Audience of One

G is for Green

Green (n.): The hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between yellow and blue, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 490 to 570 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue is that of the emerald or somewhat less yellow than that of growing grass; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues.

Okay, so obviously I’m talking about being environmentally green, not the colour green. So why am I green and what does it mean to me?

I consider myself to be green because I care about the environment. I care about the environment because God calls me to. The Bible teaches that humans are called to be stewards of creation; we are to look after it. I want to do the best job I can of looking after the amazing world God has created because he’s told me it’s my job to do so.

This has an impact on many different areas of my life. One of the primary reasons I first supported the Liberal Democrats was that they were the only big party that seemed to care about the environment (and look where that support has taken me). I have practically promised myself that I will never buy a car that runs purely off petrol (in other words, I’ll buy a hybrid or even a fuel cell powered one if the technology advances enough). My house has solar panels (not that that was my decision), and we recycle practically everything that can be recycled efficiently.

This isn’t me trying to show of my green credentials – I’m mentioning these things because I believe that we all need to have similar attitudes if the world is going to settle down. It’s on the individual level that progress needs to be made. Governments can legislate but until they legislate on how energy efficient citizens must be, or how much they have to recycle (think Germany’s waste laws – if only Britain would introduce something similar…) it’s down to individuals. The environment should be important to everyone, and the more green people there are out there the less of a negative effect we as humans will have on the environment.

Another thing I can say to convince you I’m not trying to show off is by admitting how much further I have to go. I forget to switch lights off; I leave CD players on all night by accident; I travel by car when I could easily cycle. Actually, I don’t do much – notice that all the things I mention two paragraphs above have been instigated by my parents or haven’t actually affected anything yet. It’s like my life as a Christian (in fact, it’s part of it): I have green values but I constantly betray them. I’m a Christian yet I constantly mess up. The environment is but a small part of that monumental mess-up. (It’s also a big part of our monumental mess-up as humans, but that’s something for another time.)

Again, like my life as a Christian, the fact that I mess up doesn’t make me any less a green. It’s still a big part of who I am – a subset of my life as a Christian. It’s a very important issue, and one that I hope you’ll all agree with me on.

Matthew @ 21:05, May 14, 2005 to ABC | Comments (0)