Editorial (pdf)

Colour coding – have you noticed that when an unpalatable or difficult conservation viewpoint is expressed, the apparent offender is often glibly dismissed as being a ‘green’ (or even a greenie)? This is becoming a rather convenient retort to dodge what are generally rather complex issues, ones that typically require informed responses, creative thinking and pose real and important challenges to government and society. This easy let-out ignores the fact that there are many shades of ‘green’, from the rather extreme ‘environment above all else’ to the wholly practical, and very real, need to balance man and nature for the benefit of both. It is time, maybe, to assign a colour to those who do not want to address core issues, who procrastinate, are uninformed maybe, or who, all in all, continue to contribute to the environmental problems that surround us simply by lack of action and obfuscation. In mulling this over, I concluded that ‘grey’ was rather fitting. The lack of colour reflects the absence of action, the distorting (sometimes) of truth, apathy and general unwillingness to consider changing the status quo or meeting challenges. While there are shades of grey, few give much hope that things will improve substantially in the near term. We could do with more colour.

YS