Have a Good Time at Your Hippie Club
It was in the National Geographic Magazine (web subtitle, "Inspiring People to Care About the Planet" — just 'About,' not 'For'. How corporately bland is that?) that I first noticed what a friend of mine christened "lifestyle environmentalism." What we mean by that is environmentalism that's as much, if not more, about feeling like one is living more sustainably/eco-friendly/whatever than actually doing so. For example, N.G.M. is not only full of pretty pictures and travelogues and essays about this or that aspect of the biosphere, it's also full of ads for SUVs and intercontinental travel and high-end consumer photographic gear and such.
Near some friends of mine, there is a little burger joint called Elevation Burger (bland corporate slogan, "Ingredients Matter"). They make a big deal about how their French fries are fried in olive oil and they use organic beef, and they sell frou-frou bottled soft drinks as well as name-brand draft sodas. Their website blurb touts "a vision for fresh food that is better for you and better for the environment" among other things. But you know what? It's burgers and fries. OK, maybe they're 'healthier' than the competition, but they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, good for you. Likewise, there's no such thing as environmentally friendly beef in a standardized sense.
A couple of years ago GirlBart went to Whole Foods looking for chicory as a coffee substitute. That didn't work out so well; they carry the snob coffee but not the coffee-flavored Bevering (not even with Creamium). Plus, her Whole Foods is one city block away from a major transit hub and half as far from two municipal parking garages (that are free on weekends), and yet there is often (even on weekends) a line of cars idling in the Whole Foods parking lot and out into the street waiting for a parking space to open up.
Not of few of the latter are hybrid-electric cars, which may be more fuel-efficient but also require a host of nasty chemicals for their production.
My point in all of this is that, in many ways, it seemed to me that being green (at least for most Americans) is as much, if not more, about appearance as about substance. And there is now some empirical evidence that I am right.
Near some friends of mine, there is a little burger joint called Elevation Burger (bland corporate slogan, "Ingredients Matter"). They make a big deal about how their French fries are fried in olive oil and they use organic beef, and they sell frou-frou bottled soft drinks as well as name-brand draft sodas. Their website blurb touts "a vision for fresh food that is better for you and better for the environment" among other things. But you know what? It's burgers and fries. OK, maybe they're 'healthier' than the competition, but they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, good for you. Likewise, there's no such thing as environmentally friendly beef in a standardized sense.
A couple of years ago GirlBart went to Whole Foods looking for chicory as a coffee substitute. That didn't work out so well; they carry the snob coffee but not the coffee-flavored Bevering (not even with Creamium). Plus, her Whole Foods is one city block away from a major transit hub and half as far from two municipal parking garages (that are free on weekends), and yet there is often (even on weekends) a line of cars idling in the Whole Foods parking lot and out into the street waiting for a parking space to open up.
Not of few of the latter are hybrid-electric cars, which may be more fuel-efficient but also require a host of nasty chemicals for their production.
My point in all of this is that, in many ways, it seemed to me that being green (at least for most Americans) is as much, if not more, about appearance as about substance. And there is now some empirical evidence that I am right.
posted by Dr. Bubbles at 12:17
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