Comments on: Green, Blue, Orange and Purple : Earth Day 2008

By: Mis

Mis — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:13:00 +0000

According to your scale I would have to say that I’m almost a purple. But if I was lucky enough to have a large income without having a job then I would enjoy having my own garden, making everything I need and owning a new house created only with the latest and hippest earth saving technology. Unfortunately I work a lot and do not have enough money to spend 5 times the amount on the new trendy green choices.

All the new things and ideas that are coming out that are “green” are really wonderful and even the expensive items will pay themselves off in about 10 years. That’s great for the future. However people are hurting for money now and making them feel guilty for everything they do isn’t fair.

I suppose companies feel that the only way to squeeze out what’s left in people’s wallets is to make them feel guilty with what they already have or tell them what they have is toxic. These same companies are going to come up with new ways to make even your current green choices seem less than par next year. All these people that are constantly upgrading with the newest things are just as guilty. Think of how much stuff they put in a landfill every time they upgrade.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:29:51 +0000

That you wouldn’t classify a smoker as purple (because you are a smoker) is exactly the point. People want to catagorize Every aspect of life these days, and we have to bend the standards to make ourselves acceptable. I don’t have those Chillean floors, but only because I can’t afford them. Instead I have crappy feaux wood vinyl. The day is coming that earth worshippers will be offended that I oust it, because it isn’t biodegradable. Of course, I’ll pretend to be blue & offer it on Craigslist, but although a blue will dislike me for throwing it out, they won’t show the bad taste of accepting it.
I’m with Annie, pass the Whiskey. Love to have a drink with you NB! I’m a loveable purple!!!

By: The News Bitch

The News Bitch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:29:53 +0000

But of course I wouldn’t make smokers Purple – being a smoker myself Although I wouldn’t say (and, obviously, this is debatable) that my description was filled with disdain… perhaps the behavior I describe invokes disapproval or feelings of disdain in readers… but Purple is modeled off of observations of real people I know and like.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:23:39 +0000

I’m a Purple all the way.Who walks away from the head on, NOT the guy in the itty mangled import. We won’t swelter in the name of ‘conserving’. Our recycle crates are used to hold wood, quite functional. CFL bulbs contain mercury, & could conceivably give your kid brain damage. Of course, I do use my plastic bags to clean my litter boxes, but then I throw them away (as opposed to fertilizing my garden with the cat poop the way a proper earth worshipper may). Your right-on description of non earth worshippers strikes me as one of total disdain. I did find you were being quite generous allowing a ’smoker’ to be Orange, although they’re destoying the ozone & giving the innocent masses cancer from their 2nd hand smoke.
I think it’s more of the ‘divide & conquer’ in action, & it’s sad to see it so effective.
25 years ago, people cared most about people. Today, you can’t have a relationship on any level unless you have ‘robotic’ conformity. What a sick & sad day we live in.

By: Annie

Annie — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:15:04 +0000

I’m going with magenta. Fo’ shiz. Except… I add whiskey.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:17:56 +0000

I’m a blue-orange too. We recycle, use reusuable shopping bags and I’m switching all my bulbs to CFL. It’s just me and my kid, so our power and water usage is pretty low.

Your description of purple is right on! I think I went to school with some of those.

By: KBO

KBO — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:50:21 +0000

Interesting taxonomies. I’m between blue and green, mainly because cheese is too awesome to ever be vegan and I can’t afford solar panels on my roof.

One minor quibble–it’s a myth that recycling creates more carbon or uses more energy than producing goods from virgin sources. Resource extraction uses a huge amount of energy and resources and usually results in habitat destruction and/or pollution. You have to factor that in when comparing “footprints” of materials production because that’s where the real difference is. Aluminum, I think, is the best example of this.