Environmental Color Responses

Red to all of us, who drive cars on a road, is associated with Stop – stop signs and traffic lights or signals, likewise, Green as Go.

This works well on an international scale, when visiting a foreign country we can identify these colors as symbols regardless of the language barrier.

Some cultures still do not have cars and therefore do not have this black/white response as we do.

Green is now associated with an international political movement with policies to keep our worldly environment safe from the modernisation of mankind.

They have used the name Green as it symbolizes in most countries, clean, healthy, growing and natural ideals, all that they are striving to protect and nurture. Through technology we now have colors that we had not seen before, reflective safety colors that are used for clothing for road workers, cyclists and even children walking to school. These are called fluorescent colors and reflect light or glow in the dark, especially at night, making people more visible to others, and hopefully avoiding potential accidents. When we see these colors, usually orange or yellow / green we automatically think caution.

We don't see these colors in nature so it is a learned response from our new environment.

Plumbing fittings also use colors to enable us to recognize hot from cold. Blue for cold water and red for hot.

If you take some time to look around you and observe how many times a day you make choices when you see color you will be amazed! We take being able to see these colors for granted. How does a blind person know which tap is hot and cold if they can't see the colors on the fittings? This provides another topic which we will investigate in the future.

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