My high school used to sell “Earth Pops” for Earth Day. They were these traditional suckers laden with swirling white cream that wove its way through red, blue, or orange candy (depending upon the flavor of the pop). For about a week leading up to, and a week following Earth Day the cafeteria had them in spades. They cluttered the already crowded racks of Milky Way and Snickers bars. Their faces peaked out from between three-year old packs of Doritos and Baked Lays. They clung, scotch taped to plastic cylinders of fake salami that dangled above the sandwich station in what I can only assume was a fruitless effort to make the cafeteria appear vaguely European. These Earth Pops were ubiquitous, as inextricably linked to the lives of the students as final exams, yearnings for popularity, and fabricated sexual acts undertaken with non-existent summer camp attendees. But never once did the students meditate on just exactly what the purpose of the Earth Pop was. In fact, I don’t recall the administration ever sitting us down and explaining their sudden, unexpected emergence. They just showed up, sold like hot cakes, and then were gone til next year.
Retrospectively, of course I realize that the entirely manageable fifty cent fee doled out for one of those novelty suckers must have gone to some worthwhile organization dead set on protecting the environment, putting a halt to global warming, or at the very least aiding in the mass production of environmentally conscious, slogan drive t-shirts (“Go Clean, Go Green!”). But we kids were left uninformed, and that was a serious blunder because if there’s one thing the impressionable young minds of high schoolers should be made to retain, it’s the importance and fragility of the world in which they live.
Years have past since my Earth Pop days, and since then I’ve grown up to find that a great deal of my generation has become numb to environmental issues. They’ve developed a certain comfort with the status, quo; the fact that our world is in dire straights, and we’re at a bit of a loss as to what to do about it. Of course there are the few who are extraordinarily proactive. They hold rallies. They hang out in grocery store parking lots and, with an eerie knack for bad timing, solicit your involvement in their organizations. They also somehow brave the employment of recycled toilet paper boasting all the texture of beached pieces of used sandpaper. But their efforts aren’t always effective, and with that in mind, the environmentally conscious ought to conceive different methods for raising awareness. They ought to conceive of methods that weave solutions into the fabric of our daily lives, that make environmental consciousness a part of our routine, as opposed to, say, the product of purchasing a themed sucker for a period of two weeks a year.
Enter Marqsmen! This month is Green Month. A variety of methods have been put in place for you to do your part without breaking your shopping stride! Bring in used denim and receive a %15 discount on new denim. Enjoy lowered prices on soy based, and organic products (Check out Loomstate!). Your casual shopping will aid in the health and betterment of the relatively small sphere of matter we call Earth! But there will be nothing out of the ordinary about your sartorial experience. You’ll enjoy the same quality products as always, but with the added bonus of doing something good for the planet. It’s a step toward what must be the ultimate environmental solution: The integration of environmentally conscious acts into our day to day lives! So enjoy your shopping, and let’s all enjoy our environment for years and years to come!
