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It’s not easy, but bein’ green is beautiful
Even in his heydey on the music charts, Kermit the Frog’s
1970 refrain “It’s not that easy bein’ green” was probably
not quoted as often as it is today. Being environmentally
“green” is truly a challenge. And as consumers become more
and more aware of the impact their actions have, they’re demanding
more and more from the businesses from whom they
buy. It’s not enough to stick a product in some recyclable packaging,
slap a green label on it and call it “green.” Consumers
are, quite rightly, seeing through that facade and demanding
real reductions in emissions, waste and environmental impact.
This is as it should be, since consumers can really force
change. Governments and business simply try to keep up
with the demands. Those demands can be tricky to meet.
For example, our magazine business faces real environmental
dilemmas. In support of our local economy, we’ve chosen to
print on papers made in Powell River. We’ve considered recycled
papers instead. But does it make sense to choose papers
that have to be shipped hundreds of kilometres, thus adding
to the greenhouse gas problem, as opposed to paper that’s
made here, shipped the short distance to Vancouver for printing,
then shipped back to Powell River? As you can see, it’s
a delicate balance — and that’s just an example of the many
decisions faced by businesses every day as they try to do the
earn rewards even faster at
responsible thing. Success in this area is a difficult thing to
measure — both for individuals and businesses.
Fortunately, Powell River is working hard at it, and making
progress, as this issue shows. Starting on Page 7, we have our
cover story about the benefits of living in a smaller space — literally
with a smaller footprint. Then there’s the feature on our
mayor; whether you are a political supporter or not, you have to
respect the fact that he literally walks the walk on reducing our
reliance on gas-guzzling vehicles.
Some of our other “green” stories include a feature on punk
hippie fashion designer Alisha Van Belle and a look a the vibrant,
but threatened, wetland at the top of Duncan Street. As
our writer discovered, this wetland comes complete with its
own cute owl mascot! Solar cooking, solar heating and gardening
are also included in our green issue.
And our story on the regional district’s “zero waste” goal sets
a lofty goal. But it’s important that we reach for such goals. It
won’t be easy, but as Kermit concluded about being green “It’s
beautiful! And it’s what I want to be....”
Sean Percy, Associate Publisher • sean@prliving.ca
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Powell River Living • april 2011 • 5