Published: April 27, 2008 07:57 pm         

And just exactly what shade of ‘green’ were you this past week?

This Side of the Fence column

Judging from the amount of media coverage allotted last week to “Earth Day” and “Earth Week” related events, I think it’s reasonably fair to say that “going green” has gone mainstream. But when did “going green” become so cool?

It wasn’t too long ago that the mere mention of words such as “ecological footprint” or “global warming” branded you by some as a far-left leaning liberal who, in his or her spare time, may or may not have had the propensity to hug trees and talk to bunny rabbits on a regular basis.

Personally, I have never physically hugged or been voluntarily chained to an oak tree, but I do talk to the bunny rabbits that live on my road when asking them to “get out of the way please” as I drive past them. For the record, I do not consider myself to be a liberal, nor do I see myself as a conservative, and I think labels such as these are used by some to paint people into “political” corners. I do that well enough on my own, thank you, and have plenty of cans of paint to prove it.

But this year, going green is absolutely everywhere. The cover of Time magazine, the talking heads on TV, and many others across the nation are getting serious about the conservation of our Earth’s natural resources which allow us to live and breathe each day.

And from this side of the fence, the time is ripe for such frank discussions. Put down your doughnut and coffee and relive the moment you saw gasoline prices at $3.65 for the first time. Well, those aren’t going to be dropping anytime soon, and you need to prepare yourself for even bigger numbers. Please resume eating your jelly doughnut now.

Because of the sheer size of this beautiful planet we live on, it’s hard not to imagine that there must be an unlimited amount of clean water, energy resources, and other essentials that we need. But the earth is not as infinite as we once thought. In fact, we now have an estimated 6.6 billion people living on this planet. Although separated by oceans and continents, everyone is competing just the same for the Earth’s “finite” resources.

My apologies to Thomas L. Friedman, because he does a much better job of explaining this in his best-selling book, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.” Pick it up; it’s a good read.

Some argue that the origins of Earth Day go back to 1969, when peace activist John McConnell began espousing the need for awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s environment. But I believe it goes back much farther than that. Before Christianity became one of the earth’s dominant religions, Pagans celebrated the earth in nearly the same tone as we have in the past week. Please, no conspiracy nut theory letters to my bosses.

And interestingly enough, The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year during the March equinox, which was a major Pagan holiday that celebrated the coming of spring. You can draw your own conclusions there, but lest I digress.

So the question really begs, what can I do to be more environmentally conscious to help conserve the earth’s natural resources? It’s simple to say, but much harder to do. That’s because it takes personal commitment and responsibility to either give up or tone down some of the excesses of life.

I’m not pitching any stones from my glass living room either. I don’t consider myself to be that “green” a human being. But I am learning and hope to be a better steward of the environment I live in as I go forward in this forty-third year of my existence. As for your own personal involvement, that’s up to you. I can’t tell you what to do or what not to do.

But the philosophy behind becoming green has more to do with the basic tenets of Christianity than whether or not you change your light bulbs or decide to sell your car, which gets three miles to the gallon. It’s important to individually be aware of the Earth’s environment so that others may have the same opportunities to live and breathe and eat and die that you do.

Being green is about caring for others, whether they live on your same street or oceans or mountains away.

— Christian lives in Greenbrier County. E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com