Happily Ever After?

Last night, I got the rare quiet moment to myself. Sitting on my neighbor's couch, while she went out and her husband went out somewhere else and her children played happily with mine upstairs, I leaned into the cushions and opened The Atlantic Monthly.

On page 56, I noticed Thomas Friedman, going on about the green revolution. And this is what he said...

This isn't a green revolution, friends. This is a party....Twenty years ago...we all talked here about the [information technology] revolution. Do you think that was pain free?.... Oh, everyone wasn't a winner in the IT revolution. There are a lot of old-legacy industries that didn't get it. And they got steam rolled....today the old-legacy indurstries, they control this story; they control that policy mechanism in Washington. They are tough, and they will fight dirty. They are not going anywhere.

And that's why we are having a green party, not a green revolution. Do not kid yourself for one second.

As I read this, I wasn't sure of Friedman's meaning. Did he mean to say our efforts are futile? Or did he mean to say that our efforts will be painful, have to get painful to bring about change?

In any case, there in my moment of quiet, I thought, "This sounds like a challenge to the average citizen. A challenge to take Friedman's breath away. A challenge to write the green story we want to see, behind the tough guys' backs."

We've done this before, in different sectors. Just think of how consumers forced industry to change their practice of CFC use. (Remember when you stopped buying aerosol cans? You brought about a revolution simply with your hairspray, bugspray abstinence.)

Happily-ever-after probably isn't pain free, as I think Friedman implies. But then again, it was never pain free in the fairy tales either.


Prince and Princess photo, by Sonia.


Green Inventions Invitation: If you write a post related to this post and Link It Back Here, let me know and I'll link to yours.

Wordless Wednesday: Wild Flower

This is for you, Blue Mountain Mama. I've been meaning to post a wildflower ever since you asked for wildflower pictures. This one is saying goodbye to summer, with buttery cheer...


Yellow wild flower photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Color of Peace

I've been taking in color all morning— letting the barely-yellow kitchen walls soothe my senses, while I listen to my little one read to me. Watching white light dance with grey, leaf-shaped shadows. Staring at the curved blue reflection of a cobalt glass, over garnet-specked granite. These shapes and colors have been whispering peace to me, in the background of my day.

Why am I more sensitive to color these days? Maybe it is something I'm learning out in my Secret Place. I consider these August entries from my outdoor journal...

August 21, 2007... The woods are gleaming, deep green, slick, reflective. Leaves quiver and dip under a light breeze, tremble at the fall of droplets. The pine is sprung with a million tiny liquid globes, set to capture the day's grey light, or set to shower the unsuspecting passerby...

August 22, 2007... Smells earthy out here today. A light breeze. Air is moist. Sun is merely a suggestion behind a white-blanket sky. I lay for a while without my glasses on, to let the weight of color, of green press in, without the distraction of detail.

I consider that my outdoor experiences are coming inside, teaching me the color of peace in every room, in every shape and shadow.


Blue Glass Shadow photo by L.L. Barkat.

Green Inventions Invitation: If you write a post related to this post and Link It Back Here, let me know and I'll link to yours.