Quit recycling

Celebrate Earth Day by ditching annoying green clichés

Posted by Ashley Braun at 4:28 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Read more about: holiday | recycling | green living | funnies | messaging

I'm all about the three R's that have been the standby of every Earth Day since 1970: reduce, reuse, recycle. Got it. Even so, this Earth Day, I'm beseeching the world to do the unthinkable: stop recycling ... those annoying green clichés, that is.

I think it's gee-golly-swell that environmental issues have started gaining such mainstream momentum recently, but if I read, see, or hear another overly trite use of "It is/is not easy being green!" or "An Inconvenient X," I think I'll start puking mini green recycling symbols. And enough already with the "Make every day Earth Day!" e-cards that come out every year.

This Earth Day, let's send a message that will make a real difference in the fight against climate change: Petition for fresh green tag lines that will make us feel sexy and sustainable.

Get a life, green marketers and headline-makers. We've already heard that one.

Which green clichés do you think have been reused more than an aging hippie's Nalgene? List your anti-favorites below, along with with any creative climate credos you think should take their place.

For story: Quit recycling
11 Comments | Post a Comment

Green is the new black!

grist.org

by David Roberts at 4:53 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Put on a sweater

Has everyone had the joyful experience of trying to wash dishes with a sweater on? Isn't that fun?

If the house is too cold turn up the heat or preferably fix the freaking house.

Whatever it takes. Staple bubble wrap over the windows, buy a bale of scrap clothes and stuff the attic, build a trombe wall out of concrete scraps and scrap windows, put a 500 gallon water tank in your basement and connect it to a solar heater made from an old water heater and a scrap fridge.

Hell, I could make a warmer house out of Tyvek, dirt, and old christmas trees than some of the wind tunnels I've been in.

Just don't tell me to put on a sweater unless you are willing to wait on me hand and foot.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 5:01 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Shower with a friend ...no wait, that's still good

"Take a short shower"

Yeah, right. As a compromise (in Seattle in winter) consider instead just putting a plug in your tub and leave the bathroom door ajar. This will heat and humidify your house and cause your furnace to shut down for a while.

Don't pull the plug until the water has reached room temperature. No need to let all that heat escape down the sewer and out the fan duct. Great guilt reduction technique.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 6:31 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Dry, dry Seattle

Where the furniture cracks due to the sub-zero temperatures and the snow feels like sand.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 6:42 PM on 22 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Earth Day Much More Relevent Than Green

Call me retro but I still think the sentiments of Earth Day and the 70s ecologists are far more palatable than hypocrisy of Glitterati infatuated bitter mocking Greens.

Earth Day was simple: respect the earth. Clean up the pollution.

Green seems more about a bunch of people trying to finagle their way into power by creating fictions and then beating up on anyone who shatters their illusions.

Green is an appropriate color: the color of sickness.

J. Bailo Participant Texeme.Construct()

by jabailo at 7:37 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Aw come on, folks

This isn't about snappy ads and by-lines, this is about celebrating Earth Day and Arbor Day should be somewhere in there ... it is a time to reflect on what we can do to be more economical about pollution.

What is this stupid negative feeling I'm getting from these posts on Grist? Did you forget that the eagles and ospreys are coming back since near extinction in the late 60's? Did you forget how much cleaner the air is than in the late 80's in terms of pollutants such as ozone, particulate, and toxics?

Yes I know that greenhouse gas reduction is a big thing and seems to grow with population but why be so weird about it? For Chrissake you can't blog about it and make things happen instantaneously - people have to change and that takes time. Screw the technology trifle, people have to change.

I do detect a bunch of spoiled little over educated brats who can't get all they want immediately. Shame on you! If you can't celebrate Earth Day without losing your cool, forget it; you're a sham.

New tag lines my ass!

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 9:35 PM on 22 Apr 2008

What Would Jesus Drive...

by Tasermons Partner at 10:05 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Text, sarcasm

They don't mix well.

I took it easy today because I was out late at my very first Grange meeting ever. A buddy is trying to revive the Grange as a positive force for the soil and the community. He just might need some help.

That's my earth day.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 10:13 PM on 22 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Ready on day one...

...At 3am! No wait.. that's not a green cliche. But it's by far the worst ever!!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 8:22 AM on 23 Apr 2008

The Hil'

Well, since you brought up Hillary...

Did you like how she referred to "clean, renewable jobs" in her "victory" speech last night? My job is renewable, but I don't know if it's clean. It involves dealing with undergraduates.

by mihan at 10:14 AM on 23 Apr 2008

Best yet

She claims the votes in Fla and Mich. Even though Barack wasn't on the ballot. She beats bill for lying with a straight face, you gotta give her that.

Worse than cheney? Maybe not, but pretty close.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 9:51 PM on 23 Apr 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.