You know what Green Guilt is don’t you?

For what it’s worth, you’re probably more familiar with the practice and less familiar with the term.

I don’t think I’ve heard the term, however a cursory search of the internet yielded more responses than I expected.  Although it’s sad the first one I saw was on the White House website, it wasn’t very surprising.

Green Guilt – noun – [green gilt] the feeling experienced by an individual or a group of individuals which implies that the day to day activity of humanity is responsible for the perceived environmental problems experienced by the planet Earth.

Do you strive to eat foods which are grown locally because the gas needed to get those foods to you is less impactful on the environment than it would be if the vittles were grown far away?

Do you avoid printing documents because it reduces the deforestation efforts required to produce that much paper?

Cap and trade?  Really?

Have you ever hugged a tree?

Have you bought into the congressional ban on the selling of incandescent light bulbs?

Do you buy canvas shopping bags in order to limit the use of plastic bags at the grocery store because of their inability to biodegrade in a timely manner?

Have you ever bought a carbon credit?

Do you know what your carbon footprint is?

Do you recycle in order to save the planet?

Do you feel the planet is in peril because of your use of fossil fuels?

Have you ever invested heavily in green energy because it’s the only way to save the planet?

Did you watch “An inconvenient truth” and accept its premise as non-fiction?

Do you feel that Al Gore deserved his Nobel Prize?

Do you believe the Earth is in peril because of human activity as postulated by a group of scientists who have come to a consensus about the matter?

Have you ever accused someone of being a “green denier”?

Did you answer “Yes” to at least one of the preceding questions?

If you didn’t, please understand that your continued reading of this piece is purely for enjoyment purposes only.

If you did answer “Yes” to any of my questions, just you stay put.

You have Green Guilt.

I hate to tell you this, but you’ve been duped and taken.

Science has not successfully proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the activity of humankind is making the joint warmer or colder.  Absolutely no one can tell you that the rise and fall of sea levels takes place as a result of our being here.

There used to be a consensus that the Earth was flat.  Even though the consensus was there, it was wrong.  Even though there’s a consensus that man-made climate change exists, that doesn’t mean that it actually does.

Allow me to introduce you to another term.

Green Liberation Theology.

[green lib-uh-rey-shun thee-ol-uh-jee]

We already know what Black Liberation Theology and White Liberation Theology are.  Now it’s time to throw another color into the mix.

Green Liberation Theology is the rejection of Green Guilt.  I don’t have to hit you with any more facts than the very basic ones I’ve already provided.

Purge your guilt people.  It will get you nowhere under the premise that you’re going to save something you don’t fully and completely understand.