Independence: Thoughts on Going Green

I’m not a fan of fireworks, so while everyone I know is out at the local park right now watching the air explode, I’m sitting here listing to the dull thudding and booming outside. Today’s the July 4 – Independence Day in the United States. In history, today was the start of the American Revolutionary War, when the 13 colonies were pitted against the British empire and, in many cases, loyalists who lived in the colonies but want to remain a part of Britain. So there’s your brief history lesson, for anyone who does not live in the US and has never studied US history.

Independence Day makes me think about the environment, you know, going green…this entire blog. First, I’m grateful that I live in a country where blogging is not just allowed but also encouraged. In some places, the critical things I say about major corporations could land me in jail or worse.

But more that feeling thankful from my blogging freedom, today I feel thankful that I’m free to pursue the American dream.

I think, in the past, the American dream was to get rich, have a perfect family, and be happy. If you lived anywhere else, you wanted to come to the US to do that. If you lived in the US, you wanted to move to New York City or California and make your dream come true.

Today, that American dream is changing. I’m not sure here is ONE American dream, not the way there way in the 1950s or even in the 1990s. Today, it seems as though everyone is trying to find their own place, whether that means riches and success or not.

What I’m thankful for is that we as a people are coming together to support the environment as a part of our overall dreams. Going green isn’t about feeling good about yourself or looking good for consumers. True, may companies do it for those reasons. However, I think that today, a big part of the American dream is survival.

We’ve realized that, simply put, we just aren’t going to survive if we continue living the way we’re living. Gas prices are evidence of that. Dying polar bears are evidence of that. Rising cancer rates are evidence of that.

Today, I’m just been think a lot about how proud I am that so many people are doing the right thing even though we have the freedom to do the wrong things. Everywhere you turn, major corporations, small businesses, and individuals are conserving energy, recycling products, and research greener solutions. Our government doesn’t say that we have to do that, and yet we’re doing it anyway…and in the coming years, I think there will be an even bigger push to set goals for the world’s greenness. That makes me proud to be an American…proud to be a human.