Green Was Never My Favorite Color Anyway

Author: Megan Licious | |

Two summers ago I sunbathed by a lake and read, on the page across from the Entertainment section in the back of Time, an article about what a business on the East coast was doing to maintain a green workplace. I thought, "How interesting; that sounds like a nice idea."

How that back-page story slipped its green fingers between the pages and pulled itself into the headline articles and onto the front covers of magazines across the spectrum, I remain unsure. KABOOM went the green movement: my singed eyebrows are still smoking. Meanwhile, a dazed feeling remains while green chatter floods across the airwaves, the newscasts, the talk shows, the commercials, the newspapers, the grocery stores, the Relief Society, and the school hallways, seeping into my brain and leaving it to both green dreams and green nightmares.

Please don't be alarmed. I am as much of a tree hugger as any Oregonian is raised to be; the environment is an important, beautiful part of our experience in this world: a silent, spiritual oasis. This movement represents much good; however, should not all the represented already have been a part of our lives? We're taught to have righteous dominion over the earth: to grow our own gardens that we may learn patience and appreciate fresh, healthy food; to consecrate our excess to keep mouths full; to follow the spirit's counsel in "how much" is appropriate in our lives.

The fad is what I'm against. I am alarmed. No doubt this movement is a reflection of the growing good in the world, but every good is spun to social, political, and familial gluttony. Becoming too fascinated unbalances us. Everyone needs to do as they've always been directed and leave the rest to the Lord; the earth was always meant to suffer flood and fire before it could become a paradise.

I must say, it is a fascinating new choice of temptation.