Friday, December 7, 2007

green is the new blackout



The boss was out all afternoon at the pitch that I've been working on for the past week (as a freelancer, I'm rarely part of a pitch; a prospective client might take a shine to me and understandably expect that I'd work on his business.) So I was able to exit the building during daylight for the first time in days. Because the sun sets here at 4:30 (is New York the new Finland?) I got the chance see the Barney's windows in all their luminous splendor. Simon Doonan, the store's creative director (would that every retailer had one) named the display: Give Good Green. In one window, elves carry signs declaring "Green is the New Black" and "The 12 Green Days of Christmas" in which "my true green love gave to me 12 tons of tofu, 11 solar panels...9 organic carob bars...6 compost toilets..." (if these elves are down from the north it must be the upper west side.) Another window is tricked out with Rudolph the Recycling Reindeer made of--what else?--recycled cans bought from the homeless. But what would Gore say? It's not just the concept for the windows that's dazzling--it's the hundreds, maybe thousands of shining green bulbs that pulse 24 carbon-emitting hours a day.

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