Green Options

Little girls love princess, but eco, feminist parents lament the adoration of helpless females who need rescued by princes.  My daughter has thankfully moved away from the princess phase, no matter how much I tried to shield her from its influence from the start, but she often still asks about real princesses.  I tell her that yes they exist, but that royal families aren’t necessarily role models.  Now, I have found a princess that is inspiring her subjects to grow organic vegetables.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand is calling on residents of Nan to plant organic gardens. Her own Thong Noi palace, which she visits once or twice a year, is a model of organic farming.  Somsak Yasang, the princess’ gardener, explains:

Sometimes the princess cuts vegetables in the backyard herself. The vegetables grown in the palace are served on her table.  The princess also sells home-grown vegetables at reasonable prices. Some of the surplus produce is processed and sold. Fruit including jackfruit, tamarind and papaya were donated to the nearby Nan Panyanugul school for mentally challenged children.

The feminist, eco-mom’s lament: What to do about princesses!

For the first two years of my daughter’s life, I shielded her from fairy tales and Disney movies about happily ever after and surrounded her with books about animals and nature. Then, she met a little girl that would become her best friend, who also introduced her to the world of Disney Princesses. I was happy my daughter had formed a strong relationship with another child, but there was no returning to our blissful, royalty-free days.

Breaking princess stereotypes

I’ve read several stories that try to break the princess stereotype, such as Cinder Edna and The Paper Bag Princess. Princess Bubble, written by Susan Johnston and Kimberly Webb, is the story of a princess who is beautiful, a graduate of Royal University, employed by Royal Heir Line, and is happy with her life. As her other princess friends begin to marry their princes, Princess Bubble is pressured by the queen to find a prince.

But, Bubble did not believe just any prince would bring her “happily ever after.” Yet the fairy tales said she must find HER prince! So she put on her thinking crown and re-read the fairy tales for clues on where to find her prince. She soon realized that unlike the other princesses, She was not trapped in a dungeon…She had no wicked stepsisters or stepmother…She did not know any dwarfs…Nor did she live under the sea. But the most confusing part was…She was already happy!

Maybe due to the fact that we got suckered by a couple of good April Fools jokes and the fact that this Ecolicious event offered organic cocktails caused us to check out this so called green event. Just how green would it be? Would this be a legit eco event or just eco spin? Would the organic cocktails help sway our decision?

The Ecolicious event at San Francisco’s XYZ bar in the W hotel kicked off what they refer to as “A Daily Cocktail Hour with Eco-Friendly Cocktails and Organic Bar Bites.” The scene casually mixed eco-chic hipsters, greenies, and others just looking for free booze. Yes, the lemon drop type drink (organic Square One vodka, we hope organic fresh lemon juice and not local or organic champagne), although puckering tasty, left us wondering if this drink should be classified as organic. Maybe it would be semi-organic but that sounds like something the FDA would make up to confuse eco barflies. The biodynamic wines and organic beers did sway us to think that the event had its heart in the right glass.

I’ve done my best to keep the Disney Princess invasion at bay. We have none of the movies or, uh, “books” which are just ads for the movies, and none of the merchandise or apparel or personal care items that feature the Royal Threat. Except. We do have one Disney Princess ball. No, not the kind with music and party dresses. The kind you can kick.

It was an Easter egg hunt prize, and as hard as I try to “lose” it, it keeps getting found. Lately, my preschooler has taken to asking me what each princess is named.