This year you can find green gift lists everywhere. They're on the news, all over the web and in the newspaper. I wonder if the idea is to make everyone so sick of "Green" stuff that there will be a counter culture to the low consumption/green counter culture.
What really gets me about these ideas for greening the holidays is how simple they are. Also, like a lot of clothing designs, they are recycled from a previous time. For example, I saw a piece on TV that showed wrapping presents in the comics section of the newspaper as a way to reduce waste. What a revolutionary idea!!! Reuse something that is still useful for another purpose!!! (Please read with sarcasm) I love how being simple and frugal is the way to be cutting edge and minimize your impact on the environment. Talk to anyone over 70 and they'll have all kinds of ideas on how to minimize waste and reuse products.
Another revolutionary idea is to buy less crap which has been promoted for a variety of reasons over the years. I was at a Costco recently (yes I shop there and I have good reasons so if you want to slam me go ahead but I will have a rebuttal) and I saw a guy with one cart just for the electronics he was buying. I know it is hard in our consumer culture to not buy things but sooner or later something will give.
We are at that in between stage of the environment vs the economy/our wants. Everybody has to try and that will mean we all need to make sacrifices. LED Christmas lights are not going to offset a lot of the other stuff we do. The hard part is that we are not in a subsistence economy so we can worry about wants. The things we want are the most expensive for the environment. I don't think anybody has a definitive answer but most will agree the status quo will only make our situation worse.
Enjoy the holidays regardless of what you celebrate or have already celebrated.
17 comments:
Claiming to be "low consumption" and having a million googleads/amazon ads encouraging people to buy, buy, buy so you can make a nickel profit off the click seems a bit hypocritical. Sorry, you're blog's nice but flawed.
I don't recall making any claims to be low consumption but I do understand where you are coming from. I think a "million ads" is a bit much but the beauty of the web is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Most blogs have advertising and I think the ability to earn revenue from a blog is a great way for everyone to get in on the action. I do click on many blog ads not because I plan on buying anything but to gain more information. By using AdSense I think that the ads are usually relevant to my topics. For example, I have seen ads for geothermal systems or alternative baby products that are BPA free etc. I think by changing consumption patterns that people can make a difference in their own lives. The whole purpose of my blog is to provide information so people can make their own decisions to improve their health and reduce their impact on the world around them.
Many people buy at Costco for resale, so those full carts may unload onto a store shelf somewhere. Of course, there are those who overbuy just because there's so much stuff there in giant packs.
People will conserve, recycle, and kick into creative high-gear when they are desperate - starving, broke, exposed to the elements, on so on.
Visionaries are few and subject to ridicule from the ignorant.
I feel reducing consumption may not be possible for all . Imagine a person who has just started earning - won't he be buying new things ?
But yes, we all can moderate and think before buying things !
What frightens me is the current appeal of designer green, or green (usually luxury) consumption. The environment doesn't need another market of useless products; it needs less consumption.
Hi, I'm new to the whole Blog world, so you'll have to forgive me.
I didn't fully understand everything you said, but you appear to me to be the person who wants to make people change their minds about living things in the world, to make it a better place. Sure, everybody (or at least, most people) want their world to be improved, and the world around them, but I'm talking about sincerity, and actually doing something about it.
You sound like you want to save the environment, people, for having freedom from all unclean things that are in the world, and you are almost, even frustrated by what we as people are doing, that we are destroying the world in which we live. We complain that we want things to be just, and righteous, about how awefull we think the world is, knowing full well most of us are doing almost as little as possible to help. It really is sad, but the reality of it is, that it really is a reality. That may be totally of the mark, but that's what I got from this.
I do like quoting things, not only just for the fun of quoting things, but if I am reminded of something someone said that fits, I shall most probably say it. I too want to make the world a better place. I am reminded now, of something someone said, so I want to end with this quote, about a female child speaking, Michael Jackson, HIStory, CD 1, Track 15, and I quote:
"Think about, the generations, and if, say we want to make it a better place, for our children, and our children's children, so that they, they, they know it's a better world for them, and think, thay can make it a better place."
Merii Kurisumasu.
... Merry Christmas!
... And ...
Akemashite omedetou. ...
明けましておめでとう。
... Happy New Year! ^_^
Thanks to everyone who has commented. I don't want to ever come across as someone who is preaching. I don't claim to be perfect but I'm trying to do what I can. I don't want to change people's minds, just open them and get people to think. It is much harder when living in a "developed" economy and you have cars, appliances, and other gadgets and try to espouse the merits of being environmentally conscious when almost everything you do is contrary to that. People have to go to work. People have to eat. Reality and the ideal are usually not the same. Thanks again and I hope we can all continue talking.
Gittel on the Go is committed to making a difference in the green revolution. Recently, I traded the company car in for a hybrid, the company is going paperless in 2008, and the company donates 5% of all assistants on demand bookings and tech concierge to any green charity of our client's designation. It's not a lot but I share your belief that we should make a concerted effort to salvage and repair our environment.
It is possible to lower consumption of everything. Including gasoline. Check out RideSearch.com for a cool carpool site. Anyways, I think if we all work together we can do amazing things.
Less consumption for me doesn't necessarily mean buying less electronics or what have you...I already have very little of that, my cell phone is old and crappy and beat up but I won't buy a new one until it dies....
For me though, making a difference means jumping on my bike and riding to work almost daily...instead of driving ten miles round trip I ride it. I save a lot of gas over the year! Which means less consumption and also less pollution. I also can make it to work in almost the exact amount of time it takes to drive because I don't have as much traffic to deal with...I live in Northern Illinois so the weather is crappy and cold...but getting on that bikes brings a great freedom all on its own.
Another green gift list is yet another example of people profiting from fears about climate change. It saddens me to see that we are back in a world where people are terrified, coerced and guilt tripped into acting and believing doctrine. Even if it does reduce emissions, it is a pointless exercise. Arrogance drives us into thinking we can hold the earth in suspended animation. Accepting, anticipating and adapting to climate change is the way forward. But this sensible approach is unlikely to come about with people still using resources in an attempt to control the environment. Let's all get wise and be a little bit more modern in our approach. Neither humanity nor change is evil and the sooner we realise that the better off we'll be.
It's nice to hear people concern about our environment. Nice blog keep up the good work.How about adding some environmental technologies to your blog.
refer to this one: http://hydrogencelltechnologywherewater.blogspot.com/
I hope it would help you in your blog about environment.Keep up the good work and Have a happy blogging!!!!
We all want a clean world and the fact of the matter is it takes a strong world economy to produce one. Environmentalists, on the contrary, want to use government to control resources and restrict individual freedom.The Europeans would dearly love for the U.S.government to institute regulations that would damage our economy which would therebye help their social welfare economies to compete. Most environmentalists can speak all day about the rain forest but couldn't identify a oak tree.
A very interesting blog. I find it difficult to be green, although I try my best. Finding the balance is difficult when on the lower end of income scale(please don't take this as a whinge), although lower inome people tend to have less impact becasue of lower consumption levels. While I agree that reducing consupmtion is essential as the answer to slowing environmenatal degradation, we know this is not a short-term reality in a consumerist culture. From the time we are born we are inundated with symbols that relate to status - what we have is more important than who we are. In fact, what we have is often who we are. Capitalism thrives on this in contemporary societies. It takes a very strong person to realise and resist this, often having to accept being an outcast.
You've got a great blog. Hope you don't mind but I've added Living in a Toxic World to my favourite blog list. If you want me to remove it let me know.
Cheers - Alicat
our mad economic system where we have to consume more or it falls apart is the cause of ecocatastrope
but if you want my suggestions on green lifestyle change look here
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/01/green-new-year-resolutions.html
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