Mrs. Green-Genes: Three Generations of Green Living
Green: The New Black?

 

Every season, it seems that the fashion industry is touting some other color as “the new black”. Pink, brown, red, white--they’ve all had their 15 minutes of fame. Yet we still turn back to black as the sartorial standard of formality and elegance. After all, men have black tie, and women have the little black dress. It’s simple. It works. Why fix what’s not necessarily broken unless you just want to have a little fun, a change of pace, or the latest fashion?
 
But regardless of fashion’s flights of fancy, black will always be black.

So why do I get the sinking feeling lately that there is a big green bandwagon upon which everyone’s jumping? I see big box-type home improvement stores bombarding us with new “options”—but when I looked at their ad in Sunday’s paper, there was nothing they haven’t already been selling. Or the big conglomerate that makes bleach and air freshener sprays boasting that their new factory is helping to reduce global warming by using new green technologies? Excuse me, is the emperor wearing new clothes? Is it OK to make toxic products if your factory has solar panels and uses sustainable forms of energy? Did I miss something here???

Don’t get me wrong—I am thrilled that so many new green products are now available to the general public, and that same public is being educated in ways that will make a difference to improving the environment. Any change to more eco-friendly living is a good change. Each step, no matter how small, helps. If everyone in Chicago made one new, conscientious choice each week, what an astronomical number of steps that would total. But let’s not forget what we’ve learned when the next hot new thing comes around. Let’s make our efforts sustained as well as sustainable. Let’s put our green where our black is and let it be the standard for us, not just a passing fashion.

What new choice can you make, or have you made lately, to go green? How do you see your changes making a difference for yourself, for your children, for our earth? Are you influenced by advertising, or do you make your choices based on different criteria? Mrs. Green-Genes’ inquiring mind wants to know. E-mail her at Mrs. Green-Genes. If you would like your comments and suggestions considered for future columns, please include your e-mail address or telephone number so Mrs. Green-Genes can contact you for more information.

Eleanor Hughes Reily is founder and creative director of Eleanor Reily Handmade Soaps, a green business based in Chicago. Want to learn more about Eleanor? You can check out her bio here, and you can visit her website at Eleanor Reily Handmade Soaps.