Can Consumiersim Be Green?

This is something I have been circling around for awhile, but didn’t really know how to express. Then, I came across the phase “green consumerism” and it helped me to be able to articulate something that’s been on my mind for quite some time.

I’ll preface this by saying I know I am not like most people. And I am okay with that, we each choose our own path (or is it chosen for us… oh that’s another topic in itself!) My family and I purchase very few new items. This is for a lot of reasons. We refuse to support evil cooperations who enslave and abuse children in order to make their products. Please don’t try and tell me that it’s not happening. It is. Make whatever excuses you have for buying products that aren’t “fair trade,” but when it’s said and done, disgusting things are almost certainly done to end in the result of your cheap t-shirt. (And your expensive one…)

The next reason we don’t buy new is a selfish one. It saves money.

The third, very important reason we buy used is because so much of the “stuff” we use goes to landfills. It’s heartbreaking and disgusting. So we buy perfectly good clothing, toys, shoes, books and many other items from thrift stores. And when we no longer have use for an item, we find it a home other than the landfill. Why waste the Earth’s resources like that?

Now onto the recent push for the green movement. It’s great in a lot of ways. But there is another side.

We came into the possession of an item that I think puts it all into perspective. (Hand me down from a friend) It’s a toy recycling truck that came with a child’s meal at a fast food restaurant. A piece of plastic that is meant to be forgotten, thrown away and replaced with the next toy McWendy King puts out. A RECYCLING truck. The toy seriously made me sick to look at.I hope I am not the only person who sees this irony. (It went to Goodwill, where hopefully someone is less bothered by it and it will find a home)

The Green Movement is everywhere. Happy Meals included. But buying that Happy Meal was no less wasteful than buying any other Happy Meal. Nor is buying a new organic cotton t-shirt when you don’t really need a new shirt. It still had to be produced, probably overseas and shipped to your retailer. So when you decide that you need new “green” clothes to replace your old, perfectly good clothes, you are still negatively effecting the environment. When you walk into Target and see little trinkets in the $1 section that say “Going Green” or “Save the Earth” on the front and “Made in China” on the back, you are negatively effecting the environment.

All of this going green buzz has created a new kind of consumer. The green consumer. The green consumer either wants to feel better about their need to consume, so they buy green now, or they are missing the point.

We don’t need all this stuff, people. We don’t need Green Happy Meals. In fact, we don’t need unhealthy meals with too much packaging and cheap plastic prizes at all. We don’t need 20 organic cotton t-shirts when we have a closet full of regular cotton t-shirts at home. We have forgotten what it is to need in America. I am not saying you should never buy new. But take the time to think about if you really need something before you purchase it. Food included. Just because your tropical fruit you enjoy over the winter is organic does not mean it didn’t require a lot of shipping. Local foods are the best when possible.

Buying a product just because it’s “Green” is not always the “Earth Friendly” thing to do.

I just don’t think the consumer driven lifestyle and the green lifestyle really mesh. It’s hard to let go of that “must shop” attitude. It is engrained in us all. It’s taught to us at every angle from a young age. TV, magazines, role models, school… it’s everywhere. What did President Bush tell Americans we should do after 911? Shop. What?!! It’s everywhere. And it’s not an easy attitude to lose.

And some things are good purchases. Reusable shopping bags, (better yet, make your own out of those clothes you don’t want to wear any more…but I digress) water filters, chemical free cleaning products, reusable food and water containers. If you can’t find it used, buy it new because it is the wiser choice.

So when you have to buy new, buy green. But please, don’t buy “green” products for the sake of shopping. It will only end in the landfills and cooperate pockets simultaneously filling.

I am probably going to make all sorts of people mad with this post, but please just think about it. And I am not saying I never slip and do anything I shouldn’t – because I do! It’s just a perspective to consider.