you know its amazing how people are obsessed with color words. green is the new black, pink is the new black, what is 'old' black anyways? (i guess the 'in' thing...?) anyways, its amazing what you come up with when you search for the 'GREENEST' cities in america. the picture above is from san francisco's ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, a new building in golden gate park. the view from the tower of the new DE YOUNG MUSEUM is breathtaking. you can see the entirety of the academy's rolling, sprawling, porthole-pocked hilltop of a green roof, and it is quite a sight.but the remarkable thing here is not san francisco, seattle, or portland oregon... its not even really NYC, because we expect them to be at the forefront of whatever the new generation is. its the OTHER cities that are vying for 'EMERALD CITY OF AMERICA' status that are worth remarking about. cities like CHICAGO, deep in the heart of middle-america, surrounded by corn and bible thumpers, or AUSTIN, TEXAS. we all had a feeling austin was cool, but WHO NEW? they have one of the largest SOLAR PANEL COLLECTIONS in the country. eat your heart out, BUSH. minneapolis ain't doin' so bad, neither. another amazing tidbit here is with a quick google search, i saw lists from mainstream, non sustainability-minded publications like COUNTRY HOME and POPULAR SCIENCE. it makes me proud to see this hustle, especially in places that aren't classically populated by beatniks. good show, AMERICA!
it all started at 8th and brannan in SAN FRANCISCO. i had accepted a job to hand flyers out at a conference held there. The conference was called "GreenFest" and the company i was flyering for was called "GreenHome" (http://www.greenhome.com). don't get me wrong, i was willing to swallow the initial irony of handing out disposable paper flyers advertising sustainability, but what i was not ready for, not in the slightest, was the approaching tidal wave of the word 'green.'
i mean, the term had become a bit hollow at that point anyway. it wasn't really that bad.... until Wal-Mart opened a 'green' superstore. so i entered the conference expecting to hear my fair share of 'green' rhetoric. it just turned out that GreenFest fed me more 'greens' than a cow could stomach.
never before have i heard any word so many times over and over. each side of the papers i grasped said the g word several times, and it was my ear-hook to passers-by as well: "tips on greening your home? green products for sale!"
after a few hours, I really began to feel like i was in the 'malkovich' hallucination scene in 'BEING JOHN MALKOVICH.' (If you haven't seen it, you should. Its the only accurate analogy for the situation.) it was a 'green' overload. i nearly fell over, and completely lost my ability to communicate with passers-by, just muttering the g word over and over again.
i had to leave the conference, and as i walked towards BART, i realized what the issue was: we've got to get over that 'g' word!
and it really is about the word. there is no place for superficial descriptors in the enumeration of important world issues. just like it's not gonna all be black and white, its not all 'green' either! if there is one thing we do not need to be right now, it's exclusive!
by commodifying green and economically and socially separating it from other systems of thinking, green becomes a 'niche' market - profitable, yes. but far reaching? NO WAY. sustainability, responsibility: these are lenses through which to view every aspect of our world and our society, not closed off 'profit sectors' with target markets who love olive-colored block prints!
Maybe its just me, but I'm tired of 'Green'.
