Are We the Green Generation?

Are we the Green Generation?

Everyone and everything discuses being green. We have termed ourselves the Green Generation. We are proud of Wangari Maathai, 2004 and Al Gore, 2007 Nobel Prizes for their environmental works. There are green holidays, Earth Day, Arbor Day, World Water Day and green celebrities, Robert Redford, Darryl Hannah, Orlando Bloom, among others. Churches have gotten into the green mood, with the Environmental Sabbath. But in general people are green only by mouth not by lifestyle. They talk about green and green issues, but are not green in the way they live and personal conviction. Recently I met someone who is a true green, an environmentalist, not just as a politician, but a green by personal conviction, who is a living example of what it means to be a green person. She does not preach to me about green issues or the danger of global warming, but she is teaching me how to be a green person by being one before my eyes, by living a green lifestyle on a daily basis.

That global warming is a reality few reject or doubt today, the Earth is heating up. Scientific evidence and ecological data are so prevalent that even the most right wing evangelical Christian can no longer speaks against it. We have come as a nation and a global community to realize at last the reality and probability of global warming and its impending consequences in form of ecological disasters resulting from irreversible climatic changes. Hollywood could not stay indifferent to this issue. Several movies have been released that deal with this particular issue. There is Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth", the most famous movie, being, "The Day After Tomorrow" and recently released, "2012" which is loosely based on an ancient Mayan Prophecy about the end of the world.

But beyond the prevalent green mood and the rhetoric on global warming, how can we be a real green generation? One that will contribute to a better ecological future for the coming generations? The issue is not who is going to speak loudly about green issues but how, as a community, we can leave a world less exposed to the dangers of global warming. A world where our children and grandchildren breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a less polluted environment.

At the end of the day it is not just about great discourses on green issues or large worldwide conferences on global warming like the one that is going to take place at the end of this year, The Copenhagen Climate Conference. What really matters are simple daily acts like having containers for recycling in your bedroom, in your office and in your living room so that anything that can be recycled is collected for proper disposal. Packaging, cleaning supplies, transportation choices. It is living a simple lifestyle of a green person built on true personal green conviction. The more people, families and communities, adopt a green lifestyle and make a green commitment, the greener this generation will really become and the certainty of leaving a green legacy for the next generation will be insured.

Rev Alexander TahBi240-701-4436; alextahbi@yahoo.com