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I hope everyone had fun breaking out the organic snacks and the biodegradable party hats for Earth Day yesterday. I noticed that the public sphere was plastered with green-tinted news, content and advertisements. For one day, at least, everything was green, grün, verde, vert, or even lu se.
But in the green hangover following the ephemeral appreciation of that infinitely complex and awe-inspiring system that is our planet, I am reminded of something I read in the Economist back in December of 2007.
"Whilst chlorophyll is, without doubt, hugely significant to life on this planet, the anthropocentric, terrestrialist view of the world that dubs those that care as "green" needs to be challenged."
Indeed, this is referred to as "The Blue Planet" and not the green one. The Economist goes on to explain that we have consumed 90% of the world's large fish, destroyed much of the coral and created state-sized blooms of algae. There is also an ocean warming problem that will have numerous effects that we have not even begun to think about yet. Even beyond the obvious scale of any ocean-related disasters that are brewing are the disturbing implications of problems associated with fresh water. Fresh water disasters will lead to even further complications with our beloved green-scape.
So, this year, as you put away your bright green organic hair dye and face paint, remember that being "green" is really less than 30% of a commitment to the planet. Because yesterday was "Earth Day" and not "Land Day", I want to remind everyone that going green is great, but without adding a lot of blue, blau, azul, bleu or lan se to our palette of awareness and activity, we could be destined to serve the agenda of less favorable colors.
