A beautiful shade of green

While being eco-friendly surely contributed to making the planet a prettier place, but for the longest time being environmentally conscious meant being aesthetically unconscious.
The non-vogue jute bags that would only be seen on the vegetable market runways. That too in the hands of your domestic help. The ugly solar panels that seem to fit better into your socially environmental conversations, but never on the roof of your Spanish cottage in the middle of New Friends' Colony (maybe if they were called El Solar Panels). Or electric cars in which you can go about saving the planet at a snail's pace. And look like one too. (actually this one makes sense, since traffic crawls anyways these days).
Not any more. Fortunately.
Designers. Companies. Artists. Are all climbing onto the green bandwagon. Creatively, commercially, at times even conscientiously. But whatever they're in it for doesn't matter, as long as there's something in it for the planet. Do I care if protecting the ice-caps makes someone a millionaire? I would give them my green thumbs up.
Slowly, but steadily, green is becoming the in-colour. In red, blue, pink and whatever-is-the-shade-of-the-season.

A Philadelphia company has developed solar panels shaped like clay roof tiles. Called Solé Power Tiles, (just realised, it sounds Spanish as well) it'll give your green home a quaint touch. Or the jute bag that announced that it's not a plastic bag and went from being an environment statement to a fashion one.
Even electric cars promise to go from 40-140km/hr in the next two years. And look just as fast as well. Courtesy Renault & Audi.
And with designers making it to exhibitions with their environment bit, the future does look quite pretty indeed. For instance this rain barrel by Bas van der Veer that makes it easy for you to harvest rain water. Symbolically, and very aptly called, 'A drop of water'

While the environment has always been a cause. Today it needs to become a trend to find more followers. And efforts like these are small steps towards just that. Which is why we need social influencers to join the designers, companies and artists on that band-wagon. For starters, Hollywood and Bollywood.
With one look from under his cowboy hat, with a cigarette glowing in one corner of his mouth, Client Eastwood single-handedly rode up the share price of Stetsuns by 3 points. And brought down the age of smokers by about 6 years.
Closer home, Shah Rukh Khan wandered through the Italian country-side with a backpack slung over his shoulder in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and suddenly the youth of Delhi was backpacking their way from Sarojini Nagar to Connaught Place with it.
Why can't the movies set this tribe of apes onto something more environmentally responsible? It could be that jute bag if nothing else.