Old. New. Borrowed… Green.

What with news that the polar bear may not be around for our great grandchildren to see, empirical proof of global warming and the recent two-week UN climate change conference in Copenhagen ending without achieving a legally binding treaty, the health of our planet can’t fail but to be top of mind these days.

So this recent piece in The Washington Post on the greening of weddings in the Kashmir Valley caught my eye.

“During every wedding season in the Kashmir Valley, love is in the air — along with a thick cloud of grey smoke from thousands of cooking fires as platoons of wedding chefs, or wazas, slow-cook lamb and chicken over wood fires, sometimes for days.

Epic wedding banquets, each with dozens of courses that include succulent lamb kebabs, mutton meatballs and chicken curries, are an engine of Kashmiri culture. But they are also an environmental hazard: About 15,000 trees a day are cut down for these nuptial feasts, say researchers from Mercy Corps, an international aid group.

So now, in its latest attempt to find creative ways to fight climate change, the group is trying to reduce the carbon footprint of Kashmiri weddings.

“The Big Fat Kashmiri Wedding is going green,” said Usmaan Ahmad…”

Digital photography has some legitimate claims to being a greener choice. Less chemicals, less paper and after all, there’s a limited supply of silver halide crystals on the planet. Of course, it’s fair to counter that electricity usage in the workflow is almost always left unmeasured. Online ordering and shipping of materials, while convenient, comes with an environmental consequence too.

It’s a constant effort to find a balance, I suppose. And to reduce that footprint.