[Cartoon Tree Page Header]

[Title: FuzzyFreak's Home Page]

[H Bar]
 

Home Page | Corporations | Green Businesses | Interview | Polluter's Rights | Resources


About This Page

[Cartoon Hippy]

This page contains articles and discussion about The Greens, the green movement, and tips for living a greener lifestyle.  It is linked to additional pages that continue this discussion by focusing on how corporations that were originally under the control of We the People gained power over the years until they achieved the establishment of today's plutocracy.  Their exploitation of people and resources, and their environmental destruction is detailed.  Then we address one major part of the solution to that - supporting green businesses instead. 

The "My Favorite Links" section below provides links to further information that introduces a whole cloth bag full of alternate methods the consumer can make use of in order to leave a much smaller footprint in their travels upon this planet.  These subjects will be just the tip of the iceburg though, so you should start reading them before it all melts!!

I have also created a somewhat extensive list of green living resource links, available via the Resources button above.



Die Grunen

(History and Values of The Greens)

Most people think of the environment and ecology when the word “green” is used.  It actually goes far beyond that, but let’s begin our discussion there.  The word “ecology” was first coined by a German biologist, Ernest Haeckel, in 1870, and it wasn’t until the 1930s that ecology assumed full professional status – the last of the sciences to do so.  The word was derived from the Greek words oikos, meaning ‘house’, and logos, meaning ‘understanding’.  Thus, ecology is the means by which we understand our home, planet Earth. 

Interest in learning how nature and our ecosystem works has been an important aspect of human inquiry for thousands of years, and our knowledge of it has increasingly revealed the fact that the web of life hangs in a very delicate and complex balance.  This has led many to the realization that mankind has the capability of destroying this balance, that it often leads to bad results for our species when we do, and that we therefore have a huge stake in seeing to it that we make careful and thoughtful decisions in regards to our actions so that we preserve it as much as possible.  The term “green” that is used to describe those who promote this sense of urgency originated with the activist movement in Europe, and the formal constitution of the German political party, die Grünen (The Greens).

As I said though, the green movement goes well beyond simple environmental concerns, and indeed its origins were based on social and political objectives as well.  Just as the youth movement in this country began splintering into many dozens of single-issue organizations during the late 1970s, European environmentalists and peace activists were also divided into many diverse action groups at this time.  Opposition to pollution, NATO military action, and certain aspects of industrialized society were all agenda items for these various green movements.  In 1979 a coalition of these groups united to develop a common manifesto for the upcoming 1984 election, and plan joint actions.  This led to the idea of actually running candidates on a green ticket, and the following year die Grünen was born – with debate over nuclear power and the deployment of Pershing II IRBMs and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles by the U.S. and NATO on West German soil serving as a huge catalyst.  By 1983, they had won 27 seats in the Bundestag, and 5.6% of the vote...giving them legislative voice and firmly establishing green politics as a serious alternative.  Eventually there were also Green Parties in Belgium, France, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Holland, the UK (in 1986 the Ecology Party here changed its name to the Green Party), and here in America...with more on the horizon.

As an organization, the Greens remained a rather loose dichotomy of both activist and political factions – with both ends of the spectrum not always being in agreement.  Often the Green Party was accused of giving away the farm with the compromises necessary to become or stay elected.  And vice versa, the green movement was tagged as being “too radical” in their approach to things.  But the irony is, this circumstance – or strategy if you like – may indeed have actually been one of most important factors contributing to their longevity!!  The truth is that sometimes compromise is called for, whereas at other times pulling up in front of the State House with a wagon of manure and a sign that says “this crap stinks” is not only more appropriate, but much more effective in getting the point across!!

Jonathon Porritt summarized the Green perspective much better than I can when he provided this list of values in his 1984 book, Seeing Green:

 

                bluball    a reverence for the Earth and all its creatures

               bluball    a willingness to share the world’s wealth among all its peoples

               bluball    prosperity to be achieved through sustainable alternatives to the rat race of

economic growth

               bluball    lasting security to be achieved through non-nuclear defense strategies and

considerably reduced arms spending

               bluball    a rejection of materialism and the destructive values of industrialism

               bluball    a recognition of the rights of future generations in our use of all resources

               bluball    an emphasis on socially useful, personally rewarding work, enhanced by

human-scale technology

               bluball    protection of the environment as a precondition of a healthy society

               bluball    an emphasis on personal growth and spiritual development

               bluball    open, participatory democracy at every level of society

               bluball    recognition of the crucial importance of significant reductions in

population levels

               bluball    harmony between people of every race, color and creed

               bluball    a non-nuclear, low-energy strategy, based on conservation, greater efficiency,

and renewable sources

               bluball    an emphasis on self-reliance and decentralized communities

I would add to this list an emphasis toward non-violence in both personal and national situations.

From the above, one can perhaps see more clearly that being green involves much more than recycling a few cans.  In fact, it becomes obvious that not all environmentalists are green.   Personally, I view being green more as a way of life.

 

--------------------------------- 

“We are all people of the old world trying to create a new one.  We must constantly be asking ourselves whether we now want to continue to support the status quo, seeking to cope with crises after the event by using outdated and ineffectual methods of crisis management, or whether we should be aiming for a completely different kind of politics and conflict resolution.  It becomes increasingly important to commit oneself to what one feels to be right, to refuse to be forced into choosing the so-called ‘lesser’ evil.”

“Opposition to this dominant world view cannot possibly be articulated through any of the major parties, for they and their ideologies are part of the problem.”

          -- Jonathon Porritt

 

 

The Green Lifestyle

Greens believe that no one is free so long as others are oppressed.  It doesn’t matter if I am living in the lap of luxury, I cannot truly be happy while others are starving.  Like John Lennon so eloquently put it, borders (i.e. any type of division or classification) separate people, creating a “me” and “you,” while what we need is to be working together to find ways to make the planet better for everyone.  This requires that we begin to look beyond ourselves to what is best for humanity in general.

I believe green thinking also involves a certain spiritual attitude.  I once took a comparative religions class and learned about the various ways humankind has attempted to prove the existence of a higher intelligence.  The one that struck me most was the teleological argument.  Basically, it is illustrated by a caveman who happens upon a pocket watch, and discovers minute gears and intricate machinery inside.  He is immediately aware that no one existing at that time in history could have made such a thing.  Likewise, I look at the patterns of the cosmos – the atoms below and the stars above, the cell structure, the cycles of harmonic motion and of the seasons, the fact that each animal or plant has the exact characteristics they need to help them survive – and see something there that is far beyond explanation in this plane of existence.  So, like the Native Americans and Transcendentalists before me, you might say that nature is my church.  It is through nature that the One is revealed, and it is therefore something to treasure and respect. 

Sadly, with the coming of the Scientific Age, humankind began to lose this reverence for nature – no longer appreciating the oneness of the universe and the rippling cause and effect of our actions.  Instead of exploring the nature of reality in cooperation with, and in reverence of, nature, we chose to explore it by domination and exploitation.  We began to believe that we are smarter than nature, and that we can depend on technology to resolve all our worries.  Instead of looking for the root cause of a problem and undoing it, we simply put a patch on it – and this almost always creates new and more difficult problems.

Examples of this are abundant, from the culling of deer trapped in our parks by roads and fences – rather than designing greenways between developed areas - to manufacturing millions of plastic gadgets rather than just doing things manually, to fighting invasive species originally brought in to combat some other pest.  Consider the more recent practice of attempting to create new wetlands elsewhere instead of preserving them where they presently exist.  There is a very good reason they are where they are!!  Will we never learn that nature is such an  interconnected maze of links that one cannot move one piece and expect the remainder to survive in the same balance??  Imagine finding that a roadside rest you were depending on has been closed – yet we do that with the habitat and breeding grounds of other species all the time!!

I think this is why the Greens tend to embrace the natural over the artificial.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a Luddite.  I enjoy the television and my iPod and the internet.  But we need to find a balance between industrial technology and a mindfulness of nature, choosing the latter whenever possible. 

One key element of a truly green society is that it would embrace sustainability.   We all understand that if one is paid $500 per week and spends $1000 in that same timeframe, one will find themselves in hot water very quickly.  We all appreciate the need for a thermostat to reduce the amount of heat produced by a furnace as the room warms, yet we don’t seem to “get it” when it comes to seeing a need to regulate our overconsumption, unbridled deforestation and wetland loss due to development, escalating air and water pollution, and many, many, many other social and environmental issues where we are blasting away uncontrolled. 

A portion of this problem lies with the consumer themselves, and the choices they make; which is why I have included several articles below related to how one can maintain a greener lifestyle.  But the other aspect of this is how corporations add to this problem.  Most folks may not even think about their impact, so the Next Page is dedicated to delving into that topic, and how supporting green businesses helps.



Next Page | Top Of Page | Home Page

This page was last updated on February 12, 2023

Always remember to "Think Green" because good planets are hard to find!!   [Spinning Earth]


My Favorite Links


balance of nature


recycling and more


genetically mutilated frankenfoods


chemical soup



Here are some excellent articles submitted by the founder of OurPreciousResources.org:
 

...and a few more from NeighborhoodWeek.org:
 



Next Page | Top Of Page | Home Page | Email Me

[Low Count Poster][Funny Cool Sign]