Like boy bands and trucker hats, it seems every 10 years or so, the environment comes back into vogue. Over the last several seasons, fashion designers, celebrities, wannabe celebrities and politicians have been falling all over themselves to get on board with the so-called “green” trend.

Like every other trend though, we grow tired of it once the next best thing comes along. Suddenly doing good by our planet again goes hopelessly out of style.

Trouble is, the environment is a high-maintenance item that needs a lot of our attention and needs it now. We simply cannot afford to wear it out once, have everyone ooh and ah over how fabulous we look in green and then put it back in the closet.

We have been insatiably pillaging the “racks” and “aisles” of our planet for way too long, picking out exactly what and how much of its wares we want. And it seems everything has been on sale for far too long. Now, the credit card is nearly maxed out and the bill is coming due fast.

We have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve simply shop the earth far too much.

Oil is a “limited edition” find that we quite simply can’t get enough of, and will pay anything to get it. We eat too much, we love lots of pretty lights and we are far too quick to discard things when we grow tired of them or they just don’t fit any longer. And I’m not just talking clothes here, either.

Buying an organic cotton T-shirt, changing your lightbulbs and turning down the air conditioning a notch are important steps we can all take to make a small difference in our world. But ultimately, we’re going to have to seriously change our “shopping” habits before we go bankrupt.

Long criticized for selfishly championing our own self-interests, perhaps this is an opportunity for us gays to get back to doing what we used to do best - setting trends. We already know we can turn derelict ghettos into quaint neighbourhoods and we can close ranks and mobilize better than any other community in response to a threat. Is leading the way to a cleaner, more sustainable world that much more of a stretch for us. Hell no.

Source: abOUT Magazine