Slouching Green

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
~William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

There's been such an emphasis on "going green" lately. Last Saturday, Al Gore et al promoted Live Earth concerts around the globe. Candidates for the next presidency are being prodded for their ideas on how to promote solutions to the energy crisis and protect the environment. Among the many candidates interviewed, Hilary Clinton used the term "green collar jobs." (Catchy phrase.) Meanwhile, a group of parents and teachers, appalled by the supposed statistic that children spend 44+ hours a week indoors staring at electronica, have banded together to promote The Green Hour-- one hour a day of enforced "outside" play.

Now I'm all for promoting positive change. Clean energy, alternative energy, environment preservation, and getting kids to unplug and poke their heads up and look around at the world outside are all important issues that deserve our attention. But I can't help but wonder if we're giving them the right kind of attention. I cannot seem to shake my distrust of the political arena. Anything that passes into it warps and changes and becomes something other than when it started.

I am reminded of a friend of mine who was threatened with jail time because he pulled his truck too far off the road in a national park, inadvertently crushing a "mouse's house." Amusing story to relate, but my friend assured me that the park ranger was quite serious. Has it come to this, then?

I believe that we can find ways to integrate with our environment. I have that hope, anyway. But I wonder, with no little trepidation, what destiny this green beast we are creating will have.

8 Days til Lift-Off