Emergency Meeting: Where Is The Environmental Movement Going?
Jan 11
Why is the green movement downsizing? Green stores are closing, green magazines are folding. What’s happening? At a time when we need more sustainable businesses than ever, they might be sustainable in the sense that their owners and customers are concerned about the fate of the planet, but they are not sustainable in the financial sense… now why is that?
I started asking myself that question a few weeks ago. First thing that came to mind was what Abbie Hoffman said: “America is in a perpetual state of revolution, because the mainstream keeps absorbing its counterculture.” That’s been the criticism of Earth Day, everybody is green now, even ExxonMobil. Avatar sends out a beautiful environmental message, sponsored by McDonald’s. Doesn’t anyone feel the hypocrisy here, or is it just me?
I’ve noticed that once a green brand gets bought up by a large corporation, their sales might go up, but their message gets toned down. The companies themselves stop their militancy, stop supporting causes, stop bringing up the rear. And while there’s more green products on the shelves than ever, still only a bleep on the GNP radar screen, why does it feel like we’re right back where we started?
That’s because even though most people will tell you they’re environmentalists, and some very well may be, conscious, recycling, tree hugging souls… they really haven’t done their homework on the politics, studied how deeply rooted the problem really is. So if you don’t understand the past, you’re doomed to repeat it. All we’ve done is hand over our best play to the opposite team.
It’s very naive to think that we’re all in this together, and that rich or poor we breathe the same air. I used to think so. It helped bring about the green economy, eco-luxury, pricey electric cars and far away land organic spas. But look around you, has anything really changed? I don’t mean to depress you, but when are we going to stop handing over the shop?
Green stores come and go because the moment Wal-Mart, Kohl’s or Target start selling organic clothes… or their version of what organic means, hundreds of pioneering green start-ups go belly up. It’s the law of averages. When did volume equate survival? So people on limited income can afford the green lifestyle.
Environmentalists have revolutionized all industries. From the lab to the factory floor; to the distribution chain to the stores; and into people’s homes. From the organic booze at the bar to the safe cosmetics in your kit, green chemistry is changing everything we dream about, make, sell and use. But are we stuck with corporate culture? Is that what we want in our lives. To wear GE proudly on our sleeve, refer to ourselves as “we” when we talk about our work? Knowing that while we might be installing solar panels, the company we work for also makes nuclear reactors for submarines?
That’s the compromise people were not willing to make in the 60′s which people are willing to make now. Both worlds, the green world we’re trying to build, and the old post-industrial world we’re trying to escape from, co-existing side by side, creating an eerie sense of stagnation and helplessness, eroding our spirit, defusing our anger, ultimately slowing down the pace of change to a Bilderberg crawl.
Electric cars at the expense of clean electricity, as deals are made to power the charging infrastructure with new nuclear power. Actors and actresses who one day lend their face to environmental causes, while the next are seen on billboards in Asia hording the worse anti-green crap there is. And they live with themselves, within the lie… actors, acting… telling us what we want to hear, thinking we wouldn’t notice.
I’ve been accused of being too pure. And yet I’m not perfect. I live in an old farm house, so old in fact, we don’t have the resources to fix it up so it can be energy efficient. Our solution is to keep the heat so low, we wear three sweaters, and long for Spring. That’s because green work, real green work, doesn’t pay unless you sell out to the machine, then you become one of them, with that white glow, that fake smile, that superficial graciousness… smothered in kindness and lies.
In the 60′s we wanted to change the system… and we did, to a point. The new generation has embraced a global understanding of our responsibilities… thousands of books and websites educating us about how to go green. An alternative economy has grown out of this, where solar, wind, ethanol, LEDs, sustainable clothing, organic coffee and green cosmetics, have transformed corporate culture to be more in tune with nature.
But we still have a billion vehicles spewing toxic brew, old nuclear plants leaking into ground water, coal mining blowing up mountains, burger chains clear cutting rainforest… why? Why as a collective mind can’t we change our destructive behavior? Why is war, exile, desolation, starvation more important to our species than restoration and stewardship? Why is playing video games 3 hours a day, more important than joining a conservation corps to revive neighborhoods? We live in a culture of avoidism, where it’s easier to walk away, than confront your demons. How can that help you grow as a human being?
All the pressures end up falling on the shoulders of a few… all too often badly paid, hard working drones, fueled by a sense of desperation. We need a big win. We need something larger than life to give us hope again. A sign the planet isn’t going to let us down. A place to hang our hearts.
I think that there was too much focus on the “green trend” part and like all trends they come and go.. I think we all need a major shift in mindset to remember that it’s not a trend but a necessity to treat our planet and one another with respect and to be mindful of how we live.
Great post, Remy!
wow- well written- depressing but realistic. I wish I had the answer. Except I do not think there is one answer and what you said about balance? there will always be good and evil no matter what. I guess the best thing is to focus on our own personal path to a better world and not selling out to the big man in the suit.
I liked your message, but to go green is too expensive for the majority of us. I saw a tee from one of those green stores they wanted $52.00 for a cotton long sleeve tee. I don’t know about you but that is alot for a so called recycled article. Then I saw that tee in TJ Maxx at $10.00. I don’t have to mention what I did so I wont. Purhaps if all the small green stores get together as one and keep the focus and cut the expense of being an individual store they could make it. I would love to be more green but it’s taking too much of my green if you know what I mean. One Love
I have been wondering and worried about this too! How can some of the early green innovators be closing? One fundamental thing we have to change is that ironically healthy green products sometimes cost more than toxic ones. It should be the opposite. It should cost much more to destroy people and the planet than to save them. The planet’s currency is solar energy, but modern society’s currency is money (for now). Increasing volume is slowly helping, but we have to realign fundamentally the financial incentives to deliver the outcome that we want – a long-lasting regenerative planet for everyone.
Hi Mia, yes Green Malls or city centers would be great… It would be wonderful to see a lot of small green brands huddle into larger coop spaces, reduce overhead, and prices. This is slowly starting to happen with urban ecology, as certain sections of towns and cities are growing into green communities, with stores, restaurants, forming green business neighborhood associations.
Good points RemyC! Mia is correct green is usually too expensive (or seen as too expensive); that is a reason much of the green is going away. Another reason as you point out is that much of the green was really not green, but “green washing”. This false green is a bubble that is on the verge of collapse, and could take the true green with it.
IMO, green is all about efficiency — doing much more with much less. Alternative energy sources are NOT green if they enable gross waste to continue, or screw up the environment in new ways (do we really want to see nothing but wind mills on every ridge line in the world???). IMO, Hydro-Electric (HE) power is MUCH preferred to wind power. HE is much lower cost, most people like to look at lakes (witness the fact that waterfront property on man made lakes is more than double the cost). Dams also provide irrigation and flood control — each is reason to build a dam (yet many mis-informed psudo-green proponents insist on taking dams out!!).
It is psudo-green to promote electric cars and trains that need JUST AS MUCH ENERGY (the energy is just delivered in a different form). Most electric power in the US comes from burning coal (or nuke), and this produces much more CONCENTRATED pollution than gasoline or diesel powered transportation (remember the solution to pollution is dilution). If all transportation were to be switched over to electric cars and trains, it would more than triple the demand for electricity, (and our grid is already on the verge of collapse). The only way to supply the increased demand would be to put wind turbines on every thing and every hill in the country, AND build thousands of new “clean” coal and /or nuke plants. (see http://www.et3.com and http://www.et3.net for a way around this).
My main point is that Mia is right, psudo-green costs too much, we cannot ignore VALUE is the key. “Green” technologies must COST LESS, and do more — MUCH more if they are to be able to displace the status quo. Many so called green technologies cost much more, and do much less, this is false green, this is green destined to collapse. Return On Investment (ROI) is the measure of green that MUST is always enforced by the market in the long term, The green of money is just as important as environmental concerns.
I think it is very important for those of us choosing to live the Green lifestyle to stay on top of news, events and ideas… and to share resources within our community. The exchange of ideas and tips is what encourages us to increase the efforts we are making on an individual basis to conserve the world’s resources. Having said that, http://greeneutopia.com is a site that is making great strides in presenting up to date information and ideas on everything Green! Along with their vast amount of information they also have a really neat online store that carries tons of eco friendly and recycled material products at great prices. It’s saved me quite a bit of money! I hope you enjoy the site as much as I have!
http://greeneutopia.com
Good Luck on your Green Journey!
-Sabrina
This article raises some very valuable points. We were forced to close our doors at our organic/fair trade shop due to the fact that both Wal-Mart and Superstore both began selling “organic” clothing just after we opened for a price we could not compete at. We loved running our store and our customers loved the way we ran it. We knew their names, sizes and styles and made our best attempt to make sure everyone left 110% satisfied. We believe that these are all qualities you will not get at a big box store. However, a way we did find to compete is to go virtual. We have since opened an on-line store front that opperates off a drop ship platform (http://www.PurNaturalHomeFashions.com) and this allows us to sell our products at the lowest possible price the manufacturer will allow, matching big box stores (if they carry that product) in price. The items do tend to still cost a bit more, but we have found that the quality of these items makes up for the lact of longevity you would find in an inferior product (less replacment = less overall cost and more overall efficeincy).
We believe that the cause outweighs the profit margin and that if we aren’t ecologically smart about how we live, our ecology will not let our economy survive. Our economy exploits nature too much and eventually we will remove that keystone from the framework and it will all collapse, if it hasn’t started to already.