I love Lynda Reeves

 In her regular column in the Vancouver Sun (Friday 12th May) and the current phone-book sized “Green Issue” of her immensely popular “House and Home” magazine, design diva Lynda Reeves has struck out in favour of “eco-chic”. Lynda translates eco-chic as “green with taste”.

Lynda admits she has been resistant to “green”: and I can understand why. SBC market research has shown us that, outside the green community, “green” is seen with suspicion and distrust. In Lynda’s opinion “green” is evidently not synonymous with “taste”. Consumers think green is “hard work”, about sacrifice and “doing without”, ”judgmental” and only for the wealthy: green is very much an aspirational goal. They told us that “one day I might do this, but right now it is too expensive and too difficult”.

In all things we look to experts like Lynda to help us navigate complex purchase and design decisions. Think how Martha Stewart helps us make sense of home-making and how Oprah picks out good books. Home renovation and improvement is an infinitely more complicated, precarious, costly and painful process than either housekeeping or shopping at Indigo. To make matters worse,  “green” has been in common parlance for some time: yet the amount of confusion and mis-information out there is still causing decision-making nightmares for consumers: who desperately want to do the right thing. Green advocates and design professionals need to take heed of the fact that consumers use different language: green and sustainability do not mean the same thing to consumers as the US Green Building Council and Brundland definitions: no matter how scientific their pedigree.

I for one embrace Lynda with open arms as the first of the mainstream personalities to stand up for “eco-chic”.  We need Lynda’s help to articulate that green is not an “all-or-nothing” proposition and that step-by-step we can absorb “green” into our decision-making criteria because it really can be cool, gorgeous and right for everyone.