Green For The Masses

"The Green Movement" that I see forming is not as envisioned by those who started it. It has become what so many concepts do in this economic model: another product line

I spent time at the GoGreen Expo in Los Angeles earlier this year. I went to see the film "Fuel". I'm checking out Whole Foods.

What I see isn't a philosophy of stewardship of the earth, care for the environment and efficient management of resources. It has become another form of consumption. A product line for the affluent. Organic products and eco-friendly products have a higher cost, especially food. This is not for low-income households & people.

The thing that isn't said but certainly promoted in the aisles of the Green Expo is Consumption. Let's get that word out there: Consumption. In our case with a fair amount of entitlement. It's a necessary component to our economy, which for many can do no wrong. Well the truth is it does. One thing that has shown to be completely Unsustainable is industrialized levels of consumption. Namely the U.S. as we consume more energy and goods & services than any other nation on earth.

The film "Fuel" had a lot of good info in it. Especially the first 20 minutes. Resource use, pollution, oil's connection to warfare. Very good do be discussing these topics. And his graphic in the last 30 minutes of an oil barrel showing many resources will be necessary to fill in the decline of oil with other energy sources. But this promotes the same thing: Consumption, unchanged. Or said another way: The status quo. And the underlying message is that we're fine consuming on these levels, but we'll do it sustainably.

Further in the film there is image projection of celebrity, wealth, the rich & famous lifestyles. The most explicit example being the celeb in her mansion with her personal fleet of cars that is the mouthpiece for "I love my Prius". It's completely absurd. It promotes wealth & affluence over responsibility and stewardship even though the film does have good ideas in it. Stop ignoring Consumption! It's the very heart of the matter!

Why push & struggle and promote 300 million cars as fine? The advertised message is to make finding gas for them the problem. And it's not. What else then? Perhaps the multiplicity of 300 million cars for 300 million individuals isn't good for anyone but those who sell cars? What about 300 million cars being a monumental waste of resource to make and move? How else could we move around, transport people & goods where they need to go? There could be better ways.. But it's not talked about much. It's always about how we need to find ways to make more gas, or gas alternatives.

In relation, our consumption creates massive amounts of waste and pollution. With waste; check out our landfills. And with pollution; industry has created mass environmental degradation. We also export a lot of our environmental problems overseas. If we strip mine another country's forests for our use, we’ve exported our local deforestation to that country (Haiti). If we over-fish another country’s waters we've exported depletion of that resource + habitat destruction from our shores to theirs (Mexico).

Our levels of consumption are not good for us, they are not good for the people that are exploited to make goods for the US market (workers in Wal-Mart's Chinese factory make .13cents/hour to bring you your savings here).

So while “The Green Movement” contains good ideas and invention within the products themselves, the whole Green/Organic concept, as usurped by the free market, has become an expensive product line for those that can afford it.

I think one could see it like this:

Society's addiction: Consumption
The Payoff : Lifestyle
The Cost : debt, economic slavery, limited technology, waste, pollution, worsening health, environment destruction, war and deprivation around the globe.

Pretty giant costs for the payoff. Some people fall victim to the costs for sure; ie.Lose your house, bank kills your credit report, Lose a son or daughter in the war, Lose your job and go into poverty, your new computer is obsolete in 5 months, your car or electronic device fails shortly after purchase. etc.

If you really want to read about what change is needed for levels of consumption, check out the Oil Depletion Protocol. It’s an example that can be extrapolated out for other areas of consumption as well.