What's Your (Green) Fantasy?

I'm pleased to report that the Green Movement has even invaded fantasy... Because before you do something, you have to visualize it. Even if the word "fantasy" implies that it is purely a daydream, with no action to follow, I think it's a step in the right direction.

I've noticed this trend in the Dear Doc questions I get weekly, in my therapy office, and anecdotally. Doesn't it seem that we are talking more about happiness lately? I think more books on happiness have appeared in the last few years, from those that feature it as a main topic, like Tuesdays with Morrie, to the more scientific Stumbling on Happiness.

Well, point being that when I ask for a personal definition of happiness, I think more people are including humanitarian or eco-friendly goals. Whether it's winning the lottery or doing the "things to do before I die" type question, I'm pleased to hear that donating funds to a cause, setting up a foundation with a personally important (albeit quirky) cause, or simply fulfilling someone's (or some group's) wish is making the top three wishes to rub the lamp and ask the Genie for.

Maybe the trend comes from the fact that we who used to carry UNICEF boxes collecting money at Halloween, have now grown up and continue to collect money for other organizations. Or maybe it's the fact that writing an email costs nothing, or that $10 can, in conjunction with a few other people, really, really make a difference to an aspiring merchant half way around the world, who like us is just trying to become a little more self-sufficient.

Now, as adults, we are working at relearning portion sizes, since to us it was all about "Eat all your food because there are starving children in China." Perhaps it's because we've realized that that

The Snapple caps that says, "The best antidote for despair is helping someone else" is right. Or maybe it's because when with all good intentions we show up to help at a food kitchen at Thanksgiving, we realize many people don't need help on that day, but they do on 364 others.

Comparing notes on dream nonprofits is funny. Whether it's literacy or sports, almost always it has to do with whether you were into books or basketball. If you could make a change in anything, anywhere, what would your dream green cause be? What is your fantasy organization, the one that would bear your name and would make a change somewhere? Before you die, where would you like to make a difference?

Comments

[gopackers]

Is there any way to make sporting events more environmentally-friendly? I think that would be my green fantasy. I love sports, but it always bothers me to see the amount of waste these huge games generate, and just the environmental impact of such events overall. If there was a way to do it differently, I'd like to get on board with that cause.

[littlejohn1]

HuffPost's Pick

I do think it's interesting that Americans seem to be obsessed with the elusive pursuit of happiness. I think the more miserable we become as a culture, the more obsessed we become with the idea. Sort of like being on a diet and fantasizing about french fries -- but the french fries actually come from France and you have to cross an ocean to get to them. I think that's how we are coming to view happiness, and it's quite sad. However, maybe as you point out, Dr. Vranich, the fact that it is being talked about more means that hopefully people will start finding theirs. And as you articulate in this column, I think people are starting to figure out that the only way they're ever going to find happiness is to stop obsessing about themselves and help someone else -- on a grand scale, or a small scale. The Buddhists have it right, I think -- they know that the only way to "create the cause" for happiness is to "cherish others," and you have hit the nail on the head here.

[rachelchanteuse]

I've been seeing more hopeful pieces like this one in the media lately, and I have to wonder -- is Obama behind this? I don't mean personally, I just mean that it seems that he has reintroduced the concept of hope and possibility into our culture. I wonder of the fact that we have a presidential candidate who represents these ideals is driving all of these "green fantasies"? Just a thought . . .
Anyway, my green fantasy would definitely include more art programs in schools; especially the performing arts and especially so-called "low-income" schools. I've never understood why or how the opportunity to practice an art form seems to often be though of as extraneous, or a privilege of the elite. That is crap. All children -- all people for that matter -- need to express themselves, and when they are kids, they need to be given those outlets. To me, that is just as essential to education as reading and writing (and I think our educational system is even failing in those areas now if I'm not mistaken).

[dragkingmax]

I would like to give gender workshops in communities who have never heard of such a thing. I know that some folks have already done things like this (there is a documentary about it, I believe), but I feel like it's so important, especially in high schools where there are kids who are going to kill themselves because they feel like such freaks that they can't deal.

[yogaivy]

I would definitely start a free yoga studio. I already give as many free classes as I can at my yoga studio in DC, but I would like to eventually have an entire studio run by volunteer teachers that gives all its classes free of charge. I always feel weird about the fact that things that are so necessary to mental and physical health, like yoga, therapy, etc., cost so much.

[writeforlife]

Ivy, I agree with you completely. As a therapist, it kills me to have to charge some clients who desperately need treatment, but don't have the funds. I am much more lenient in this aspect, but I understand why most of my colleages are not (it has to do with setting boundaries, etc.). But I think my fantasy is something like yours; I would like to set up sort of a "secret practice" where I could treat those who I knew needed help but could not afford it. Of course I would have to screen clients rigorously and keep it quiet, but this is more than a fantasy for me; I have plans to set something like this up someday, I just need to work out the logistics and other issues first.

[sterlingcheese]

I think my "green fantasy" would involve saving pit bulls, chows, and rotweilers. Where I live, the shelters are mandated to kill any of these so-called "fighting dogs" the minute they hit the doors. I'm sure it has been done, but I would like to start some sort of sanctuary for these dogs where they were not only saved, but if they had been trained to be hostile, they would be re-trained to be loving companion animals. Some say this isn't possible, but I think it is.

[photojane]

Along with the "books or baseball" dichotomy; I'd add "art" to that. Because my fantasy has always been do start some sort of project involving cameras and children who had probably never held such an expensive instrument before. I know that helping kids make art might not be as lofty a fantasy as feeding or sheltering them, but everyone has to have their niche, and this happens to be mine.

[artsandcrafts]

Hmm . . . I'll have to think on this one, but I really like the way you expand the definition of "green" to include not just environmental concerns, but humanitarian concerns as well. I think that the fact that we are currently witnessing the dwindling of our natural resources in our lifetime, it is becoming more and more clear that we are all connected, and to help the planet is to help each other and vice versa. Thanks for this one, Dr. Vranich. In the midst of all the fear and negativity that often pervades the media, it's nice to read something about hope and the goodness inherent in us all. :)

[burnt]

... stopping a war that is costing thousands of lives and diverting a fraction of the trillions pissed away into the sand, towards a national hydrogen infrastructure and grid neutrality that pays homeowners for generated electrical power at competitive rates without restriction.

[riotforchange]

I agree! Regime change -- that's my fantasy right now!