Green things

It was a really green day today! By that, I am not referring to that buzz-phrase of late, environmentally-improved upon or any such thing. The world just appeared very green. I noticed it first early this morning, driving over the Viaduct. (What some of us would call "the bridge over the river".) Possibly the rain we've had the past day or so had something to do with it - not only nourishing the flora and fauna, but even washing the dust off the leaves all over the place. (Kansas can be very dusty.) The trees around the hills and along the river were incredible variations on the green theme. This evening I noticed the greens and soon-to-be-goldens in the fields as I drove home.

Back to that reference of "going green": who thought that one up? Probably someone in the same camp as the person who came up with emoticons. (Ok, ok, that's not entirely fair. But it seems like every time I look at punctuation now, I don't see, say, a quotation mark and a colon {see above}, but rather some inane facial expression that we all have been subjected to in emails and such. I hate emoticons.) "Going green"... nope, that expression kind of leaves me with nothing. I am environmentally aware, we plant trees, we recycle, drink our coffee out of proper cups and not paper ones...we even have a compost bin. But to me, this is just the way we are.

"Going green" is just this year's logo. Yes, sure, jump on the environmental bandwagon - it will do us both good. But don't get caught up in all the marketing ploys brought about by those two words. I hate to repeat myself, but if I may refer to a recent post, which quotes Will Rogers, the thought still applies.

Last year (and perhaps overlapping into this year), the buzz phrase was "buy local". Great, in concept. And people rushed out to their Farmers Markets in April to purchase those locally-grown tomatoes and potatoes. But wait a minute!! Oh, come on, do we consumers not comprehend that, at least in Kansas, tomatoes are not in season till, say, late June?! Local corn-on-the-cob in May? Hmm...not Kansas-grown.

People are so taken up with trends and fads and nonsense. Pass the word: be smart, live for the future, and question nonsense. It will take us all farther.

Now excuse me, I am going to go have a gander at my peas and tomato plants...