green consumerism

Teehee...here I am testing out my brother's lovely laptop...the one he has forbidden me from touching but my sister and I have hacked in! HaHA! And since he's in San Diego and enjoying the surfing...he could probably care less as well.

Anyways, onto the topic at hand. With Live Earth having just recently occurred, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss the concept of "green consumerism", which has been on my mind since several of my profs discussed it in the spring semester.

I don't know about your opinion regarding the musical/feel-good/rahrah for Mother Earth bonanza of last week, but I personally had very mixed feelings about it. No doubt Al Gore has pretty much single-handedly brought global warming to the forefront of the public...which is a phenomenal and important feat. Who would have guessed that one little slideshow presentation (cough, I mean...documentary) could arouse such media awareness about environmental degradation? By all means I'm supportive of the cause...but it's hard to believe in the positive impact of a 7 continent wide concert on the environment. Although I recognize that it's hard to put on public events without wasting a lot of energy, I wish that those involved would have recognized their hypocrisy publicly. How can we preach about sustainable development when overconsumption is permeated in every aspect of putting on a Live Earth type event?

I'm not saying that Live Earth wasn't an effective means of communicating the idea that we need to protect the Earth...sure, it raises awareness...but on a practical level, I think it does little to nothing to create change in people's long term habits (except waste energy! And give Madonna a chance to inculturate us with some annoyingly catchy chorus!). I mean, sure, I love seeing Linkin Park, Snow Patrol, and John Mayer perform - but isn't that just encouraging the idea of "waiting on the world to change"? Al Gore keeps bringing up that Live Earth is creating a worldwide grassroots movement...but frankly, I don't think that zillions of people showing up to a concert necessarily = grassroots movement. How is causing positive impact from the ground up? I am continually bemused by it all...

Mmm. I've run out of room to actually discuss "green consumerism" since I ranted so much. Another time then=)