There I stood, eye to button-eye with an American treasure, his spindly limbs dangling as he rested behind his museum glass display. At one time, he was above his peers in mind and conscious. He was a rebel, an outsider who knew he was different but validated his self-assurance and coolness with his words, “it’s not easy being green.”
“Alas Kermit, your lessons don’t fit in today’s world,” I thought. “Now it’s trendy being green.”
We humans are allegedly causing the demise of the world. It’s now a one-sided issue. Taking the opposite stance by stating that the current global warming problem is just a natural cycle that has occurred many times in Earth’s history is unacceptable to the general public. Americans now show their green sleeves like an authentic Luis Vuitton on their shoulder and their noses up in the air.
Who better to make “going green” even more fashionable than a former presidential race runner-up and an actor whose most famous line is, “Momma’s fat, Gilbert” (I think so anyway). In a moment that made my toes curl, Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio announced to the nation that the Oscars had officially “gone green.”
I thought this meant that Willie Nelson had handled the pre- and post-ceremony festivities. I was sad to learn this wasn’t the case. Academy Awards producer Laura Ziskin led a good effort to make the event more environmentally sound, but don’t praise Hollywood too much, it’s only playing catch up for the ridiculous amount of waste and used energy of its annual galas.
The best argument in the global warming and environmental hullabaloo is “why not?” Even if the world is not headed for a disaster of epic proportions, there is nothing wrong with using resources and carrying out the business of trade and agriculture more efficiently. But, scenes like this year’s Oscars make me feel like a victim of the “South Park” episode in which “smug” almost destroyed the world. These over-passionate politicians, media members and high-profile people are overwhelming their own ideas. They act like they are on a mission from a higher spirit to de-thrown the evildoers of society. Whether they mean to or not, however, they are building the framework for future hypocrisy.
“Going green” doesn’t represent the human struggle against the follies of industrialism. It’s simply a buzz phrase for the next generation of operational business ethics and political agendas. There is nothing within the green scheme of things that protects people from poor decision making or from the negative power of corrupting cultural acts. Imposing environmental standards on others removes self-realization.
With that rant finished (giving in to the powers of contradiction), my suggestion to the University is to go green on every level. The ASUO can begin the process by approving the many eco-friendly proposals for the over-realized fund. The student body can continue the trend by voting for ASUO executive hopefuls who will focus on spreading sustainability throughout campus. Finally, those a the University can make headlines as they “green-up” new and old facilities. The administration should spend a few million dollars on making the next basketball arena a glorious example of environment-friendly projects – thus ensuring that some people will cut the project a little slack about the huge funding if they do.
So, the University should do all this to help the green agenda, right? I don’t see it that way. Sure, helping the environment is good and all, but that’s not what going green means anymore. It’s about business and politics. The University needs to step up and make a name for itself nation-wide as the greenest college in the country.
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