Powys Green Guide Powys Green Guide Blog

photo credit: Lisa Sture

The Meaning of The Colour Green

I thought I would kick off our Powys Green Guide blog by musing on the colour Green. Environmental issues are always associated with the colour green, so let's look at the colour green and its use, associations, and whether it's a positive thing.

Colours are the way our eyes perceive different wavelengths of light, and in humans, more shades of green can be perceived than any other colour. Every creature has a different range of wavelengths it can perceive, but for humans, the colours we see range from the short, blue ultra-violet waves through to the long, red infra-red waves. In the middle of this range are the greens. They are perceived in a light range where both kinds of photoreceptors in our eyes (rods and cones) function, giving this extra sensitivity.

It is interesting to read some of the research into colour. It has shown that each of us perceive colour slightly differently. This difference may be very slight or very different, making colour a subjective experience. We all have favourite colours, and colours we don't like. Sometimes we even say we 'hate' a particular colour. I used to 'hate' brown, and I completely love yellow. This shows there is an emotional element to colour which effects our responses to it. There are also genetic differences that affect our perception of colour, as in the case of people who are 'colour blind', and there are others who experience Synaesthesia, where stimuli such as shapes or sounds trigger an experience of, or an association with, a colour.

Most of our associations with green are linked to nature and growing: new life, renewal, energy, harmony, relaxation, healing, growth, fertility. Each year plants vigorously push up fresh new leaves, and around May in the northern hemisphere, there are some days you can almost see plants growing! Trees are the same, bursting new leaves from tiny over-wintered buds - thousands and thousands of them - what abundance - and it happens every year, as it has for millions of years. This is an incredible system that knows how to regenerate itself over, and over.

Plants convert sun-energy into carbohydrate, which humans and animals alike, live on. Animals, even big ones such as bulls, grow big through eating plants. Plants, especially trees, are the lungs of the earth, recycling our exhaled waste breath into new, fresh, air. An incredible system that has been functioning without fail for millions of years, with no human intervention or maintenance. It is easy to understand why the word green became associated with the environment. Nature, left to her own devices, will cover everything in green, and in Powys we are surrounded by green - hills swathed in grass, trees with heads of leaves, and crops in patchwork fields.

So, getting back to our guide to all things 'green'!

As well as being a shortcut word for nature and nature-principles, green appears in 'green issues' and 'greenwash', which cast an unpleasant hue over green. Who wants 'issues'? Who has time to untangle 'greenwash'? Green is on occasions used in loosely understood ways, leading to confusion, doubt, and misleading claims. In fact, on the UK Government's Green Claims site it says, 'A recent international analysis of websites found that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading.' A shocking statistic, which backs up our feelings of scepticism when presented with such claims.

However, clarity and standards are emerging. The UK Government now has a 'Green Claims Code' for Sellers, and a 'Green Claims Code for Shoppers'. Guidance to advertisers is that when they make a green claim it should be:

• relevant to anyone buying or using it

• clearly and accurately stated

• justifiable

The Advertising Standards Authority Ltd. (ASA) are continually updating and clarifying advertising standards for 'green' goods. Their investigations are in a large part triggered by comments and complaints made by the public. Here is their page on 'Green Claims in Advertising'.

The ASA says,

"Precision matters. The rules are clear. Ads that make environmental claims need to make the basis on which they are made easy to understand. They need to consider the whole lifecycle of a product or service unless it’s clear that a more limited claim is being made. They must take care not to over-claim and they must not omit key information. Objective claims require evidence to be held at the time the ad appears. They must be socially responsible, too. So, let's not let poor standards and inaccurate claims colour our use of 'Green'. It is a word that conveys so much! We will certainly be doing our best to ensure there is no 'greenwash' here!

Lisa Sture 07 September 2022

Comments [ 0 ]

 

Leave a comment

Your name

Your comment