I was going to make this a short and sweet New Year’s message, then I heard this
news and …. well, pardon me while I digress from the holiday message a moment.

Today Lake Superior State University released it’s annual list of ‘Banished Words’.
Number 1 on the list is ‘GREEN’, AND any variations of the word. Number 2 on the list
is ‘CARBON FOOTPRINT’ and/or ‘CARBON OFFSET’.

‘GREEN’, is an easy generic word for anything having to do with healing and
protecting our planet. ‘CARBON FOOTPRINT’ and ‘CARBON OFFSET’ are actual calculated
measurements that should be as familiar to us as our height, weight, and shoe size.

LSSU infers these words have outlived their 15 minutes of fame and that people have
over used them. The fact is, ‘Green’ and ‘Carbon Footprint/Carbon Offset’ are words
which have been in the conversations of “Everyday People Speak” for only about a
year now, as far I can tell. Truthfully, much less than a year for most folks who are
not tree-huggers like us. (Ah! Sticks and Stones!)

Normally I would just laugh this off, but this gave me pause. Actually, it’s a bit
scary. We are not even out of the environmental gate and, of all things, a institution
of higher learning makes the news by relegating this serious global situation to the
level of a fleeting ‘fad’ (Groovy – NOT, Bummer!)

Now I know you are going to say, it was all in fun. But this is a university, made
up of smart people, releasing negative data, through the news media. Which edits
down the data and transmits it to people. In many cases with the media as their sole
information source. Since this is university data, many folks will form the ‘logical’
conclusion; “this global warming stuff is NOT that bad, and this environmental craze
will go the way of bell bottoms and high gas prices!” (And we all know gas will
never go up again.)

LSSU, it’s your planet too, so you should want to help, not probably hinder. If
you really want to make the news, may I suggest: developing a sustainable energy
storage system, or possibly a filtration system that completely eliminates CO2
emissions from existing pollution belching power plants.

Holy Cow, Batman! That would be rad for you groovey dudes and dudettes to lay on us!
Word Up!

—- Meanwhile, back at the Ranch —-

… and be safe, have a good time, but don’t drink and drive! Everybody, Happy New
Year! See you back here in 2009.

This is 2008, OVER AND OUT!

Tags: climate, environment, Going Green, green

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 8:31 am and is filed under Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.