by Jill

I jumped on the green living bandwagon pretty early on. I've been a vegetarian since I was 8 years old, sought out the most fuel efficient car for my money, and have followed politics enough to know which candidate didn't endorse drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, I'm also a realist, so I've never thought Mother Nature had much of a chance in the face of our trash throwing, fossil fuel burning, passenger pigeon shooting society. A few years ago though, I began to change my mind. People who never seemed to care whether the river otter went extinct or we had to eat Soylent Green started to buy recycled paper and hybrid cars, and the organic section of my grocery store became harder and harder to miss. Things were looking up for the first time in my memory. Then along came Al Gore. Hypocritical celebrities and politicians are clouding the message and could be crippling to the budding "green living" movement. Americans need to be willing to take real action on their own instead of waiting for Paris Hilton and Madonna to give us the easy way out. The same people who are telling us what's best for the environment are often among the earth's greatest enemies.

By now almost everyone has heard about Al Gore's personal inconvenient truth, the mind-boggling waste of energy in his own home. The hypocrisy doesn't stop there though. Much press has been given to the recent Live Earth concert, and possibly even more press to it's embarrassing energy consumption issues. Though the event's planners may have had their hearts in the right place when they promised to recycle all the trash the crowds would generate, they failed to ascertain whether the venues could actually accomplish the feat. They also failed to kindly request that their artists use public transportation to reach the venues instead of private jets. Perhaps it was well worth it for the number of people they enlightened with their message, but I imagine most people didn't care much what they were preaching about so long as they got to see the Pussycat Dolls before they were too drunk to remember it. It's poor attempts like this as well as celebrities and unconscientious media that are clouding this very important issue.

When I see Sheryl Crow in the news telling me I can only use one square of toilet paper per bathroom visit I feel the issue isn't quite as clear as it used to be (on a side note, I don't know what Sheryl Crow eats, but I will say right here and now that one square isn't going to cut it even on the best of days). I should also mention that I don't blame her entirely for the media latching onto this particular tidbit, the Washington Post has an entire blog filled with her other lame ideas.

It's unfortunate that while many scientists and engineers are making huge leaps to reduce trash in our landfills and emissions from our cars, all we see on the news is the celebrity of the week sharing their uninformed and unhelpful opinions. I have to read Popular Science to learn about the man who invented a machine that could make landfills obsolete but my poo paper problems are exposed on the front page of my local paper. It's a dangerous road to walk because most people will tire of an overly publicized idea quickly, and will begin to write it off as the issue of the week. Eventually they won't even attempt to sort the real environmental news from the big name posing.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the environment is beginning to be an ignored, even scorned, issue. The problem from the very beginning is that most people would rather do what's easy than take the initiative to do what's right. Hybrid cars and compact florescent bulbs got more hype than recycling ever did even though recycling has been around for years, but recycling takes a certain amount of work, and many Americans would rather buy something than do something to make all their problems go away. Because of the massive amounts of media that are shoved down our throats on a daily basis, many people would rather wait to be told what their opinion is than take the time to form one themselves. Also, celebrities get better ratings than experts with real knowledge. This is far too important an issue to leave in the hands of the media.

I admit it, if I were famous I would use my celebrity to inform the public about the issues that are important to me too. I do hope that I would actually inform instead of spouting crack-high enduced nonsense, but who's to say. The bottom line is that this issue is too vital to ignore just because the media is wearing it out. We have to take green living beyond a fad and make it a part of our collective consciousness. So, the next time you see a celebrity on the news telling you to avoid taking more than two breaths a minute to give our trees a much needed rest, turn off the television and read a book. You'll save energy and maybe even the planet.