The UK is going green very fast, but the only display of wealth in terms of greenness here is in hybrid cars. What is it like in the US?
Is there any website that makes ‘green’ look glamorous? Do you think people ‘go green’ to ‘look cool’? I need proof please
It does appear as if much of the "green" activity is expensive in the US. One reason is that much of our retail market is supplied by big chain stores and their business models were established over the previous 10-60 years; this includes the suppliers/manufacturers as well as the stores themselves. With most of the entire product supply chain so remote, it is difficult at best to determine just which component/ingredient originates and is handled; further consumer safety regulation is not ideal. So, if one chooses to believe the labeling at face value it is like putting one’s head in the sand. This even extends to the folks buying components and/or ingredients for thier products despite what they think they are buying. Else, one is dealing with small guys trying to eek out a living in stiff competition with the box stores and big guys. The tainted cat and dog food carried with it much press and presents as a good example; we have yet to conclusively hear of similar sourcing and testing in human food. A smaller scale example was our peanut butter, peanut, cashews, and other nut problems which also carried with it a bunch of press.
But, this does exemplify where the heads of much of the American public is with respect to evironmentalism and being "green" Much of the concern rests with personal, family, and general human population health. There is sort of a demand and sense of right to safe work places, homes, food chain, product chain, healthy air, and clean drinking water coupled with a fear that these things may not be so. The cure is to avoid some items and embrace others in a peice-meal, pill mentality methodology while not adjusting the whole of the problem, understanding that humans too live in an ecosystem, nor particularly wanting to overly adjust their life style. In part, this is led by employers who are reluctant to adjust their personnel policies, corporate culture, and processes; even to make it generally possible for ride-share or public transportation use. This means that being economically advantaged does make it much easier to be green; except that many economonically advantaged sub-cultures are founded in the display of wealth. So, getting these guys on board isn’t such a bad idea especially since they are often the decision makers as employers and supervisors, supporters of special interest lobbbying, and actual politicians.
On the other hand, much of the grass roots conservation and environmentalist movement is on the home-front; and often among many of the less economically advantaged because they have chosen a life-style that does not lend itself to rising to the top. Another group that is well entrenched in much of the 4R’s of the current green movement are the frugal living types; the current economy is a boon to expansion of these practices. This movement rises out of the 1970’s environmental movement and was probably carried out best by the "granolas" followed by the rest of the organic and healthy eating folks. It has generally entered the rest of the population as they try to prevent and outlive cancer, heart disease, alzhiemers, autisim, diabetes, and now obestisty. We have a number of folks who are just becoming aware of global, climatic, and ecosystem type problems and are running in interesting numbers of circles trying to prevent it. The "green" movement appears to be shifting to the prevention of green house gases. We are just now being told that we have a de-forestation problem within our borders; it is not just in tropical South American and Africa. To many, this is new and is being taken with the same skepticism as global warming, climate change, shifting weather patterns, and all the rest.
Enter into this same equation are grass roots municipalities who are responsible for the removal of garbage, provision of affordable housing and utilities, maintenance of Clean Air Act numbers (?1970’s?), an ensurrance that the drinking water is safe, and more. The cities, townships, and counties are certainly aware that we are running out of space and more. Some states are joining the bandwagon particularly when jobs and the continuation of many industries are considered.
While some people talk the talk without walking the walk and use the environmental movement to express their wealth, many others are quite the opposite. An example would be the people who only eat tofu and organic food and talk endlessly about it, or people who only buy a hybrid car and solar powered lawn decorations then refuse to recycle and buy anything secondhand. The point of the environmental movement, once you get away from Green Washing (Making things sound environmentally friendly when they aren’t) is to reduce your impact on the planet. Many people have also adopted the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle mantra to save themselves money instead of spending more. I, for example, am a college junior and as such I do not have much money. I buy my clothes, books and CD’s second hand, and that’s if I need them at all. We leave our windows open during the day so we don’t use our lights or air conditioning. We also unplug anything we’re not using so the appliances don’t draw power unnecessarily. These steps save us money and reduce our impact on the environment. People like my friends and myself don’t display wealth so much as a concern for the environment. Riding your bike and walking instead of driving display a lack of wealth if anything.
And as for the comment concerning "Green" cleaners being less effective this is untrue. They clean just as well as chemical cleaners and are less harmful to your body. I only use green cleaning supplies and my house is actually cleaner than people who use regular cleaners. If you want to see a more "grassroots" response to the green movement check out my Yahoo! group Dailgreenery. Most if not all of my material tells people to save money and to only buy what they need.
Hope this helps.
Going green is not an example for Americans to express richness. Look at the website below.
http://green.venturebeat.com/2008/01/10/27-electric-cars-companies-ready-to-take-over-the-road/
This website shows the expense needed to buy an electric car, which is considered expensive and is a luxury. Prices up to $ 10k is unreasonable.
On the other hand, ‘going green’ is another definition for recycling. If you’re rich you wouldn’t want to get your hands much on garbage wont you?
http://thebarefoot.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/recycling-going-green-being-poor/
Green everywhere is a brand label of exclusivity meaning higher prices and thus higher profits. Most green products are lower performers than non green labeled ones just like virtually all the Y2k certified computer programs were slower and less efficient operating with more bugs than the ones they replaced. It is strictly a politically sponsored way to get 2nd and 3rd rate products on the market with record high profits compared to tried and true front line products.
No, in fact I think that most Americans are rather skeptical about the whole idea. The main reason is that while some nations try to impact pollution by having strict rules, other nations (China being a big one) don’t really care because they are struggling to industrialize themselves. For example, in 2007 air pollution levels in California suddenly jumped after consistently improving over the last 40 years. The source of the pollution increase? Coal fired power plants in China. Chinese government is planning on building more and more of these. I was in Suzhou, China last Spring and the air pollution was so bad that your eyes hurt riding in a closed car.
Many people think that "Green" movement is a fad, dictated and popularized by the media and a few brainless celebrities. Remember "global warming"? Now no one talks about that, instead it is "climate change".
I don’t care what my "carbon footprint" is. I have always lived conservatively, buying small efficient cars and building an efficient home. That, I think, is more important than getting swept up in foolishness like the recent "cash for clunkers" program here in the States. People do not take a good hard look at what they are being told. Why scrap a 10 year old car just because it gets 25 MPG instead of 32MPG? Consider the amount of energy it takes to make a new car – isn’t it far more efficient to keep what you have going?
I think if everyone chose to live responsibly like I do we would not have a lot of the issues we have today and people would be more satisfied with their lives.