We’re so used to how colorful our world is, that we forget to appreciate the colors
around us.
Imagine what would happen if the most abundant color in nature suddenly disappeared?
What would the world look like without green, and what would it mean for us to live without
it?
Green is one of the richest colors there are.
It has the most variety of shades and tints among all the others.
Besides that, it also has the widest range of possible meanings.
Green mixed with vibrant yellow will look fresh and juicy, but mix it with pale yellow
and a little brown and it’ll look sickly and disturbing.
Dark green is associated with wealth and reliability; but make it just a bit darker and it’ll
be connected with greed and look militaristic.
What’s your favorite green colored thing in the world?
Apples?
Northern Lights?
Comic books about The Incredible Hulk?
Imagine if they all suddenly lose their color and become bland and grey.
Would you enjoy these things as much after that?
Let me know down in the comment section!
Green is mostly associated with nature, and for a good reason.
We owe our lives to this color because most plants are green.
This literally makes it the most important color in the world.
Every cell in most plants has special parts that contain a unique substance called chlorophyll.
It’s capable of transforming the sunlight into energy.
During this process, plants consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
The moment this clever mechanism appeared on our planet, it became fully capable of
sustaining complicated life forms.
And this, in its turn, led to our own existence.
For this same reason, green is also associated with all movements that aim at preserving
the ecology of our planet.
What color could they use to promote themselves if not green?
If the emblem of some organization is green – you know immediately that it has something
to do with recycling or environmental clean-up, or the preservation of endangered species.
Some of them often include the word ‘green’ in their names on purpose, like Green Peace
for example, because this color has become a synonym for sustainability and nature in
general.
Even apart from ecology, green is a highly effective marketing and branding tool.
Being one of the most peaceful colors, it’s linked to reliability and safety.
Lots of brands use this to their advantage.
We’re subconsciously drawn to green lights and storefronts, especially in big cities
where stress and pressure are inevitable.
If there was no green, most brands would use blue as the only other alternative due to
its natural lure.
But that would be too bland and monotonous!
And after all, it’s not a coincidence that green is the color of the dollar bill.
The well-known ‘greenback’ is green not only because in the 19th century this pigment
was cheap and easy to find, but also because it was meant to symbolize how trustworthy
the dollar is as a currency.
But the main reason for using green was because at the time, all it took to make a false dollar
bill was to take a photo.
Photography was black and white back then and wasn’t able to copy the green color.
In our days, falsification is more complicated.
But the green pigment used in bills has proved itself to be sturdier than others.
It simply doesn’t wear off with time.
Still, I think the main reason why dollar bills are green is what it represents symbolically.
I wonder if this link between the green color and money is part of the reason why green
is considered the color of luck.
You know, all those fairy tales about four-leafed clovers and a tiny man in all green with his
lucky charms, which may or may not make anybody who catches him fabulously wealthy.
All these tales came from the so-called Emerald Island, better known is Ireland, but they
became quite famous throughout all western cultures.
Now imagine that Leprechaun wearing a golden jacket and hat instead of green – that would
be a tasteless disco-star, not a symbol of luck.
Other traditions we all know and love would likewise suffer a significant loss.
What are the colors of the Holidays?
Everyone knows that.
It’s white, red and green of course.
Even though green isn’t as significant here as white and red, without it, these other
colors wouldn’t be as fresh and cheerful.
The red color is traditionally associated with joy, strong feelings, and the rush of
blood you feel when you’re especially excited.
But with green come the feelings of a fresh start, peace, and calmness that balance out
the red perfectly for everyone’s favorite time of the year.
You can already see how significant green is for design as a whole.
A dark green car would look respectable and luxurious.
A bright green car would point to the creativity and youthfulness of its owner.
The same goes for interior design too.
With so many shades of green, you can achieve any kind of mood in your room for any purpose:
from a home office to a kid’s room.
But green is often avoided in the design of office buildings, and here’s why: Most emergency
exit signs and arrows around the world are green.
Without this color, they wouldn’t be as effective.
If a fire breaks out somewhere in a building, it’ll spread quickly.
Plus, if the signs leading to the various emergency exits were just white – they wouldn’t
be visible through the fire!
Green works because it’s a better contrast to most other colors.
Green is so strongly associated with safety that, even before elementary school, we learn
that a green traffic light means it’s safe to go.
If it wasn’t green, it would probably be replaced with blue, but that would still be
somewhat misleading.
The phrase ‘green light’ itself became a synonym for “starting” or “going”.
Pharmacies around the world also prefer to represent themselves with the help of shining
green crosses.
They’re immediately recognizable signs, making it easy to spot a drugstore at any
time.
Yes, they could use a red cross as a universal symbol of medicine, but people might misinterpret
them as clinics and emergency rooms.
Such a mistake could be dangerous, so green is the best option for pharmacies.
It’s even believed that the green color possesses some healing qualities in its own
right.
Ironically this same color is a good warning sign that someone’s feeling bad.
Ever heard of ‘green with envy’?
And if someone’s face has a greenish hue, it might be a clue about how this person feels
today.
It’s also a sign of danger if you find an old piece of bread or cheese and see some
green on it.
You immediately know that it’s spoiled and you need to toss it in the garbage can.
Green also has a sacred meaning in traditional spiritual practices that have a lot to do
with medicine and self-betterment.
Like for example, yoga.
According to this teaching, green is the color of the heart’s chakra, which is the main
link between higher chakras based on meaningful and spiritual needs, and lower chakras that
represent natural needs that are inevitable in human nature.
So green is the color of balance too.
It’s been shown that even a small painting or photo with green colors in a natural setting
hanging in your room will make you more stable and easygoing.
Bottom Line: You’ll remember that Kermit the Frog in the original Muppet Movie once
sang “It’s not easy being green”, and he’s right.
But it’d be even tougher with no green at all!
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