HOW TO THINK GREEN

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HOW TO THINK GREEN

We are increasingly thinking green. We recycle. We do what we can for the environment – to protect the future of the planet. But is this really ‘thinking’ green, or does this require something more substantial?
What we are actually doing is ‘acting’ green – taking specific actions based on what society increasingly expects of us. To ‘think’ green is, however, something much deeper, and it requires us to realize that we are not attuned to think green at all.

Two primary ideals in western society stop us doing so.

The first is the ascendancy of Big Biz – huge multi-national corporations which are, in effect, the main polluters of the planet. Big Biz works on a simple philosophy. This is that to continue to hold their power, ‘systems’ must be so big that only they can afford to run them.
A fossil fuel based economy is one such system. And in maintaining it, Big Biz guarantees that no other businesses – using, cleaner, more easily managed tech – can ever challenge them. Hence, their very existence demands that they cannot be eco-friendly. To be so would destroy them.

The second ideal is religious based.

Throughout the world we know of prehistoric tribes centred on animism – the idea that there is a spirit world running parallel to the physical. This based religion in nature. However, artifacts show a progression from here through the chimera – half animal, half man – to the man-god.
This shows the progression of religion changing from nature-based to society-based, as societies became more complicated, its final expression being monotheism. Hence, for the last 2000 years at least, our entire thought processes have been societal, ignoring the importance of nature, which was fundamental to the first religions.
To think green is, therefore, alien to both our present economic systems, and our very processes of thought. Maybe be need to redress this non-eco mentality before we can truly say we are ‘green’, with the future of the planet uppermost in our minds.

© Anthony North, April 2008

REPORT OF THE INTERGALACTIC COMMITTEE MEETING ON EARTHLY VIRUSES

The delegates chose on imminent actions,
for them there would be no distractions;
as one voice they were all foresworn,
no splinter would there, here, be born;
The ecology of Earth they knew could molder,
unless the decisions made were bolder;
The future for them, it was votive,
determined to wipe out that Earth-bound motive;
Throughout it’s life, a nature hate,
did arise to punctuate,
the beautiful nature of Earth’s plan;
With their desires, they sealed their fate,
for the total
unconditional
eradication
of man

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

OUTRAGEOUS

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OUTRAGEOUS

When I think back to how it was, I can’t believe it happened to me. There I was, a nobody, living a typical life of a teenager. Eighteen years old, a girlfriend, a job – of sorts – but mainly boredom. And then I auditioned for the TV talent show.
I knew I had a good voice. I’d even been told I had ‘presence’. And well, we know how it went from there.
I won! Millions voted for me, and suddenly I was the star.
Oh man, how life changed. It was incredible. The girls, the adulation, the crowds screaming like that!
It’s hard to explain how it is to BE somebody, to have people know your name, to have people aspire to be like you.

The money poured in, of course.

It was hard work, but I deserved that money. And okay, some people think I became rather outrageous, and I suppose I did – a larger than life character, bedding all those girls, the booze, the drugs, the statements on life, the universe and everything …
Oh, what the hell – I enjoyed it! It was great! I was the luckiest man on Earth!
Yeah, right!
Well, mom, if only I’d been allowed to live as me, rather than that soulless image that was created for me, I wouldn’t be writing this suicide note ….

© Anthony North, April 2008

MONSTROUS

Every time I see him, my heart begins to sink,
he pushes me always, right to the brink;
He’s uglier than a troll, that’s very clear,
a monster through and through, that we all should fear;
It isn’t just the surface that turns people away,
he loves to find the vulnerable, on which to prey;
A bully, a villain, a cad, upon anyone he does deprave,
so now it’s time to act, against this nave;
Enough of this vile person, I feel only dismay,
action must be taken, to win the day;
So that’s why I’ve decided,
to throw the mirror away

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

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OUTRAGEOUSLY SPEAKING

I often hear people say they are quite ‘normal’. And when I do so I think: what an outrageous statement to make. After all, what is normal? Are YOU normal? If you decide yes, what do you base that ‘normality’ on?
When you walk down the street does everyone behave the same as you? When you watch television, do all the people seem to be like you? I doubt it. You see, ‘normal’ is a ridiculous word.
In a way, it is demeaning. It suggests that ‘normality’ is something to be proud of, whereas it is really an attempt to control you – to make you conform, to make you be part of the ‘machine’ of modern life.

In this respect, many people are beginning to BE ‘normal’.

They are giving in to the stereotype. Becoming nothing but cogs in the machine. This is particularly so in my native Britain, a country that used to be proud of its eccentrics.
No more. This false image of normality is taking over, with everyone becoming increasingly grey. Except, of course, for some. Some people, you see, are ridiculously outrageous. But I don’t think this has anything to do with eccentricity.

Rather, to be outrageous today is to grab the media limelight.

It is not an inborn eccentricity, but a PR lifestyle to become an icon. And guess what, if you make it, realize the fame, then you get everyone copying you.
You know what that means, don’t you? Even in being outrageous in the modern world, you create a ‘type’ that becomes ‘normal’ in itself. After all, if a number of people display identical outrageous behaviour, then they end up fairly routine.

© Anthony North, April 2008