Kermit the Frog knew it best: "It's not that easy being green." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv1gQ-0J0bk When Ray Charles performed the Joe Raposo ballad featuring Kermit's melancholic elegy-cum-paean to the nature of his being, it makes me cry. Every time I hear it, I realize a blind musical genius like Ray had never seen the color that permeates musical and poetic metaphors about springtime, rebirth, energy, creativity, hope, and heart-space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHR6HkHySWY Many creative efforts have been made to avail those who have limited or no access to their full sensorium to be able to experience nature in a truly immersive, extraordinary way, but we still have a long way to go. https://deafblind.org.uk/how-to-go-on-a-sensory-walk/
"Green-being," direct sensory experience and immersion in the natural world, is not only a gift, but it might even be considered essential to overall health and well-being. Environmental neuropsychology has well documented the positive, far-reaching psycho-emotional, cognitive, and physical benefits of regular access to green space. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/nurtured-nature
Why is green such a potent color? The trichromatic human eye is capable of translating waves of light into color. Green light appears at 555 nanometers, a mid-spectrum range where visual acuity is best, and perceiving green requires less strain. https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/05/health/colorscope-green-environment-calm/index.html Oxygenic photosynthesis worked its energy-converting alchemy in the biosphere and became essential to evolutionary human life. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2949000/#:~:text=There%20is%20suggestive%20evidence%20that,interpreted%20as%20arising%20from%20phototrophs%20(
Green has ancient roots in our collective consciousness as we made the transition from hunter-gatherers, able to detect colors that stood out and thus escape predators, to agrarian settlers, able to plant and harvest plentiful food sources for the tribe. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/what-did-the-transition-from-hunter-gatherer-to-farming-really-look-like
Green also plays a significant role in our spiritualities, mythologies, poetry, art, and music because of its ubiquity in nature. In its positive connotations, it can symbolize new life, youth, health, prosperity, rebirth, and harmony. In its negative connotations, jealousy, greed, and ill health, green transports us to the realm of unhealthy relationship with self and others, and invites us to grow in self-awareness, where we are more mature, and "not so green." https://www.sensationalcolor.com/meaning-of-green/
Green also has documented health benefits. Green light therapy has been known to lessen stress, anxiety, and even pain. https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/02/exposure-to-green-light-may-reduce-pain/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CResearch%20has%20found%20that%2C%20with,re%20in%20a%20green%20environment.%E2%80%9D
Green can induce calm, slower respiration rate, and feelings of contentment and peace. When the anahata (heart) chakra, associated with the color green, is unblocked, energy flows freely and fosters connection, compassion, openness, and love. https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/chakras-yoga-for-beginners/intro-heart-chakra-anahata/
Many long for the "green, green grass of home," and with good reason. In proto-industrial cultures, the wealthy enjoyed vast expanses of green lawns that signified prosperity because they did not require agricultural development of that land for survival. https://www.planetnatural.com/organic-lawn-care-101/history/#:~:text=While%20sheep%20were%20still%20grazed,mark%20of%20wealth%20and%20status.
With the deleterious effects of natural degradation occurring in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction, we are now fully aware that expansive turf grass might not be a good welcome mat for suburban homing. While green lawns may satisfy our longing to come home to green, they also require excessive hydration, mowing and aeration, as well as the temptation to add harmful pesticides and herbicides for an unnaturally pristine appearance, a practice not sustainable for healthy eco-systems.
Green-being can be cultivated in many ways, provided we all have access. Environmental justice, equal access to Earth's prime goods, and equal protection from Earth's degradation, is key. A healthy, invigorating biosphere is fundamental to our common surviving and thriving. While securing equal access is an ongoing concern and objective, we can certainly make the most of opportunities we already have and invite others as well. From nature therapy in our favorite flower or veggie garden, to forest-bathing at the state park, to water therapy from a running stream or park fountain nearby, to a gentle walk among the natural soul-scapes we love every day, it is easier than ever being green.
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