There’s been a lot of talk about what “Green” actually means.

The Washington Post ran a piece Greed in the Name of Green that begins, “Congregation of the Church of the Holy Organic, let us buy.” The story is about how companies have jumped on the green trend to provide new products — many of them ultra expensive. The Post says:

Green is the new black, carbon is the new kryptonite, blah blah blah. The privileged eco-friendly American realized long ago that SUVs were Death Stars; now we see that our gas-only Lexus is one, too. Best replace it with a 2008 LS 600 hybrid for $104,000 (it actually gets fewer miles per gallon than some traditional makes, but, see, it is a hybrid). Accessorize the interior with an organic Sherpa car seat cover for only $119.99.

Consuming until you’re squeaky green. It feels so good. It looks so good. It feels so good to look so good, which is why conspicuousness is key.

Our own Don Miller has been thinking plenty these days about “Green.” He remembrs when it was just a color, and not the latest trend, say, like, disco. And that worries him.

The Color Green
by Don Miller

I am old enough to recall a time when green was just, … well just a color. Do you remember the Captain Kangaroo show and his buddy, Mr. Green Jeans? Was it just that his jeans were green or was his name Mr. Jeans? I never really figured that out. The family TV back then was a black and white set. On it his jeans looked gray, not green. That is how I feel about the word green today; its usage is as gray as Mr. Green Jeans’ jeans, on a black and white TV.

I see green used in all kinds of marketing schemes now, green footprints, green business, green this and green that, it is almost endless. I Googled green and got 1,975,132,456 hits. I looked green up in my old Webster’s dictionary and the first definition stated it as a… color. There is a surprise. I had to read through seven definitions until I could get the one that suggested, “concerned with or supporting the environment.”

I have recently heard people referring to green as being “in” or “hot.” My thought was, oh boy, I recall disco being “hot” and “in” once. Read more