About seven years ago, I traveled to Cuba to study sustainable development in action. One of the many things that left an impression on me was the fact that they didn't use billboards for commercial advertisement. Instead, the numerous billboards either celebrated and promoted the revolutionary history and mindset, or encouraged ecological practices. I was struck by how much of an effort the government put into educating the people about protecting the environment. (It wasn't just these signs - ecology was a major part of the school curriculum for children of all ages.)Knowing that such magnitude of change could be driven through this public display of educational messages, I was disappointed more than usual upon returning to the States and seeing all of the consumption driven messages on our billboards. That was in 2001. Since then, we've had somewhat of an awakening of the American public around issues of conservation - Thanks, Al.
Today I noticed how billboards promoting ecological practices are becoming commonplace rather than the exception. Well, at least in the Bay Area. Here are just a handful of eco-billboards that I saw on my BART ride today:
Now, if only we could eliminate or alter some of these other billboards, like this one with the pseudo-environmental message:
2 comments:
I take long showers, and I always will. I'll justify it by pointing out that Buddhist monks would meditate under long, cold waterfalls each day. Well, I ain't moving to no place where a waterfall is accessible -- daily.
Also, all the Cuban billboards remind me of billboards in America of Sean Hannity (Oklahoma), or of, "Please don't vote for a Democrat" (Florida), or "Life begins at conception" (Indiana), and this list goes on and on. Camaraderie for a country can be from any side in politics, and we certainly have these billboards -- they just might not be for the environment, yet from your examples, and two months in the Bay I've realized this.
Yes, meditating in the shower sounds nice. Hopefully you are at least doing it Buddhist-style by turning the knob to cold and conserving the energy that it would otherwise take to heat the water.
As to the messages, I'm here in my Bay Area bubble where my favorite patriotic billboards are the "Peace Is Patriotic" ones sponsored by PeaceRoots Alliance. Yet even here we have offensive ideologies pushed as well, like the pro-Israel billboards that graced roads and BART stations for a couple of years.
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