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29 September 2025
Falcor from the Never-ending Story takes rest on the peaks of the mountains up ahead. His tired body splayed, draped among the edged points.
So, that’s where he’s been all these years. Time to find him, Atreyu!
Maybe Atreyu’s been around all this while, tending to the wine vines cut into steppes down the mountain side.
This, their retirement village.
How many ways can you describe the colour green?
I try, and fail.
Yet it is not the emerald, olive, Nile, jade or Chartreuse greens that my eyes follow … but the beige of the buildings peaking out from around and under the temperate foliage.
I am drawn to the monotone of the human made.
Order, symmetry and straight lines break through the scattered tufts of grass and fluff. Miles and miles of black and white divide the seas of greens and browns as we drive along them.
Beige pervades.
Sides of rock cut in lines to allow technologically powered vehicles to meander their way around the stratospheric structures. If only we could all travel by giant flying luckdragon.
We have failed in our quests to conquer colour.
The mixing of all visible to the human eye has produced a human colour - drowning in comparison to the colours of the gods.
Beige (noun)
Origin: French - mid 19th century (denoting a usually undyed and unbleached woollen fabric of this colour)
Beige. The colour of wool once it’s been stripped off a sheep’s back.
We strip life and vibrancy from things, then give it a name that sounds sophisticated: beige.
And so we claim this beige that we have created and make sure it dominates. We can’t be the best, but we can be the most prolific.
No bird is of a single colour.
Even the black ravens flash their iridescent feathers of navy, crimson, and scarab beetle green. Birds flaunt their hodgepodge of a mismatched colour palette, while we dress in monotones so our outfits match. Aesthetically pleasing to a human is a white shirt and black trousers, while to birds, the more ridiculous you look, dance, and sound - the greater your chances of evolutionary success.
Mother Nature gave us a kaleidoscope of colours. A cacophony of sounds. Trillions of gnarly, put-together, anomalous species. We’ve replaced her creativity and whimsy, for a striped pin suit.
We’ve stripped the living to produce processed food, cleared land, monoculture, homogeneity, synthetic substances, and viral trends.
All the same.
Bland.
Boring.
Beige.
We go to other countries not for the want of the exotic - but for that same trending photo, from that same Michelin star restaurant, recommended by the same travel blogger.
We go to other countries to dine on croissants and cappuccinos and boast about our worldliness.
We go to other countries to live like we do, not to assimilate, not to integrate, but to bring our own, and say now you - conform.
Every country has their own customs, cultures, communication, and colours. The greens and golds, reds and yellows, purples and oranges each specific to a place, a purpose, and a people.
Exotic elaborate embellished embroidery replaced by Eastern black veils and Western plaid uniforms. Social media, now the yardstick for conformity.
We strip colour from lives, from spaces, places, even faces.
Straight lines. Symmetry. Aesthetically pleasing. Quadrats.
Buy in bulk. Mass produce. Cost efficiency.
We are denuding colour at an incredible rate.
Beige.
What I can offer, HERE.
💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com
In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter