When is a Green Prom not Green?
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 06.18.07
When the press coverage is completely off the mark. There's an article in the Pittsburgh-based Post-Gazette about an attempt to organise a green prom at the City Charter High School. At first glance it appears that all the students took the bus to the event, which would indeed be a good move, even if it alone doesn’t necessarily warrant the prom being called green. However, read on and you will find that only 13 of the 136 students took the bus, and most others went for the more traditional, and gas-guzzling, Hummers and limos.
There is even a quote which reveals that they were going to take the bus anyway and only retro-actively decided that it was for an environmental cause. "We take the bus everywhere, so we were just going to do that anyway. But we had done a global warming symposium at school, so it became more about that,” said senior, Macy Lucas.
Although we don’t want to be negative about any action taken to make an events impact on the environment lower, it has to be said that less than ten percent of the attendees taking the bus doesn’t exactly warrant a news story. If you want to green your prom, then taking the bus is a great move. Limos aren’t actually that bad either, as long as they are full up with passengers. Wearing a dress that you plan on wearing again, or that is created from sustainable materials is also a good move.
Newspaper coverage of ‘green’ events, and companies taking measures to become more ‘green’ are abundant, but you have to read the piece with a keen eye and a healthy pinch of scepticism. Have any of you taken steps to green an event? Perhaps you have some ideas on how a prom's impact on the environment could be lowered?
We recently featured a company that is attempting to green the traditional student prom by creating dresses from sustainable materials. Once in a lifetime events like a prom are a great tradition, but are often pretty harsh on the environment because those fancy dresses only ever get worn once. ::Post Gazette
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Why the hell would you take the bus on your prom day? Why suffer the humiliation? and besides, you do prom only a few times. Your notion of reality is absurd.
anon, your notion of reality is absurd if you think people would be humiliated by taking the bus,
or that other students would even notice.
most prom memories are made long after the dancing and organized activities are over.
Aj
Being from Ireland I never had the prom experience. But at the end of second level education we have what is known as a 'Debs' ... which, from watching a few too many US based teen dramas, I think is similar.
For my Debs nearly 10 years ago, several private buses were organised to take us from the school (where everyone gathered with parents, beforehand) to the event. It was only a very few extravagant people who hired a limo. If I remember correctly alot of girls either hired a dress or had something made (on a budget) with a local dressmaker.
At the time these things weren't done out of any particular eco-awareness, or high-mindedness, but just the practical business of affordability for a group of 18 year olds.
An event like Prom needs to be organized ahead of time, and with enough planning in advance, I'm sure their event and efforts would have gone over better. Too many kids are too into what their seeing on tv, like that stupid Sweet 16 show and MTV, and they want to be and act like what they are seeing. Its not cool to be in to the environment when you can roll up in your Hummer. And if you think the "coolness" stops in high school, forget it. Most of my co-workers are over 30 and snicker at the mention of anything environmentally friendly.
There's a lot of change that needs to be made, especially in the public view, and until then, its going to be hard to convince kids to join in these events like this "green prom" because its not what there roll models on TV are doing. But keep it up kids, the ones that want it to work, you'll be the ones making a difference in tomorrow.
as the senior Macy Lucas that said that quote and took the bus to prom, let me just say this
My dedication to bettering this earth should not be questioned by a cherry-picked quote. I am already environmentally aware by utilizing the bus so often as opposed to driving my own, or someone else's car.
I was "already going to do that anyway" because it's stupid to get a big flashy limo to pull up to your prom. Who is there to impress? My plan was to take the bus, because its cost effective and I dont care what people think.
But when we did that symposeum, and the idea was introduced formally to be a school sponsored event, I thot I might as well get with the program and be part of the "green team" - rather than just be the girl that took the bus to prom.
Because as you have so eloquently proven, people are judgmental and like to make assumptions based on so little information.