It seems like everyone is labeling their products “Green” these days. The idea of going green has finally reached the mainstream, but at what cost? In my daily encounters with others I often hear people say, “oh you can buy that because it is green.” It seems to me that the underlying purpose of the green movement is being clouded by corporate America. For many of us who have been following the movement long before it became “the thing to do,” this new worldwide interest brings with it a bag of mixed feelings. I am overjoyed with the consciousness emerging in recent years, but I am also alarmed by the quick response capitalism has taken to make a profit off of the movement. One of the main premises of the green movement is the need to restructure our buying habits. Americans are master consumers, and few in the world even come close to us in this regard. Some may argue that China is about to pass us by, but one must not forget the population difference between the US and China. As of July 1 2007 China has a population of 1,319,000,000 people, while the US has a population of 302,500,000 people. “The People’s Republic of China has an area comparable to that of the United States of America. China’s population density is 4.7 times higher than that of the USA, but it’s per capita energy consumption is 9 times lower than that of the USA, so that in spite of it’s larger population, China uses only half the amount of energy consumed by the USA.” (wikipedia -calculated by the UN). Americans are over-consumers, so when I see advertisements touting “green” products I wonder if the point is being missed. Labelling products as “green”, and reducing the energy used in producing these products isn’t enough. We, as a nation, have to change our spending habits. It is our consumerism that is at the root of the problem. As consumers we have to ask deeper questions of ourselves not just manufacturers. Just because there was 10% less energy used in producing a product does not mean that purchasing that product is helping the environment. The real question is do you really need the product to begin with. Our addiction to buying and selling products that will make our lives more comfortable is creating an increasingly unbearable planet. All one has to do is watch the weather channel to see the drastic climate changes taking place in our country alone. The southeast is in a severe drought, the entire state of Texas and parts of Oklahoma are flooding uncontrollably, fires are ravaging South Lake Tahoe, and the list goes on. Sure there have always been natural disasters, but the frequency and intensity of these disasters continues to increase.
So why is green the new black? There is the obvious role that Hollywood has taken in putting the movement in the limelight. Close to the heals of Hollywood’s leading activists are our national advertising firms. This new found love affair between Hollywood, advertising firms, and anything environmental can be a dangerous one. While some of the individuals lumped in these categories actually care about the issues, there are plenty that are looking for any opportunity to squeeze a penny out of their consumers pockets. This does not exclude the emotions tied in with a planet in crisis. In the end the power ultimately lies in the hands of the consumer. We are the ones purchasing needless junk. We are the ones over-consuming electricity and oil. We can no longer blame the big corporations for our own gluttony, they are merely parasites feeding off of what we give them. If we cut off the blood flow or at the very least reduce it to a trickle, the parasites will die. We are the ones sending our children to wars. We are the ones jeopardizing our children’s future because we are the ones feeding the machine.
How did America reach this point to begin with? When did we adopt the consumer’s state of mind? In my search for the answer to this question I always find myself looking at WWII. One could blame our consumerism on the industrial revolution, but that would not explain why America’s production decreased while our consumption increased. It is no mystery that the industrial revolution made America’s victory in WWII possible, but what changed the mindset of Americans? With the industrial revolution came the opportunity for all Americans to obtain items that had previously been enjoyed only by the elite. This still does not explain the love affair Americans have with cheap crappy products. With the industrial revolution came an increase in World trade. Capitalism was working on a Global scale, and the quality of products was kept in check by the world market. An interesting thing happened at the end of WWII. America was the only major power in the world that still had its infrastructure. Europe had been leveled by both the Germans and the allies. Japan’s factories were annihilated by our forces, so the only true producing power in the world was America. This fact was not lost on Americans either. It became obvious that no matter what quality products America produced the world would buy them simply because we were the only ones producing them. Production increased, while quality decreased. At the same time the demand for American made products was on the rise, the US was helping to rebuild Europe and the countries that we had destroyed. An important difference between the infrastructure being built in these countries and our own was their capabilities. We were building new state of the art factories for our competition, while neglecting our own factories. There was no need to upgrade our factories simply because there was always a demand for what ever we produced. This was the birth of the “if you can manufacture it, you can sell it” mentality. America continued to manufacture more and more cheap junk wasting energy and filling our landfills. As time passed America began to see true competition on the global market. The auto industry is a perfect example of this trend. Foreign countries began producing higher quality vehicles, while American vehicles always seemed to lag behind. Of all the automobile industries in the world, American companies are in the most trouble. As time passed it became easier and cheaper to outsource much of our production, but the addiction for cheap goods had rooted itself in America. Why buy an expensive product that will last when you can simply buy a cheap version and then replace it when it breaks? It is this mentality that has gotten us into trouble. We have created a disposable economy. True change begins with us reducing our consumption addiction and choosing long lasting quality products when we do consume. Out with quantity, in with quality.
Power to the people.
