I have become a good green girl. Whenever possible, I combine my errands, so as to minimize car trips. A visit to the hairdresser yesterday, became the perfect opportunity to stop by Bloomingdale‘s next door, to replenish my supply of Clinique makeup. I rarely go to the mall now, and when I do, it is no longer a source of temptations and excitement, as was the case not too long ago. I have watched The Story of Stuff, and I am a conscious consumer.
I was on a mission, and went straight to the Clinique counter. I was going to buy some foundation and blush. The blush, I really needed, was down to the last bit. The foundation, I still had half of a bottle. I debated for a second, then decided against buying more. And bought just the blush. Preempting the sales lady with a “And no bag please”. Dropped the small box into my purse, and started walking out. I felt weird, leaving just like that. I was in the mall, after all. Wasn’t I supposed to shop? I felt the pressure, the slight pull. No, the desire had left me. I was going to walk straight back to my car.
That is, until I caught a whiff of . . . a smell so pleasant and so intoxicating. It made me want to linger. My nose could not get enough of the stuff. Had I not been thinking about what was going on, I would have stopped and turned left, into the nearby Abercrombie store. I had smelled the scent many times before, whenever I had gone shopping in the store. The Abercrombie people have it down to a science. I’ve got to admit. They nearly got me, once more.
I drove home mad. Mad, for having nearly been tricked. Another case of Not So Green Exposure, I thought. This one, so subtle though, that it was all the more potent and dangerous. I started to question the notion of freedom in a consumerist world. As much as I like to fancy myself as a free individual, the truth is my environment won’t let me. I remembered an interview, last year, on NPR Marketplace, between Kay Ryssdal and Benjamin Barber, when the two discussed Barber’s book, ‘Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole‘. Benjamin Barber, a political theorist, professor at the University of Maryland, blogger at Strong Democracy Blog and the Huffington Post, and principal member of the Democracy Collaborative, is one of the leading thinkers on capitalism and democracy.
This morning, Benjamin Barber wrote a very thought-provoking article in the Huffington Post. I urge you to read it. His question to presidential candidates is right on:
‘how do you suggest we get out of recession without getting into trouble? Without encouraging all those bad habits of too much spending, too little savings, too much foreign energy dependency and too much borrowing that have gotten us into our economic morass to begin with? How do we create a prosperous economy that does not depend on Americans buying not only more than they can afford, but far more than they need or want!?
Whoever can answer that question — or even understand it! — gets my vote.’
La Marguerite 
The question is a great one, and it’s a very necessary and practical one.
It’s amazing to listen to some of our leaders, who seem to feel that the best way to deal with the economic situation is to resume bad habits. Do they think we are all children, or are they children in their thinking? (Actually, I don’t want to put children down by making that statement, because they are very smart and wise in many ways.)
But there is a tie, of course, to the global warming dilemma. We have to reinvent some key parts of our energy infrastructure, several industries, and much else. It’s actually a great opportunity.
“Problem” (global warming) involves “opportunity” (new ways of thinking, jobs, economic vitality, purpose, and so forth). Can our leaders not put two and two together?
As for the topic of how one (human) gets from one emotional-mental “place” to another, that deserves an entire series of posts. How does one go from loving huge shopping trips in one year to loving the feeling of NOT shopping, and of just saying “no”, the next year? I’m not talking about intellectually, but in a way that is deep and emotional and (to a degree) also conscious and intellectual.
Although I don’t suggest the same process, of course, it’s a bit like the transition shown by the main character (temporarily in that case, if I remember right) in Clockwork Orange, when he transitioned from having a love of violence to having a feeling of disgust with violence.
Related to this post, a link to great article from Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm, on ‘How to Recycle Less and Do More’, this morning in Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hirshberg/how-to-recycle-less-and-d_b_83586.html
Jeff, regarding the question of how one goes from being compulsive shopper to measured buyer, I can only share my own experience, all documented here on this blog. It starts with being conscious first, and letting that consciousness work its way through to the heart. There is also the power of images. Some videos such as The Story of Stuff, or Synthetic Sea, for instance, have definitely helped move me.
This is a great subject. And personally, as someone who has cared about our Earth for many years, a few trips to the local dumps or landfill cured me of excessive shopping a long time ago. In a way, garbage pick up has become analogous to the meat industry. We don’t “see” either of these processes. You buy the package of meat which is actually a slaughtered sentient animal and have no “connection” of the process from where it came. The garbage or excess “stuff” syndrome is the same. The garbage truck comes, whisks our excess gluttony away, and poof! It’s vanished into where? Not nowhere, but transported to our dear earth and buried. But we don’t “see” it. Multiply that by how many landfills on this planet? There should be a mandate making all of us go to the dumps for a waste wake up call.
This is going to require “conscious” mind shift as you state, Marguerite. Bush’s economic stimulus is geared toward getting people to “buy more stuff”. And the stuff will come from filthy WalMart because it’s cheap and manufactured in China.
We all know change is often slow to come. I did something this year around the holidays for which I won few points. I gave certificates in honor of certain people’s names to organizations that help the poor and displaced. I also asked everyone NOT to give me anything. Half of my request was honored. The other half completely ignored me.
I haven’t been to a mall in over two years. Forget it. They’re gross, germ filled, full of propaganda and an incredibly dangerous lure for people who think they can “buy” their way into happiness.
The entire advertising industry is going to have to change. Right now, it’s geared toward selling inner peace and enlightenment through consumption.
Good subject matter. I just learned about the “metaphor” in journalism. More visuals of a polluted, over taxed earth will help this movement of less consumption along. As will this blog, Marguerite.
Elizabeth, do you know about Chris Jordan’s work? He is a great environmental artist. Lots of pictures of garbage dumps . . .
Thank you, Marguerite. I had not heard of Chris Jordan.
Very cool. I just looked him up. Wow except for his fear as with many of us, we’re killing our planet, which means we’re killing ourselves.
Thanks.
Elizabeth Tjader
the breadth and depth of comments on this blog are commensurate with the effect. by exposing subjects and asking serious questions, you offer reactionary room to readers.
continuing Elizabeth’s garbage theme; may i propose field trips arranged between local schools and motivational speakers. any concerned citizen can approach the school and offer free services in the interest of career of subject matter discovery.
the science department, home-economics dept. and arts class would appreciate an honest well proposed plan for such — outings. elementary grades carry the most potential as far as retention and effect. get them while they are young!
the 2 videos which have had the most impact on me, are these discovered on lamarguerite, story of stuff and synthetic sea. and i was already a green convert since childhood… with minor edit and permission from the makers, these would – should be part of amended curriculum.
get’ em while they’re young…before they get bought out by spendthrift politicians and slick merchants.
ladie’s clubs, church clubs, get the joiners to join you in eye opening and a few more senses involved…
pass the pencils and paper to the crowd and ask them to list what they see and write a report due in 2 weeks, the results are sure to be fantastic. if no permission granted on grounds of insurance gap, let them analyze school containers or their own for 2 weeks. it works.
am i too reactive? it’s contagious enthusiasm..
Great idea, Nadine. Field trips to the dump. Are you thinking of leading one in your area? If so, let me know. I have always been a big fan of ‘subversive’ ideas. I need a little nudge from you, Nadine. If you take the lead, I may follow with a garbage expedition in my own ‘village’. It would be fun to have people take pictures, videos, etc . . . even sponsor a contest.
Elizabeth, see what you started!
I agree with the notion and importance of experiencing things directly. Visiting a garbage dump is a great idea.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” We seem to find ways to keep our messes relatively “invisible” to us on a daily basis, allowing us to forget that they exist. I think that there are other applications of the “visit the dump” idea.
In fact, perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of global warming, of course, is that carbon dioxide is invisible, not to mention that we produce it in normal quantities just by being breathing beings. And, the impact on climate is delayed.
But, perhaps the best way for many of us to understand . . .
Oops. This just in: I just heard on Fox News that Wal-Mart and Disney have announced a deal to sell over 140 Hannah Montana items at Wal-Mart stores. Better start expanding those dump sites.
Your last bit about Wal-Mart and Disney makes me wonder when Wal-Mart will start a more thorough questioning of their product mix as a part of their sustainability effort. Removing old light bulbs from the shelf, having energy efficient stores, educating their employees, etc . . . is all great, but just a start!
The way to a soft landing is down. Recession (negative growth rate in the economy) is necessary and we need to learn to live with it.
I really can’t fathom why even people who understand that we have replaced a healthy society with a mad pursuit of material wealth are so attached to avoiding recession. If we all slow down and relax even a little bit, we will get a recession.
Good. Let’s have more of those.
This is not to minimize the disruption felt by those caught in ARM foreclosures or dependent on construction income, but maybe, just maybe, there’s enough housing stock already? Why should we get our britches in a twist trying to promote putting up more buildings that we don’t need and paving more land that we do need. You know what stopping that sort of behavior is called?
It’s called a recession.
Thanks for pointing out the silver lining of recession. The trick of course, as you point out, is how to soften the landing for those of us who are are at risk of losing their jobs, and have families to feed.
Still, like you I am amazed at the double message that is being sent to the public. On one hand, to fight climate change, we are to consume less and reduce, reuse, recycle. On the other hand, we are to keep up our consumption to maintain the ‘health of the economy’.
Hence the relevance of Benjamin Garber’s question to our next president. The truth is we need to lower our consumption of carbon producing goods, and shift towards an economy that encourages the production and consumption of carbon neutralizing goods and services.
much though I would say the environment is more important than the economy every single time and would support economically detrimental policies if they protected the environment, I think there is a genuine conumdrum here. Very difficult. I’m a conscious consumer, I buy very little, apart from essentials (and i admit a total weakness for second hand books) its partly the way I am, partly due to thinkig about environmental issues. The Ecologist magazine recently had an excellent article about how wanting more and more is actually hard wired into our genes, because that was an essential survival mechanism for primitive people
Thanks Juliet, I will have to check that Ecologist article. I am inclined to agree that the wanting trait seems to be hard wired into our DNA . . . and it takes highly evolved consciences to mute it!
Something is happening that many too many people appear not to be seeing.
Scientific evidence is springing up everywhere that indicates the massive and pernicious impact of the human species on the limited resources of Earth, its frangible ecosystems and life as we know it.
Guided by mountains of carefully and skillfully developed research regarding climate change, top rank scientists like Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Dr. James Hansen, Dr. Hans J. Schellnhuber and Dr. Christopher Rapley issued a Climate Code Red emergency declaration this month to leaders of governments and to the family of humanity proclaiming the necessity for open discussion and action by politicians and economic powerbrokers.
From my humble perspective, many leaders of the global political economy are turning a blind eye to human over-consumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities that can be seen recklessly dissipating the natural resources and dangerously degrading the environs of our planetary home. The Earth is being ravaged; but it appears many leaders are willfully refusing to acknowledge what is happening.
Because the emerging global challenges that could soon be presented to humanity appear to so many fine scientists as human-induced, leaders have responsibilities to assume and duties to perform, ready or not, like them or not.
Perhaps leadership in our time has too often chosen to ignore whatsoever is somehow real in order to believe whatever is politically convenient, economically expedient, socially agreeable, religiously tolerated and culturally prescribed. When something real directly conflicts with what leaders wish to believe, that reality is denied. It appears that too many leaders are content to hold tightly to widely shared and consensually validated specious thinking when it serves their personal interests.
Is humanity once again finding life as we know it dominated by a modern Tower of Babel called economic globalization? That is, has human thinking, judging and willing become so egregiously impaired by our idolatry of the artificially designed, manmade, global political economy that we cannot speak intelligibly about anything else except economic growth and profits without sounding like blithering idiots?
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/
Steven, thanks for your contribution. I totally agree with you. These are not ‘easy’ political problems, and as you know, we, humans often prefer the path of least resistance.
[…] May 5, 2008 by lamarguerite Yesterday came my monthly credit card bill, in the mail. I know I should switch to online billing, but the power of habits has been stronger than my green conscience. That’s besides the point anyway. No, instead I want to share my surprise when I opened the dreaded envelope. If you are like most Americans, you will know what I mean. What was the four digit number in the ‘Amount to be paid‘ box? Was it a one, or a two, or a three, . . . I knew I had been good, had not been out to shop like I used to. Still the old fear was there, and with it the prospect of maybe having to transfer funds from my savings account into checking. Don’t you hate that feeling? Makes you wonder who is in charge? […]