I love this article and it expresses my sentiments far better than I ever could. So, I stole it and posted it here with the proper credit due.
Green Fatigue - from henandharvest.com
Go Green!
Think Green! Live Green! Be Green! Buy Green!Green Products! Green Living! Green! GREEN! GREEEEEEEEN!
Are you getting burned out on this yet? 'Cause I am.
Remember when organic meant that food was grown using minimal inputs and natural methods? Now we have Certified Organic. Government sanctioned and full of loopholes and tricks and regulations and fees, and thousand-mile supply lines.
Now the "green" movement has likewise been capitalized, comoditized, corporatized and co-opted. It's gone from a grass-roots philosophy to a marketing gimmick. Green is sleek and shiny! Green is stylish and new! Green is hip and wholesome and available near you!
Don't get me wrong, I'm kind of glad we've reached the point where some passing thought about impacts and pollutants and carbon footprints can compete with stainless steel finishes and towing capacity as selling points. But it's important to remember that buying too much crap is what got us into this mess in the first place. Now we're supposed to throw out all the old crap and buy newer, greener crap?
The Green Movement is gone. Lost to us. We have to say our goodbyes and start again. That's why I'm proposing a new movement - one that will be harder to hijack. One that won't lend itself to advertising slogans.
Okay, let me ask you something: What is one of the first things you learn when you get into small-o organic gardening? Or in reducing household waste?
Right. Composting.
And if you get into raising livestock on a small scale, what is one of most valuable byproducts?
Right. Manure.
Both are great for improving soil, and both take a waste product and turn it into a very valuable asset.
And both have something else in common: What color are they?
Right. Brown.
Just like the soil. Just like the eggs. Just like our gardens at the beginning and the end of the season. Like tree trunks and firewood. Like the mud on our boots and the dirt under our fingernails. The potatoes. The onions and garlic drying in the sun. The nuts and the leaves falling from the trees. The corn shocks and wheat berries. Brown is the color of work, and of harvest. Brown isn't a shortcut. It's the long way around. It's both the means and the end. Brown is not the new Green. Brown is what Green wishes it had been.
I'm not the first to cover this fertile ground. Mike Rowe had it right when he said: "Brown is the color of dirt, and dirt is the color of Earth. Under the blue ocean, the green forest, and yellow sun, there is always brown – a combination of all the primary colors. Steadfast. Fundamental. Unglamorous. Our food grows in the brown. Our bodies return to the brown. Without brown, there is no growth. There is no green."
I know, Brown is already starting to become a marketing gimmick in a certain sense - Big Brown! … What can Brown do for You? But they don't have the warmth, the heat, the life of an active compost pile. Or a fresh cow pie. And they never will.
So I ask you: Who wants to join me in creating a Big Steaming Brown Movement?
Maybe B.S. B.M. for short?
Excellent.
Now, go forth and make the world a browner place.
