Sep 16, 2009
Sep 3, 2009
Worst Case Scenario
I recently read a paper published by the World Wildlife Fund, which discussed the current status and direction of the "green" movement. It was really disturbing. Basically, it said that the current approach of marketers of "small steps," like swapping out your incandescents for compact florescents, effectively adds up to not much.
1) Because most people will only go "green" if it doesn't inconvenience them too much
2) The small steps rarely progress to larger steps
3) There's a rebound effect, e.g. people leave thier lights on all the time since the bulb uses less energy. Or people buying more and disposing of more recycled products than they would have with non-recycled products
Fundamentally, the kinds of change that people are going to need to make in their lifestyles if there is to be any attempt at combat climate change, or to react to the collapse of life as we currently enjoy it, is so radical that we need a different mindset other than consumerism. We can't buy green ourselves out of this mess.
1) Because most people will only go "green" if it doesn't inconvenience them too much
2) The small steps rarely progress to larger steps
3) There's a rebound effect, e.g. people leave thier lights on all the time since the bulb uses less energy. Or people buying more and disposing of more recycled products than they would have with non-recycled products
Fundamentally, the kinds of change that people are going to need to make in their lifestyles if there is to be any attempt at combat climate change, or to react to the collapse of life as we currently enjoy it, is so radical that we need a different mindset other than consumerism. We can't buy green ourselves out of this mess.
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