I might sound like a bit of a cynic, but I have now come to associate Earth Day mostly with high-gloss political platitudes and a heaping inbox of greenwash and spam from companies hoping to appeal to my green streak and sell me something I don’t need.
The simple fact is that despite the increased awareness Earth Day has raised about the harm we inflict upon the environment, Americans are using more energy and consuming more natural resources per capita today than ever before. But what options do we face? We rely on cell phones, computers, cars, the internet, air conditioning, and refrigeration in our daily lives. And I, for one, am not ready to give up text messages or ice cream in order to fight global warming. Even if I could do a complete audit of all the resources I personally consume directly and indirectly, it would still be tough for me to make choices and change my daily habits.
Is it too much to ask to maintain my current lifestyle and reduce my impact on the environment at the same time? The problem is that natural gas, coal, and petroleum have historically been the cheapest sources of energy, and we’ve invested trillions publically and privately in infrastructure to keep the lights shining and the motor running…on brown power. I’m sick of using brown power. I’d prefer to have green power running my air conditioning instead of turning it off to conserve energy, and I’d much rather have green power running my computer so I can email all my friends about this blog post instead of switching off my computer.
This Earth Day, I issue this challenge to myself and to others: don’t just “think green.”
Fight the brown in your life.
