I Support Global Warming. Well not really. This was the slogan that a guy I went to high school with had printed on a bunch of t-shirts along with a cute little picture of the earth being roasted like a s'more. He sold them to everyone on campus, and most likely used the money for his beer fund. Great effort to spread awareness though...
I feel like in the past few years, so many people have been jumping on the green band wagon because it's the cool thing to do. The phrase "go green" has become a pop culture phenomena, and I think that to a lot of people, going green means buying a trendy over-priced bag made out of recycled materials (yeah, I own one too...). People want to go green to be cool and seem eco-friendly, so they drive their new hybrid car to Starbucks everyday and add yet another paper coffee cup to a landfill. Celebrities advocate being green, right before hopping on their fuel sucking private jets and limos. I know families that drive 30 minutes away to Whole Foods because they only want to buy organic, and then look down on people who shop at the regular grocery store 5 minutes away like they are committing a crime against humanity. I haven't done the math, but I don't know that the benefit of buying organic strawberries makes up for the damage done from the unnecessary amount of excess gas used to get them. Living green has become a status symbol rather than a genuine concern for the environment.
Going green has sparked a consumer craze for more environmentally friendly products, but people don't realize that some of these products are only slightly environmentally friendlier. Bottled water is a great example. Companies are producing bottles made with 15% less plastic which is a nice gesture, but what about putting down that case of water and picking up a reusable water bottle instead? I've seen biodegradable plastic cups made from corn and eating utensils made of bamboo. Again, it's a nice attempt, but I'm pretty sure we're just trading one evil for another mildly lesser evil. Maybe try drinking out of glasses and eating with silverware?
I guess that something is better than nothing, but I think that global warming is being viewed as a fashion trend rather than a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed in more ways than by sporting a t-shirt. Buying more green stuff isn't going to save the world, its just going to make us feel better about hurting it.
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LOL! Nice start. I agree with you that some of these efforts to go green are trendy and not really all that environmentally friendly. People want to live exactly the same way they have been all along, but just replace everything they own with biodegradable cups and hybrid cars, but in reality it gets down to what lifestyle choices is one willing to make?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you! If you look around, you'll notice that places like Forever 21 have been printing logos and bags with phrases like, "It's Cool to Be Green",etc, etc. on things that are massed produced and are thrown away as quickly as they are stocked on the shelves... For me, that's the ironies of all ironies: advocating one thing while doing the exact opposite. Becoming more "green" is definitely something that needs to be viewed as a long-term issue and we all need to make sure it isn't just some passing trend. (Btw. I totally get annoyed when I see random, plastic stuff with phrases like "Go Green" printed on things that are obviously not sustainable...It's both funny and sad.
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