Gigi Bio’s “PRISMS ON BUSHWICK” From the album: “PHOTO JUXTAPOSITIONS”< reminds me of my environment, the city I love. The hard angles remind me of the urban landscape while the curve and flow flow recall the dynamic and energy of the city that never sleeps. Gotta love the graffiti too.

As a Black person from New York City I take issue with a lot of green marketing and I guess what I would call “green imagery”. It seems like a lot of “going green” is supposed to be geared towards white folks that live in Seattle. That’s fine and all but it isn’t only their responsibility to get involved and they certainly would not be the only ones to benefit from everyone being more environmentally conscious.

It bothers me that in sifting through images for this blog the majority of the “green images” I saw were of white adults and children in lush fields of green, green grass. You’ve seen those images. Maybe there are a few puffy white clouds in the blue-green afternoon sky. Oh yeah, with lots and lots of sunlight drenching everything. No beginning, no end, no context, just holy awesomeness as God intended! Maybe some strawberry blonde haired little girl is picking daisies and running around, whatever. I’m not going to take issue with the lack of non white persons in this imagery right now, but instead I’d like to discuss the lush, green field.

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I grew up in New York City and I have a problem with imagery that leads one to believe lush green fields are worth being more conscious for and saving while implying cities aren’t and the hood isn’t.

These images are supposed to trigger associations, be they correct or not, in the public consciousness. I’m just one person who likes to understand why. I have my theories but while I ponder that I’d like to focus on what I know to be “the environment” and what I consider worth saving, too.

Related reading: Urbanites Emit Less Carbon Than Suburbanites
Forget Saving The Planet, Save Yourself

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