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Amen -

Via Worsted Witch: (via Boston Globe, by way of NYtimes, etc.)

The current mantra of “living green” seems to have everything to do with increased consumption of goods and services when it should in fact be the reverse.

Big business and marketing have taken over the “green living” parade, and are leading consumers down the 6 lane highway, while the rest of us who care about the environment and sustainability are left back at main street with our milk crate podiums and megaphones, preaching to the choir.

I touched on this a little while ago at the Groovy mag site:

What fatigues me though about the green movement are stories about green products, stories about states proposing legislation to have a certain amount of energy produced by renewable sources, stories about companies “going green”, organic Kellogg’s Rice Krispies on the grocery shelves. My malaise is doubled by multinational corporations like BP, global news outlets like CNN, and auto companies like Ford and GM leading the debate about green energy. People outside the treehugging community (and maybe even some in it) are waiting for the ethanol pumps to replace the gas pumps on the street corners, and can’t believe that we can’t just be like Brazil and run our economy on sugar and corn. I want to crawl back into bed and pull my organic cotton sheets up over my head when I realize that LCD TV’s made out of bamboo just doesn’t get me excited anymore (did it ever?). I want to sip a steaming cup fairtrade organic spearmint headache tea to ease the eye strain from reading how Walmart really really is going green this time I swear it’s true.

I was being facetious of course, but you get my point. It is the commercialization of the green movement that is the most disgusting.

More rant (after the jump:)

Deciding to live “green” isn’t the hard part. Deciding to purchase new organic sheets for your bed isn’t that hard of a choice. Your brain still gives you the endorphin rush of making a new purchase, your mind releases chemicals in your brain because you have made a decision that you feel is inline with your beliefs. It’s staying green that is the tough part. Realizing in a year that just because your sheets have faded slightly (you’ve been drying them in the sun, right?), doesn’t mean that you should go out and buy another set. Living green is making the choice to forgo buying the sheets until they have exceeded their useful life. Living green is not buying the Prius, its biking to work and leaving the old car in the garage. It’s stocking the pantry or paying off your debt instead of a night on the town. It’s knitting a sweater for a baby shower instead of buying one more plastic toy for the baby that will sit in the closet.

(emphasis added)

The other problem that I have with the eco-friendly comsumer goods market, is that it is designed to make people feel important, like they are spending large sums of money because it is better for the environment. “I only buy X because they compost all of their manure, use the methane outgasing to power the farm and deliver the food by rickshaw” Sure that 8 oz. block of cheese is $20, but it’s worth it. Is it? Part of the issue (IMHO) is that there is still a separation of class in these decisions. If you were lower middle class and trying to put food on the table, send little Johnny and Mattie to college someday, and trying to pay the bills on time between your 2 jobs, do you honestly think you’d give a shit about where your sweater came from, or putting Chinese-made boots on your kids feet? Maybe you’d try, but after spending $15 for 3 gallons of organic milk a week vs. $6 for non-organic, it would get less and less appealing to do so. If you’re in the income range to afford all of these new gadgets and eco-friendly replacement products, you are probably making 2-3 times the median income. Buying some of these products says, “I can afford to buy these products.”

Now excuse me, I have to end this rant and go steal some leaves and lawn clippings from my neighbors… Those thankfully are free. Who knows though, maybe they’ll show up on the Eco-snob sites as “Certified 100% Fair Trade Organic Pre-Composting Material in Biodegradeable Packaging.” Cost? Yours for only $49.99.