Is your Asshole Green?
If so, you gotta call him or her on it.
I admit to watching some of the "Live Earth" concert on Saturday. Of course, I watched it on my electricity-guzzling television while sitting under a lamp that did not sport a compact fluorescent bulb. (Gasp!)
Did I feel guilty? Not enough to buy a $25 pencil set.
Ironic? Maybe just a little. (Um, NBC, the network that broadcast the concerts is owned by GE, a not-so-environmentally friendly company.)
I always have to laugh when I see celebrities, especially musicians, telling me to "go green" or "save the planet" or whatever while they sip their $300.00 martinis in the comfort of their million-dollar homes. Politicians are worse. Fuck you, Al Gore. I know people love you and your movie. Recycling is great. Driving a hybrid is great. Your hypocrisy? Not so great. I don't have anything against Gore personally, but the man owns tons of stock in oil and he likes to leave the lights on. All the lights.
Anyhoo, I'm really ranting because now that "green" is hip, it's become a consumerist nightmare. Really, are people so dumb that they need designer grocery bags? Wait, don't answer that.
Being green is actually pretty simple. Recycle what you can, don't buy products with a lot of packaging, don't drive when you can walk, don't leave the lights/tv/radio/computer on when you're not using them. Don't take 30 minute showers. Use a push lawnmower, not a gas or electric-powered one. Buy used furniture. Etc... See? No mass amounts of money required. No souls sold.
Now if only the Administration would do their part... I'm not holding my breath.
4 comments:
There's no way in hell I'll buy a designer grocery bag (or any other "designer" shit for that matter) but I actually feel better about myself now that I have reusable grocery bags. It's totally easy, try it.
I actually read a while back that even though those compact flourescent bulbs last longer (thus less landfill waste), and use less energy, they are still flourescent which means they contain some amount of mercury, and therefore you have to take care when throwing them away, and can't just haul them off into your trashcan.
The slogan when we were trying to emulate hippies back in the 90s was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Simple and catchy, but also sensible and it actually makes a positive difference.
Now it seems "Go Green" actually means "Buy this trendy expensive thing, and you can earn your ticket for pretentiousness!"
Don't get me wrong--it's nice for anything progressive to catch on, but being trendy, I guess is another matter. Particularly when it's tied to consumerism, there seems to be an insincerity about it. The crappy thing is, stuff like "rock" shows and hipster merch seems to be the best way to get issues across to the masses, especially them youths, these days.
The questions to me always are, What is X-action going to do systemically? What effect might it have on other factors towards the goal of having a healthy environment? Is it in the end sustainable? I would like to not be a minority in thinking this way.
Ooops, we gotta add Babs to the list of celebrity hypocrites. Seems she likes to travel "in style".
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