I just recently made mine the old slogan, ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.‘ These twelve simple words have had quite an effect. Now, I think twice before flushing, and the sight of yellow gets immediately translated into a ‘don’t flush’ command. I have even become a militant, having toilet conversations with whoever wants to listen. Darmok and I had a brief but funny toilet exchange yesterday.
Slogans are old tools of the advertising trade, and it struck me that I can’t recall a single green slogan, other than ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘. The problem with those two words is just that, they are inconvenient, they are party spoiler, and not what people want to hear. ‘Inconvenient Truth’ was successful in capturing people’s imaginations and instilling enough fear in them, that they had to stop and listen. It worked with me. It convinced me of the urgency of the crisis, and of the need of becoming personally involved. Now, other words must take over, to make people want to become green.
Nadine, who just discovered La Marguerite, made an inspiring comment. Nadine has been a long time greenie, and spreader of the Green Word. She brought up the importance of using sweetness and humor, when trying to inspire green changes in others’ lives. I agree with her one hundred percent that humor can be our way into a greener world. The reason the yellow mellow slogan works, is that it’s funny in a quirky kind a way. What’s needed is a green slogan, that will make people laugh so hard, that they will want to share it, and think about it during their everyday activities. Any ideas?
I always thought “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” was catchy. In fact, I bought a bag (for groceries etc.) with that phrase. (It’s my favorite!)
The 3 Rs is catchy, I agree, but it fails to engage me on a gut level. It is a bit too reductionist in my opinion.
reboot–refuse–reuse.
A certain stubborn-ness can be attributed to greening up.
A willingness to argue with past practices and emerge triumphant above the despicable norm.
in other words, if you must re-boot your mind and —
refuse to use, then do re-use.
too late to think, i will mull this and ferment it a little.
Thanks Nadine for this late night brainstorming! I will think too . . . We should launch a contest and see who comes up with a slogan! The Democratic party did this a month or two ago, except they picked a horrible slogan in my opinion, real negative and going at the Republicans directly. I would have preferred something more inspiring, with some real breath to it. I already forgot the slogan
[…] Last, there is ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brow, flush it down‘ […]
“The future is the most important commodity we all share. Without the future you would not be able to read this sentence after the last one. A concept so crucial but simple we forget at times how vital and central a sustainable future is to all our lives.
Climatic uncertainty and instability, the suffering and extinction of animals and plants, famine, war, pollution and disease are some of the challenges to that future”.
The above is part of a submission to use the Millennium Dome London as a global environmental management centre in the 2001 competition
This was the proposal the Government’s own consultants wanted to back. It was a nearly a $100 billion per year project, that would have cost about $ 4 billion to initiate.
Unfortunately though it was short listed, it was thrown out at the ‘market testing’. Had it gone through the financing was available. A project team was going to be supplied to me and one of the goals was to approach the large reinsurance companies, offsetting their future liabilities for the start up financing.
http://millenniumprojecttwo.blogspot.com/2007/01/millennium-dome-2001-proposal.html
one of the tag lines was
“creating the future”
Though I didn’t win, much of my work has been used by organisations which had access to the confidential (supposedly) entry. “Creating the future” is now being used by one of them. I am just a planetary engineer and project manager without the resources to do anything about it, yet.
Just because we have always believed the future would always be there, doesn’t mean anymore, that is the case.
Now we have to be proactive in our actions to ensure we have a future-for ourselves, the planet and all the animals and plants which share it with us, which together create the planetary ecological life support systems on which our lives depend.
Had the UK Government gone for the environmental centre many of the disasters of recent years would not have been of the same magnitude.
In the SE Asia Tsunami, anyone outside of 45 minutes of the origin of the pressure wave- who had a mobile phone, within shouting distance of someone who had, or a radio or a computer- who were killed -would probably be alive today.
The business model for the Dome had global environmental monitoring linked in with a global communications network.
Sounds impressive, it just means if you were lying on a beach on a Boxing day morning, your mobile would have bleeped.
A text message would have said.
Suspected Tsunami (tidal wave) approaching. Please walk calmly inland for 15 minutes and advise others of the same. Thank you. MP2
Katrina. Same idea, different message.
All this climate change symtom/problem would more or less have now been resolved. The imminent collapse of the planet’s ecological life support system sorted.
Tornados, fires, floods, terror, extinctions ets etc, as Yul Brinner once said.
It was decided to give to an American, Anshutz, to open another music venue and casino. Politicians don’t really have their priorities right.
As you are aware though the UK Government didn’t want the solution to the now unfolding global catastrophe, the threat was still there. So the agenda of the 2005 G8 climate change and Africa was placed in a UN report for the UK Government to read in 2002. Along with the now globally known assessment that climate change was a greater threat than terrorism.
http://www.mp2.worldfriend.com/sustainable_development_forum.htm
A damage limitation exercise.
Listening to the planet is good. I like talking with the planet.
Which is a bit bizarre, as Green with a Gun pointed out. We are part of the planet.
http://thecelticlion.blogspot.com/2008/02/never-say-green-again.html
So really we are just the planet talking with itself. We are her self-reflecting consciousness. She has been alone for 4.5 billion years evolving. Unable to see herself.
We are her mirror. Will we allow her to see herself in all her infinte beauty before we destroy her-and ourselves.
I like talking with the planet and I like creating the future.
Thank you Roger. I am still brainstorming on a tag line . . .
Thank you Roger. I am still brainstorming on a tag line . . .
New York New York
So good they named it twice
how are you on Obamas quote from Dr King?
The fierce urgency of now
its not light humour but applicable
http://thecelticlion.blogspot.com/2008/02/democratic-primary-wisconsin.html
are you and the babe into Bob the Builder
how do you stand, has Obama taken “Yes we can” from Bob
http://www.bobthebuilder.com/uk/bob_the_builder_brand_message.html
There are now 119,000 Google references to Barack Obama and Bob the Builder
A further debate is did both get it from Caesar Chavez
No idea, Roger. The focus of La Marguerite is on climate crisis related issues. My references to Obama only serve to further my points about green psychology.
when I heard him quote Martin Luther King, I made the connection with “It convinced me of the urgency of the crisis” from your post above.
Its my concern that the climate models are correct. But they are only looking at climate change. if other factors are brought in the tipping point if global ecosystem collapse will come far sooner. exponential plus exponential= super exponential collapse.
I feel really guilty Marguerite.
There were 3 important pieces of work I had to do in December 2002. With everything else I was going to be working at maximum capacity.
then we had premature still born twins, my Uncle died and my father was taken critically ill 400 miles away all on the same day. Suddenly everything hit me like I wouldn’t be able to cope.
now my girlfriends in hospital. So I am visiting her and looking after her children on top of the a triple family tragedy and what I had already planned.
I attended a conference on London at the Dept Trade and Industry to set up the next generation of UK climate models. This is post 9/11 london and all these climate scientists are being guarded by machine gun toting anti-terrorist police.
It was the firsttime i my life I had ever seen a machine gun, only the second or third time I had ever seen a gun. I found it a strange juxtaposition we were there trying to save a planet, which includes would be terrorists. yet we would needed to be guarded against those were trying to protect.
I was still in grief but holding everything together because I had to, there was no one else in that insane December. There was this build up to a war that I thought was wrong. This strong feeling that bombs would drop on other children and other parents would be grieving.
So in one of my submissions to a UN report I wrote that climate change was more important than terrorism. As an anti-war stance. In the context of all the work I did for the report, it would mean climate change is an example of the whole planetary ecological challenge.
Somehow when it all came out in the open it was only the climate change part of the global ecological challenge that got the focus.
I feel now that I have let everyone down, like I have lost control of what I said. Like I nolonger have the voice that for one brief time was heard around the world.
I want to say climate change was just an example written in an emotive way. It is the whole planet we must love and care for, not just the climate.
This notion of global change and transition we must achieve in 5 years so 2 year olds become 7.
we have a broken planet. Can we fix it? Yes we can!
re-think re-claim re-plant.
just testing my trackback..
[…] back a bit. And lighten up. I am ready to bet other people are feeling this as well. This is when humor can help with green fatigue. Here, for your enjoyment, is a short routine from George Carlin on […]
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