Gore Disciples are one of the most broad-based of groups - calling for conservation, renewable materials, wind and solar energy, bio-fuels, organics, the works. Usually well-meaning, they occasionally lack an understanding of the bigger picture. One thing you will quickly find is that green living is full of unintended consequences, and having such a broad base means that two unrelated principles may contradict each other. For example, corn-based ethanol is a more environmentally conscious fuel than gasoline, but making it devours huge amounts of arable land and water, damaging agriculture and river ecosystems. Still, this group has done more to raise positive awareness than any other over the past few years.
Green Designers
Green materials are in, and everyone's trying to make products and buildings that are reusable, recyclable, and biodegradable. Designers are pioneering this new field, where they can use these parameters to create new innovations. This cycle has gone on for years: from plastics to ergonomics to wireless - and now green. Compared to religion, it's like Renaissance-age Christianity; in an age of new discoveries and enlightenment, artisans would make beautiful religious pottery, paintings, and cathedrals. On the small scale, everything from potholders to cell phones are becoming more environmentally friendly. There's a great magazine called ReadyMade on buying recycled/able products that look trendy - or making them yourself. I have a few awesome friends (Yay Sharlyn and Nern!) who are making a ReadyMade-designed rotating pot rack out of an old bicycle wheel.
On the larger scale is green city planning. Architects are designing green skyscrapers and apartment buildings that minimize water and electricity use while using recyclable materials to do it. (Some even use solar or wind power to generate part - or all - of their power.) LEED certification is a test that you can have done on a building to see how sustainable and environmentally friendly it is. (For example, the Ford Design Center on NU campus is LEED certified.) The idea is that just because you're into conservation doesn't mean you can't have a luxurious penthouse apartment. Cork flooring, recycled glass, recyclable plastics, and lots of bamboo. (Bamboo grows ridiculously fast - up to 1 meter a day! - so it replenishes faster than trees.) The aforementioned materials are really expensive, but for green living, it's worth it. Note that unlike tree-huggers, green designers like plastics and skyscrapers, but not wood. Also, designers care mainly about people, not animals, so are more concerned with appearance (and hygiene) than your average reefer.
The Green Energy Powerhouse
Everyone everywhere is talking about the price of gas, so it should come as no surprise that a big group of greenies are all over the impending energy crisis. There are a few reasons behind this one, most of them political or heavily influenced by politics. OPEC, of course, is a sore spot on America's record, and it sure would be nice to power cars on something else. China is becoming really big really fast, and they're breaking ground on a new coal power plant every seven days - but imagine Bush going up to China and saying, "Hey! I know we've been glutting every last ounce of coal and oil to become the most powerful country in the world, but we're going to stop now, so you can't do the same thing." On the smaller scale, some individuals have tried their own oil embargos and rebellions by generating their own power with solar panels or a wind turbine. Thus they can condemn the government, big companies, and OPEC in one fell swoop. Now, this may be cheating, but Green Energy is filled with agnostics. It's largely populated by scientists and businessmen, so they take a very pragmatic approach to being green. Even the people with their own wind turbines often do it to save money. If you asked them, many Green Power people would be unsure as to whether they're in it to be green - or for the green. They also tend to care very strictly about their specific
No one has a great solution to the energy problem (Personally, I'm waiting for my own Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future), but Green Power people usually like wind turbines and energy conservation, and there's a mixed bag on solar power, ethanol, and even nuclear energy. Lots of publicity stunts and campaigning (remember President Bush filling up a hydrogen car on national television?), so watch out for your average Youtube video on water-powered cars.
Cradle to Cradle
There's a really amazing video by the author of the book "Cradle to Cradle" that I encourage everyone to see. C2C is based on the idea that throwing something "away" is a deranged and incorrect concept. There is no "away"; every piece of garbage we throw out goes somewhere, and it's really messing stuff up. The solution is to make everything - and I mean everything - recyclable into either the same thing it was before or something else that is also recyclable. This includes plastics, cloths, and rapidly growing plant life. Stresses cyclical thinking - very Zen, very Karma. Buddhism works well here. C2C is much more strict about materials than either the designers or tree-huggers; the book "Cradle to Cradle," for example, is made out of a fully recyclable polymer and printed using ink that can be washed off the pages and reused. Thus you can recycle the book to make another book with absolutely no waste. I've yet to see someone really reach that ideal in his or her life - but then, I've never seen someone achieve Nirvana either.
Now, having said all this, I'm pretty sure I've offended everyone who fits even remotely into one of these categories by making horrific stereotypes and overgeneralizations. To those that feel this way, you're missing the point. All of these stereotypes, as different as they are, fit in the broad category of "green." These are also the extremes, and there are millions of people in between who also care about all of these topics. So if you don't think you want to be green, make sure you're not dismissing an entire way of life because the crazy guy called Bishop Steve on the corner creeps you out. Caring about sustainability and the environment is a big deal, and I think everyone cares about these issues to some degree. Going green doesn't mean you have to sell your belongings and live in the jungle; there are hundreds of ways to be more sustainable without changing your lifestyle. I mean heck, if Wal-Mart, GreenPeace, and GE can all get behind the green cause, then why can't you? Every little bit helps. Recycle all those bottles, save the gas once in a while and ride a bike or walk, shut off the lights in your apartment when you leave and turn off the AC's. Bring out your inner greenie and help change the world.
Tom Cohlmia is the co-President of Engineers for a Sustainable World. E-mail him if you want to know what the heck that is. tom.cohlmia@gmail.com .
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