Kermit was right. It’s NOT easy being green. I don’t mean the actual greening of my lifestyle. Frankly, it is easier to take canvas totes to the grocery store (which hold a lot more stuff and can be carried on my shoulder thereby preserving my weak fingers), more fun to bike than drive, and cheaper to simply say ‘no’ to unnecessary purchases. Nope, I’m referring to the knowledge that comes with awareness of the eco-tragedy unfolding around us.

And with that knowledge — for me — came an omigod-we’re-all-gonna-die pervasive anxiety that threatened any sense I had that life was good.
Life is good…for now, anyway. But noted environmental scientist and creator of the Gaia hypothesis (read more at www.ecolo.org/lovelock/what_is_Gaia.html) James Lovelock’s prediction that, thanks to climate change, millions of us will undoubtedly die but the species as a whole will not be wiped out certainly gives one pause for thought…and dread.

And the unrelenting news reports of the melting polar ice caps, the idiotic approval of more and more coal-fired power plants, the petty tit-for-tat of world leaders refusing to curb their own greenhouse gas emissions until China does (consider this: the U.S. and Canada account for roughly 20 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per person; China for less than 3 tons per person) does little to boost my confidence that the world is coming to its senses.

So it was heartening, indeed life-affirming to hear the words of one of my eco-heroes Paul Hawken, brilliant and measured as always, telling us that this is a wonderful time to be alive. In his words: “What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to essentially completely change this world.”

Hawken advises us to completely reimagine our way of life. We can celebrate diversity of all things, which means put away that toxic weed killer and savour the sunshiney yellow of a dandelion. Give your heart a boost (and waistline a trim) by hopping on a bike for any trip less than 10 kilometres. Refuse to buy fruit that is better-traveled than you are. The list of life-changing, world-changing actions is long. And our time here is short. Let’s make it count…for good.

In the meantime, I’ll assuage my eco-anxiety by tattooing Hawken’s words on my forehead. In green…of course.