Green Design or just Green with Envy?

Sustainability.

When you hear that word, normally the word following after it is green. But green what? What do those two words mean exactly? I know that green is a color in the rainbow and that it is the color of nature. Perhaps that is what sustainability means...Hmm Sustainability is the color of nature and the way that nature provides us with great healthy products...THEREFORE I as an American citizen will strive to buy only products with GREEN on the LABEL!!!! Whooo I am green and I am sustainable.

Sadly, that is not the definition of sustainability, Many people though were probably shaking their heads at my skewed definition of green sustainability up above. You might have heard this debate going on at your local grocery store:

Wife: Honey, will you grab the kitchen cleaner?

Husband: (after staring at long aisle of cleaning products) Uhhh, okay! (grabs first bottle of bleach, Clorox, Mr. Clean etc...shoves it in the cart and walks away)

Wife: (glances in cart and gasps reaching in gingerly to take out forbidden non green product)

WHATTT! Why did you get Clorox? I said get cleaner!!!

Hisband: But this IS cleaner like you said!!!

Wife: It's not the green kind....

Husband: They didn't have a green kind...

Wife: YES they do...everyone has a green kind

Husband: But clorox is WHITE, not GREEN?!

Wife: (sighs) LOOK! Clorox came out with green works..its safe and clean AND the liquid is green...See we are going green!!! AND now we are going to get a Brita water filter because we are no longer getting plastic water bottles...We are going GREEN GREEN GREEN!!!!

That is an example of a skewed perspective on what green and sustainability really is and why it is so important to understand the principle behind this terminology.

The definition of Sustainability is as follows:

"Meeting the needs of today, without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

This defnition was created in 1987 by the World Commision on Environment and Development. This means that almost 25 years ago, people were thinking about how our environment was going to be affected today without even knowing the future. It is not a surprise that thinking about going green hasn't been around for awhile. Even before that in school we were used to hearing the three "R" s : REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE! Those are key components to becoming more environmentally friendly and also thinking about how that effects your future generations.

Some people however do not truly understand when they say 'going Green". As I mentioned before, there are a lot of companies that will take the term Green, and turn it into something that is not even relevant to the actual term. This is otherwise known as greenwashing. Pretty much washing your brain with the word GREEN and that hypnotical illusion forces you to think that if it says green, it really is...

And people believe this? Yes, unfortunately they do. Think about how many people you know say that they "try" to be more green but it is just easier to repurchase something than to use it again. A prime example of this are plastic water bottles. It is just so easy to drive your hybrid car over to Wal-Mart, grab a few cases of water, and be on your merry way right? But think about all the costs that are involved in this process.

For one, some companies are saying that they produce 30% less plastic in their water bottles. GREAT EXCELLENT! Let's buy this brand. But do you really believe that their water is that much safer and that much cleaner? Everyone knows the brand Coca-Cola. They are the producers of the water Dasani. Oh Dasani! Sounds elegant and sophisticated right? Well did you know that they are just filling their tap water in PLASTIC bottles that aren't deemed eco-friendly? Exactly a clever way to fool the American people into thinking its going GREEN when in fact it isn't. http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2010/05/05/greenwash-of-the-week-sustainable-brands-2010/

There is however one corporation that is making sure that people know the good benefits of understanding Sustainability and that is the United States Grreen Building Council http://www.usgbc.org/Default.aspx

They have tried to incorporate LEED into understanding going green and sustainability. Their definition of LEED can be found here: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1988

They are commited to educating people about the positivity of promoting sustainable products, sutainable buildings and maintaining these buildings in the most environmentally friendly ways.

But it is not only up to major corporations to be sustainable and green. We have to practice these standards as well. Just because a few major companies are doing it does not leave us home free and exempt from assisting the environment. We should do our part, by starting in our own homes and researching these companies to find the real sustainable products and not become greenwashed by "labels" and celebrities endorsing these brands.

I don't know about you but I prefer to have my future generations have their needs met already before they are even born and also have them living in a much more sustainable world because of the efforts that I put in to make sure they are set for their future ad the future of generations after them.