Note to HGTV: Green is all in your choice of words people…
First a disclaimer. I actually like HGTV. They’re nice people, or their PR folks are anyhow. Although I can’t ever find them now, they’ve had both George and Ed on their station (love them both!). They promote green living (to an extent), and they offer me my summer dose of TV.
However, I recently saw something at their website that sort of irks me. This isn’t the first time either. They do this quite a lot on their TV shows. I suppose tonight was the last straw.
I was at their Green Home blog, and I was reading this post, Green Decorating and Storage, and here’s what they say, “10 Beautiful Rooms (You Won’t Believe They’re Green!)”
Let’s take a look at that statement: The rooms are beautiful; so beautiful in fact, that I simply won’t believe they’re green! Well, thank goodness, because I was really worried that my beauty statements might be affected by the darn tree huggers. I’m ok now though.
Seriously HGTV - what’s up with that? I watch all the HGTV green shows, when I manage to catch them, because green home shows are lacking on television, and I enjoy this kind of stuff. But really, I’m so sick to death of being told that in spite of the green, just look at this house! Look how we made green pretty. Look at how green is not so green; as if green is a bad thing to begin with.
Is HGTV the only media outlet to do this - focus on the how green doesn’t have to be green aspect? NO. Plenty of the media outlets I frequent do this. Am I saying to ban your HGTV habit? Um, no. I’m only picking on them because I happened to see this tonight, but they’re oh so not alone.
What I am saying is it sets a precedence; green is normally icky, but you can make it better. You can make it beautiful if you try. I actually like green already; I see reclaimed homes, recycled materials used to build furniture, with no cosmetic additions, and I like it, adore it even. I don’t need green to look just like what I’m used to seeing in home magazines. It doesn’t always have to be something it’s not. It sometimes is what it is, and that’s perfectly fine.
I think, that when green newbies see such excitement over how beautiful green can be it makes it hard to imagine that green is beautiful enough, good enough, when left alone. Maybe I’m just being picky - but words are powerful. Words can make or break a situation. If we’re going to attach words to green items, or green issues, let’s not attach words that make green seem so outside the norm. That’s a problem.
Tags: green choices, green homes, green wording, HGTV, is green good, media on greenRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Earth Friendly Living Ideas
7 opinions for Note to HGTV: Green is all in your choice of words people…
Wendy
Jun 6, 2008 at 9:10 am
I have been called “one of THOSE people”…like Im a wierdo…lol
Marye
Jun 6, 2008 at 10:04 am
I totally understand and agree. I feel the same when people say to me..WOW! Upihave 8 kids? You look great for having 8 kids…..
But what? I look crappy for having 2 kids? Or if I hadn’t had any kids at all I look really ogre-like?
With the green thing, the reason it is that way is because the majority of the peeps want to do it because it is in style, so therefore it must look a certain way….so you fit in and be cool. For those of us that have been green since the late 60s because it is the right thing to do, well, we are just old hippies and have no class.
If you feel like you have to go and buy $10,000 worth of sustainable bamboo furniture to be upscale green then you are not green, you are only tinted chartreuse. :P
Jennifer
Jun 6, 2008 at 11:42 am
@Wendy, do you mean people call you that because you’re green?
@Marye You’re right. In a lot of cases people will say stuff like “green hippie” or something else that sets me apart because I say, recycle or won’t buy plastic baggies, it’s kind of stupid. It’s a tough call, because green sort of is a lifestyle choice (I guess) but it should be the lifestyle norm instead of the lifestyle exception, and separating green all the time in mainstream media makes it the exception.
Like the media points out look how this celebrity recycles! Cool! Like they just managed something amazing. Lame. You do look great for having eight kids though ;) ha.
Wendy
Jun 6, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Oh yeah like its a disease~
Wendy
Jun 6, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I have a tshirt(organic) that says”THE HIPPIES WERE RIGHT”!
Katherine
Jun 6, 2008 at 10:17 pm
That reminds me of people who can’t comprehend eating a vegetarian meal. If something happens to be meatless, and nobody says anything, it’s fine. But say, “vegetarian,” and all of a sudden, it’s freaky.
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