How's this for bitter irony?
Most forms of the color green, the chosen emblem of environmentalism since the 1960s, are not only not ecologically responsible but potentially poisonous.
Writing in the Design section of the New York Times, Alice Rosthorn says that because the color green is so difficult to create, manufacturers have to use toxic chemicals to stabilize it. That means that green-colored plastic and paper cannot be recycled or composted safely.
A cruel paradox, considering most organic products have green packaging.
Read the New York Times article.
Photo: Woman stocking shelves with organic products in Berlin (Michael Gottschalk/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images)