What Gets Ya Goin?

I heard on the radio that Barneys is going "green" for the holidays. It makes me mad to see how principled and proactive inspirations are made fashionable and commodified. The reason for my anger isn't because I feel that these ideas are best left exclusive, but I know that fashion has a shelf life too short for any true impact to be made. Pretty soon being green will become trendy and ultimately die in the public's interest.

I'm easily drawn into this "leave it alone" mood. When I see models wearing dresses made of recycled plastic bags, I feel like what Meg and I (and tons of others) are trying to do is somehow becoming closeted into this twisted vaudeville performance. Just get rid of the damn bags.

But, we are always being redefined. (Prepare for my digression.) I heard the bit on Barneys yesterday and had been simmering until this afternoon. I was flipping through some past photos for a blog idea when I ran across these shots of an abandoned greenhouse we spotted on a hike a few weeks back. We hiked for two or three hours and I laughed when I realized that all but one of the photos I took from the whole trip were of this greenhouse.

The hike was beautiful, but I remember that this greenhouse really sparked our interest. We started talking about Future House Farm and all of the things we need to do to make it a reality. There's something very private and personal, not secluded, about trying to live in an environmentally conscious way. It seems that the more self sufficient we are, the larger our community becomes. I realize now that fashion happens when you allow it to happen and sustainable living means there is no shelf life.