Worldchanging and Industry

I have been thinking a lot about environmentalism and the green movement. In particular I've been thinking about the consumer market and 'green' products. I can't say that I am a terribly responsible consumer. I, like most Americans, like to shop, I like new things and I like the feeling of affluence that my purchasing power gives me. I think this new movement and awareness is excellent and now that the ball is rolling in the mainstream media and industries, it is important to keep it moving forward so that instead of companies maintaining the current standards of environmental responsibility they've set, they keep moving to more sustainable solutions.

Ideally, an environmentally responsible person wouldn't take more than they gave back. Human beings, however, don't seem capable to just live in equilibrium with the environment and it is unfair to impose the notion that because someone wants something that they are greedy or evil. Some environmentalists have been quietly saying that this green movement isn't an actual solution, but I think they are underestimating the power of mainstream media.

Now that even George W. Bush acknowledges the threats of global warming and destruction of the environment, it is no longer about visibility, but to sustain the passion many people have begun to feel for issues of environmental safety and health as they have about people suffering from Cancer or from AIDS. We can do this by taking full advantage of the desire to find the newest item, the newest craze, the newest idea or lifestyle or fashion, in other words to use the hunger of consumerism against itself. Once people come to accept the newest idea of sustainability as purchasing less or the absolute most renewable and reusable and multi-purpose, it will then make it easier to point out the avarice of those who consume in huge quantities as examples of the evils of mass consumption. It could be the new 'size 0' trend, like that of Hollywood actresses starving to be as thin as possible.

Making that a reality is just as much about continuing to infuse the media with passion and messages and progressive ideas as it is about picket lines and marches. If it can be glamorized, sexed up, or made otherwise desirable, we can make environmental responsibility a fact of life for most Americans. The evils of media manipulation put to good use.