"Going Green"

ARCHIVE ENTRY DATE: #4 October 6, 2011

TOPIC: Key Metaphors and Frames

TITLE: "Going Green"

SOURCE: Personal observations and experiences; wildlife 210 dicussion; class readings for this week.

RELATION TO TEXT: RR. pg. 86. Kwakwaka'wakw metaphors of hunger.

COMMENTARY:

Food is a common domain when it comes to key metaphors, the meanings that people in a specific culture attribute to their experience. According to Stanley Walens, " the act of eating is a key metaphor for the Kwakwaka'wakw (RR. pg 86)." to the Kwakawaka'wakw eating gives life by giving nutrition and freeing souls. They believe that when a person dies you must put their bodies on a scaffold so that birds and ravens can eat their bodies so that their souls can be freed and be able to enter a salmon so when that salmon is caught and eaten the human soul can be released back into a newborn child. Their art is filled with carnivorous animals with large jaws such as wolves, killer whales, hawks. they also believe that greed and conflict can be solved by controlling hunger, therefore eating is highly ritualized. Thus the act of eating becomes a metaphor through which much of their life is understood and described. As I read about the Kwakawaka'wakw and how eating has a huge impact on their beliefs it made me think of another area where food has a huge impact on a culture. I hear the term "going green" used quite often and at first I just thougt it meant you were a going to try to eat healthier, found that term to be the basis of a specific culture. Someone who is "going green" is someone who lives as organic, and enviromental friendly as possible. These people only eat local organic food (unprocessed), minimize their energy comsumption( such as riding a bike and not leaving light on), and overall try to as environmentally conscious as possible. Its their lifestyle, what their beliefs and opinions are based on. Going green doesnt mean being healthier but is a growing culture in which alot of groups, to name a few: vegans, vegetarians, environmentalist, bases their lives on.