Does anyone have an ETA on when Green’s 15 minutes of fame will be over recycled, because I am so damn over it already. 

Yeah, I said it.

I love the Earth as much as the next person. I taught the kids to recycle. We separate our plastics. I even hang laundry out to dry. My husband drives a car the size of a pudding cup on wheels (to the never ending detriment of his perceived masculinity). Trust me, we do our part.

Yet, the eco-friendly conservation movement of the moment feels less about saving Mother Earth and more about the next major public relations buzz word. Is Green the new black? Suddenly and seemingly overnight everything from McMansions to toilet bowl cleaning products have “gone green.”  From major Corporations jumping on the bandwagon (A hybrid SUV and Clorox has gone green now? Spare me). Or ways to drum up new business in a flagging housing and construction industry - “you should completely renovate your perfectly lovely home to the new eco-friendly way. Sure it will cost 4x what it should but you’ll save $17.50 per year on your electric bill. Maybe … “  

Cunning little electric cars (with a limited geographic range), mass-transit, and bicycling are all touted as the obvious solution to our transportation needs as we travel the Yellow Brick Road to our zero-carbon-footprint utopia.

Nevermind that only a small fraction of the U.S. population even has access to public transportation or roadways that would be safe and reasonable for people to actually use bicycling for anything more than recreation. Can you imagine putting your 2.3 kids on the back of your bike to run them to the pediatrician? Grocery store? Soccer practice? ( “okay lessee here we’ll balance your gym bag on the handlebars and …” In areas not served by even basic cable television because it isn’t cost effective to run wire on existing poles ”all the way out there,” it seems unlikely that any mass transit authority is going to start making tracks to, well, lay tracks.

Look, I recycle. I don’t litter. I try to be careful but no, I won’t be putting those butt-ugly energy efficient $9 a pop lightbulbs in my chandeliers any time soon. Not to mention (did someone say pop?) that they tend to overheat and melt the covers in some enclosed light fixtures. Are housefires eco-friendly now too?

“Green” as a trend (and annoyingly, a verb) feels no different than a marketing ploy from a host of industries suddenly “greening” conventional products to serve a public that still wants it all — but now wants to feel good about it, too. And that’s a Mother of a problem indeed.  

So how about it? Does a “green” label influence you in any meaningful way? Are you significantly changing your eco-ways for the better? The worse? Or do you plan to just keep on truckin’?

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