To Go Green

I don't know about all of you, but I'm sure sick of hearing how we can "go green" in our daily lives. (In case you're worried, this is not about global warming or our effects on it.) Don't get me wrong--I believe quite strongly in being a good steward over this earth. We need to be careful of what resources we take and how they are replaced. I personally recycle, and I try to combine trips to save on gas (admittedly, there is a financial incentive there). However, I am tired of this frenzied effort to save every tree we see, and conserve so much energy that we use no energy. I have heard of recent "green" efforts such as hanging up clothes lines to dry all of your clothes instead of using your dryer (saving energy!), washing clothes with cold water instead of warm or hot water, using energy-efficient (albeit dim) lightbulbs, setting your thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter, or riding your bike to work.

While all of these are good efforts, and I don't condemn anyone for these practices, it seems that the norm is becoming more extreme. I feel like we're going backward and not forward as far as technology and innovation go. In my opinion, inventions such as hot water heaters, clothes dryers, indoor heating, and cars were invented for our benefit. I hate to see the day come when we have gone back to horse-drawn wagons, wash boards, candles and potbelly stoves (oh wait, those use wood for fire--so not green).

All of this reminds me of the Mannerism movement in art. It was a reaction to the Renaissance, particularly High Renaissance. The Renaissance was literally a rebirth of skill, idea, and talent. It is thought that this was the era when art finally reached, and even surpassed, the perfection found before the Middle Ages. It included artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Instead of continuing the traditions of perfection, the Mannerist artists exaggerated forms and began to make them imperfect and almost not real. In many views, this was a step backward, not forward. Compare "Madonna with the Long Neck" to the anything by da Vinci, such as his sketch "Head of a Woman." There's no comparison.

What does Mannerism have to do with going green? I don't think we've reached technological perfection, but it seems the extremes of going green include moving backward instead of forward, just like Mannerism. It seems with all of the intelligence and information at our immediate disposal, we would have greater and more innovative ways of solving the world's problems other than taking away the innovation that has been the hallmark of our world for the last few hundred years.

I wonder how often in our lives we continuously look backward for solutions to our greatest problems, when what we need is the foresight that will give us that next innovation, and then harness that ingenuity into solving instead of avoiding our problems.

I may completely off on this one, but it was just a thought. But I'll be forming a protest for the day they take away the printing press in favor of handwritten, illuminated manuscripts. That's where I draw the line.