Generation Green

By Rachel Tanis

When history looks back to define our generation I wonder what they will say. Were we on the cutting edge of technological development? Did we serve our country well with the advancement of equality and the end of racial divide? Did we rush in a return to patriotism? Were we the ones who finally stood up to rampant greed and worked to form a well-managed financial system? Or, were we the generation of people who took a stand for the environment, who didn’t just speak up for the earth but cried out for her? Are we the green generation?

To be the green generation we have to be the group that facilitates change that sticks. Sure, there have been green advancements in the past: recycling, energy conservation, clean water and park acts. These have all been great progresses but they have not been enough to define any previous generation. To be labeled the green generation we will have to completely overhaul our lifestyles so that those coming after us will not be faced with the hard choices. We will have to have been the ones who changed and took on the difficult challenges to make life better for the future.

It’s easy to say that you want to save the planet. It’s easy to buy the cloth bags to reuse at the grocery store. It’s easy to switch to energy-saving light bulbs. It’s even easy to recycle and compost.

It’s not so easy to make the harder choices like investing a great deal of money in solar heat for your first house, or choosing to buy and eat only locally-grown produce. It’s difficult to stop and think about energy consumption and how much you should really be using. It’s difficult to re-think travel plans or even your daily commute so that you are being more aware of your carbon footprint.

These are the little, and not so little, decisions that amount to a massive task facing our generation. The question remaining is whether or not we will step up and answer the call.

Will the generation after us already come into the world living their lives differently than we began ours? Will recycling and energy conservation be second-nature to our own children, even though we had to struggle through it? This will be the definition of our generation. If those that come after us are environmentally aware, not because of our preaching but rather our example, then we truly can claim the title: Generation Green.