RIP "Green" - Lake Superior State University Reports It Should Be Banned In 2009
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 1.09
Image credit:National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, "Concrete Is Green"
'Green' as a term of popular culture is on life support and barely hanging on: not just because some academic said so, and not because few "green" magazines of 2008 stayed around, and not only because of advert abuses (as pictured above), but because people are screaming to have Green taken off life support. Lake Superior State University, which, since 1971, has published an annual list of words or terms that need to be "banned" from the English language, reports that "green" was the number one balloted word to be rid of in 2009.
Apparently, writing 'green' now is as repulsive as would be screaming "Joe The Plumber" in a crowded theater.
Can we make the transition away from writing "green" before it starts to mean quite the opposite: like how young people call something they really like "sick?"
Based on what ballot submitters told the polls at LSSU, we had better
The ubiquitous 'Green' and all of its variables, such as 'going green,' 'building green,' 'greening,' 'green technology,' 'green solutions' and more, drew the most attention from those who sent in nominations this year.If you work in PR, consider this statement from one ballot submitter:
"If I see one more corporation declare itself 'green,' I'm going to start burning tires in my backyard."Via: LSSU
Having seen the results of the balloting, there is no longer any excuse. Only those writers totally stuck inside a g*%$# bubble will, henceforward, use "g*%$#" in a post.
There also is a practical reason to ban 'g*%$#' as a catch phrase. Google, reportedly has had to add an entire clean coal-powered server farm solely to index the growing use of the term, which makes writing "g*%$#" a serious contributor to Google Warming: something the Obama Transition Team needs to put in their suggestion box for 2009. (joke)
RIP g*%$#. From now on in we'll just have to write with carefully crafted, precise phrases to say exactly what we mean. Like, 'those wind turbines are really sexy.'
G*%$# Stuff From The TreeHugger Archives
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 6 Alternative Green Investment Strategies for 2009
- Waiting On A Green Renaissance
- No Infrastructure Investment for Concrete!
- Middlebury College Writes First Green Paper
Divergence On The Corporate Front: Sustainability Shakeout Begins
|
Incredible Edible Food Revolution is Happening
|
Gee, I'm surprised it took this long. With shams like Planet Green, and even this site with its horrid penchant for green consumeristic garbage, it had to happen. Now watch the pendulum swing back in the wrong direction, and thank the man in the mirror for it. I told you so!
Take the admonitions about greening the planet of the board and we won't have to worry about vocabulary at all. For 20 years, aids has been on the board and there are plenty of people who are sick of hearing about it, but it still kills.
When 85% of the people in the world go back to green living then ....maybe......it will not be an issue, but right now 95% of American's are still self indulgent idiots....waiting for the other shoe to fall.
I guess this green "fatigue" had to set in eventually - the good thing hopefully is that the word and ideals behind it have made it to the mainstream - i'm not sure what should happen next though - should companies stop generalizing so much with the word "green" and get into more specific descriptors like "fair trade" "organic"...?
=== author's response follows ====
yes.
And substantive corporate declarations of performance or progress against goals should ideally be independently validated by a third party consultancy or NGOs that share allegiances with multiple other industries in the same sector - to reduce opportunity for client bias. Without 3rd party validation, bad actors will game the system as soon as it becomes clear that the market or investors prefer environmental excellence.