Green

The word green has long been associated with living plants and nature. It is a relative of the Old English word growan, which means "to grow". Centuries ago, green (often spelled as "grene" or "greene" back then) was the word that described the color of living plants. In the year 1390, John Gower poetically described "the tree with leves grene, Upon the which no fruit is sene" in Confessio amantis. And 200 years later, Edmund Spenser wrote of a "dainty place..Planted with mirtle trees and laurells greene".

Astoundingly, the word green is mainly used in the the exact same way it was used roughly 600 years ago. The OED defines green as "the adjective denoting the color which in the spectrum is intermediate between blue and yellow; in nature chiefly conspicuous as the color of growing herbage and leaves". However, green does not only connote some form of nature; throughout the centuries, the word green has gained a great variety of other meanings.

The wearing of a green gown was used to signify the dress of a promiscuous woman. This is due to the fact that sexual activities held outdoors may result in grass stains on the clothing. In that time, a man may have boasted to his friends about giving a lady a green gown. While this use is now defunct, it still survives in the famous (and very old) English folk song entitled "Greensleeves" where a man bemoans rejection from the "lover" that has so "enraptured" him and has long been his "joy" and "delight"; the fact that the subject is called "Greensleeves" reveals that the song is about a sexual (as opposed platonic) relationship with what was likely considered to be a woman with questionable morals.

Green was also used to describe fleeting, intangible things like memories or age; this is seen in the term green old age. The use of green in this manner reached its peak in the 19th century and is no longer used such a way today. The same goes for the term green hand which was used to describe inexperienced people or untrained animals. However, while the term itself is no longer used, highly similar uses of the word green still survive today.

Since the origin of the word, green has been used to describe fruits and nuts that are young, tender, and unripe. Similarly, green has been used to describe people exhibiting qualities associated with youth. In 1818, Edward Scott captured this alternate meaning when he wrote "your greener age and robust constitution promise longer life". In 1585, Thomas Washington wrote of people that were "young of yeeres and age, they should also bee greene of sense and judgment" and thus captured a more negative and potentially insulting meaning of the word green.

Green is also used to describe the complexion of those who are sick. This is likely due to the fact that certain illnesses will cause people to exhibit green (or yellow) jaundice where the skin actually does appear somewhat greenish. In 1525, John Berners described a sick duke as being "waxed pale and grene as a lefe". Because the word sick is not solely used to describe those afflicted with actual illness, but also negative emotions, the word green is applied to those "sick" with jealousy, fear, ill-humor, or other negative emotions. With this in mind, it is not surprising that the cliché "green with envy" has existed since, at the very least, the 1500s.

To this very day, green is gaining new meanings. In the early 20th century, people who were unusually good at gardening where said to have a "green thumb". This usage is based around the word's association with nature and plants and is still used today. Another recent usage is the word green as a synonym for money (specifically the United States dollar). Seen when some individuals proclaim that "it's all about the green", such a usage is likely due to the fact that paper money in the United States is often green. Green's association with money has also linked it to capitalism, globalization, and greed. On a much different note, the green is used to describe the grass on a golf course. But, perhaps this usage of the word green is not that far from the usage of green as a synonym for money; golf is often associated with capitalism due to the fact that many business deals are said to take place on a golf course.

One of the newest terms associated with the word green is the green movement which began in the 1970s. The term green movement describes the increasing support of so-called “environmentalism”. Members of the green movement claim to lead “environment-friendly” or “green” lives by attempting to live in what they perceive as a way to inflict minimal harm on the environment. In this context, the word green is used to describe anything (often products or services) that is labeled as “earth/eco/environment-friendly”. Members of the green movement would consider the crux of this movement to be Mother Nature; therefore, green, a word that has been closely tied with nature for the last 600 years, makes an apt title for such a movement.

However, it is this incredibly popular movement itself that is causing the word green to loose its original identity. Instead of being associated with the true, wild, untamed-by-human-hands nature that our ancestors lived and coped with every single day, the green movement is causing the word green to be more associated with virtual nature. What is virtual nature? Virtual nature is an intangible, man-made tool. It is used in order to appeal to consumers in capitalist countries. These consumers tend to have lives that are very disconnected from nature. They tend to live in cities, suburbs, and even small towns. In fact, anyone who is reading this at the moment (me included) probably falls into this category. We do not rely on the earth the same way our ancestors did; because of globalization, we do not have to worry about starvation or drought due to bad weather or an unsuccessful harvest in our area. If something goes wrong with our local crops, we can get the food we need from somewhere else. If it doesn't rain, we can divert water from somewhere else. There is always a distant "somewhere else" that gives us what we need. And there is always a "they" that gets what we need to us.

The consumer's connection to nature is best described as extremely indirect. And, whatever nature we do connect with (not by necessity but often for recreation) is connected with via some form of travel. Because of massive habitat (habitat as a synonym for the flora of the earth in its untamed form [e.g. nature]) destruction, we do not live within nature. When we want to see it, we must physically go to it. For us, nature isn't here – it's somewhere else.

Perhaps it is the distance and disconnect, both physically and mentally, that give nature and the word green its allure. Or maybe it is some kind of basal desire to return to our wilder, more animalistic roots. Either way, many of us are truly enthralled by nature. At the very least, it gets our attention because it is something different, something outside of this "civilization" bubble that we live in. And many of us know, whether we are willing to admit it or not, that nature is in peril due to human activities.

Somehow, whilst living in and expanding our civilization bubble by reproducing (euphemistically known as "starting a family") and doing our best to give our children their own piece of the human civilization bubble (also known as "living the American dream"), we seek to save nature. But, conservation and urban sprawl are mutually exclusive phenomena. It is our activities, our creations, our expansion that is behind the number one threat to the flora and fauna that compose nature: habitat destruction.

Our desires are ironic, but strong, and companies seek to capitalize on them. They inundate us with images and sounds of nature through our TVs, computers, radios, books, magazines, and all other forms of media; this is virtual nature. Over and over they call their products "green" implying that they are "eco-friendly" while exposing us to virtual nature. Companies hope that we will forget the "virtual" part and believe their false claims. The fact of the matter is that no car, no cleaning product, no appliance, no shirt, no canvas bag, no anything made by human hands is "green". Anything we make requires two things: resources and space. To gain these two essential ingredients, we must take the resources and make the space via some degree of not-so-eco-friendly destruction of nature.

Studies have shown that if someone is exposed to a claim repeatedly, over time, they will tend to believe that claim. Because companies heighten the effectiveness of their advertisements through the use of virtual nature; it is likely that the average person is exposed to virtual nature in conjunction with the word green several times per day. This, as well as our disconnected, "civilized" lifestyles are spurring the loss of that which green originally connoted.

The human population of the earth is about 6.7 billion. At the current rate of growth, the population will be nearly 9 billion in 2050. That's a 34% jump in population size in less than 50 years; human population growth is truly exponential. Considering the fact that enormous advances in medicine are being made practically by the day, this figure is likely an underestimate. With so many people on this planet trying to live what we perceive as normal, happy lives, it is likely that we will push nature to the brink. Perhaps the shift in the meaning and connotation of the word green is suitable for the modern world. By 2050, with 9 billion people on this planet, it is likely that virtual nature will be the only form of nature that we have. It seems as if it would make the most sense for green to be associated with that which actually still exists, even if it is merely virtual.