I’m Going Green in 2008

by NDK Creative Artist

This year in New Zealand is an election year, as it is in several other countries, and as far as I am concerned, it is time to have a Green Government in power in every nation in the world. Here’s my reasoning.

It’s summer in clean green pure New Zealand. But this summer is the hottest summer in 100 years! The ground is drying up and as I travel around the country on various projects that are to do with social and cultural reform, people are saying to me - as they indicate the bright sunshine and blue skies, peppered with few clouds -”Isn’t it a beautiful day.” And I say, “No, I cannot agree.” They’re always startled out of the usual sort of habitual thought-stream that’s on autopilot as they recognize that the answer was not the usual response, and those now awake, say, “Why not?”

I reply, “This is the hottest driest summer in 100 years, and a beautiful day will be a rainy day, all day.”

It tells you something about the level of engagement and awareness people have when they have not connected the dots between weeks without rain and the beating sun turning the earth into dust that will not grow anything. We need water for life, and nowhere near so much sunshine and heat as we have been receiving.

It’s like waiting for pennies to drop.

“Why Green?” You can trust Green!

The Greens are the only political party you can really trust to get it right. In more than 40 years they have not relented in their position with regard to the environment. Big business have bought and paid for the policies and parties that support profit at any cost. Screw that.

You’d think a guy named Bush would be pro-Green right? But no, that guy isn’t even wet behind the ears. The Bush initiative (like he really has any?) on big business is a bust.

Green is a Go! Greenlight the Green Party

We need to “Go” on climate change, so as Founding Artist of Allforart, the Free Articulator, BOOM!Books and some other companies, I think it’s high time to greenlight the Electronic Art & Entertainment industry.

So on 2 February 2008 I joined the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and I am now making a firm commitment to put the greening of art & entertainment on the agenda.

This is the first time I’ve become a member of any Political Party. But I believe that catastrophic climate change demands I set aside my normally apolitical neutral position.

The Disability Policy of the Green Party in New Zealand is part of the decision. But not all of it.

The hottest, driest summer in NZ in 100 years is part of this decision. The article referenced above along with many others I have read are part of it.

The NZ Green Party website is part of it. I read a lot before I decided to join. But the time is right for me to join and make a political commitment, though really it is a commitment to Life.

It is also a commitment to dreams and I am close to achieving my dreams now, the goals I have set myself in my life and I see that even as I approach those personal goals, that it is all about to be for nothing, and that really rankles, irks, annoys and frustrates. My response to all such frustrations is to find the thing to do that will resolve those issues and barriers. The Green Party is the best solution. It’s the only party we can really trust, I think, to do the job that is necessary.

Gordon Jackman and my experience of him and other groups are also a part of my decision to support the Green Party, and this is an inclusive idea - my support is not limited to a single nation’s political party, but to all the Green Party members and parties in any nation.

But most of all, I love my country and I love this planet and Life, including the Human Race, for all that sometimes I get so frustrated with the stupidity of my fellow man and the many traps we dig for ourselves.

I’d like to say this decision is based on one thing, but it’s really not. It’s the sum of many things and a good deal of consideration over the last several years of investigating and staying up on climate as you’ll see when we finally launch our State of the Culture and Civilization series; a creative perspective on how mankind is doing.

What can we do to green art & entertainment?

So I’d like to ask each of our readers to start thinking about how we as Creative Artists can actually help green the art & entertainment industry and make it far more sustainable than it is.

Here’s a couple of things I think are worthwhile to get things started:

1. E-Books - I remember reading in Stephen King’s On Writing, how two forests were cut down to print one of his books. That was a shock to me. He experimented with eBooks and it failed to take off. However, I think it’s a logical solution and the new Kindle available from Amazon is a step in the right direction. I’m looking into the production of ink and paper at the moment and I tell you, from what I can see in just my initial research, it’s a very bad, environmentally hazardous industry to be in. But more on that later. All of my books will be produced as eBooks first, and we will be retaining all digital publishing rights.
2. Green Plug power supplies - this is so cool! Not sure if that means it can lower the global temperature a couple of degrees or not, but man, it’s still a cool idea.

So there you have it. I’d like to know what you think we can do to green the art & entertainment industry.

Find your Green Party.

Where do we go now?

If you can't wait for more, explore the archives sorted by month via the links in the right-hand sidebar, or use the Category links in the same place.

If you'd rather we did all the hard work, you're in luck. Here's a list of articles that are related to this one:

• 30 Years vs. 30 Days: A Battle Lessig Had to Turn Down to Win His War
• A Live Earth observation…
• Dr. John Hinchcliff - Historical Novelist & Creative Philosopher
• The Declaration and the Traditional Industry - How Creative Artists want to do business
• Green Art Production - Narrowing the Gap - Increasing Efficiency