[lit-ideas] Re: The continuation of Eco-hobgoblins
- From: "Julie Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 05:17:03 -0500
Tangentially, it crossed my mind yet again today what a marketing asset
"going green" etc. is -- as in, "Shop with us, your Green choice for
_____". I thought about implementing some of that shameless bandwagon
gobbledy-gook (more than likely what those eco-hobgoblins speak) into my
business and my husband's. I thought of the examples I could cite -- "We
ship only in recycled boxes" .... etc., and as is immediately obvious,
apparent, a no-brainer, add your own descriptives freely, just about any
business practice w/ re. to technology, materials, from bank e-statements
vs. paper statements, culligan coolers to bottled water to tap, paper vs.
plastic, every tiny corner of anything a business does (brick & mortar or
not -- mine is not, his is), can be successfully argued about in terms of
which particular choice is the "green" choice, which actually "reduces a
carbon footprint" --
A couple months or so ago I either came across an article on-line elsewhere
or someone posted it here which was a fairly cynical look at the whole
"green" notion, pretty much concluding that there ain't no sech animal.
(I'm sure someone can do something with that and that animal's extinction
due to.... but cleaning up all the dogs' sick has put me out of the mood.)
Yeah, global warming and the ravaging of this planet by the human species is
a problem. A huge problem. Can individuals do anything genuinely
successful about it? Seems highly unlikely -- look at the let's make
ethanol oh wait now basic crops like corn and rice are in danger and thus
human hunger is escalating fiasco... we simply use too much of the planet's
resources w/out taking sufficient action to replenish and fit in with the
natural ecosystem. Somehow I have grave doubts that the human race can or
will turn that around anytime in the near future. (Unless you hold out hope
for a massive re-vamping of the human race's essential infrastructure. I'm
open to miracles.) And the far future might be ... well, too far. But for
now, "green" is a great marketing slogan.
No, I'm not channeling Irene -- just being so sleep-deprived that I'm no
longer tired. I think.
Julie Krueger
On 5/25/08, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >>If you think plastic water bottles are an eco-hobgoblin, then you're not
> paying attention even slightly.
>
>
> You obviously misunderstood what I meant by "eco-hobgoblin." I was
> referring to the media practice, either mercenary or political, of blaming a
> systemic failure on individuals who have little or no power in
> decision-making processes and have limited if any alternatives to the guilt
> imposed upon them.
>
> Blaming people for using bottled water, absent another source of clean
> water, is a case in point. Do you think something as distant and abstract as
> "ecological damage" can compete against the threat of polluted public water
> supply?
>
> If you live in a bad water area -- such as near a steel mill, an oil
> refinery, or a specialty chemical plant -- you can use a Brita Filter to
> save the planet or you can risk your kids getting lymphomas in their late
> twenties from dichloromethane poisoning. Which do you think people will opt
> for?
>
> Like I said, it's infrastructure. Provide clean and safe water supplies and
> demand for those plastic bottles will drain away . . .
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