Shop 'Til the Earth Drops

[marmar]

from the Independent, via AlterNet:


Shop 'Til the Earth Drops

By Amy Wolf, Indypendent. Posted June 20, 2007.



Once prescribed as the remedy for a bad day at work, shopping is now touted as the cure for global warming.

Once prescribed as the remedy for a bad day at work, shopping is now touted as the cure for global warming. Worried about your large carbon footprint? The New York Times recently did a feature on the greenest luxury condos. Concerned about junior's garments? Plenty, a magazine devoted to green living, offers up new eco-baby gear made of organic cottons and non-toxic plastics.

Shopping is not the only way to save the planet, apparently. Wall Street is in on the act, advising that there's a lot of green to be made by going "green." SmartMoney magazine gives you tips on how to "Reap Profits and Save the Planet Too."

Want to make a buck on massive droughts brought on by global warming? Invest in Monsanto, the leader in developing drought resistant crops like corn. Wondering where to buy a second home as the earth heats up? The Atlantic Monthly suggests buying property in southern Canada.

It's not hard to see why the corporate media is addicted to shopping. Some two-thirds of the U.S. economy is a consumer economy -- homes, cars, apparel, food, electronics, tourism and more. And none of these publications could exist without creating a hospitable audience for advertisers.

But this is one mess we can't shop (or invest) our way out of. "You can't solve the problems created by mass consumption with more consumption," says Heather Rogers, filmmaker and author of Gone Tomorrow, The Secret Life of Garbage

"You shouldn't confuse consumerism with political engagement," adds Rogers. "True engagement allows a more complex relationship with the world around you, whereas the idea of voting with the dollar simplifies and limits that relationship." The idea that we can buy our way out of this environmental and economic mess keeps us locked into a capitalist framework in which consumption and production result in more and more environmental devastation and degradation.

"Economic growth is incompatible with environmental protection, national security and international stability," says Brian Czech, who holds a Ph.D. in biology and is president of the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/54208/

[Jim Warren]

1. The trance

of everyday life.

[The2ndWheel]

2. "the problems created by mass consumption"

And until we get rid of that(which isn't really in the cards), nothing will be different.

Of course if we got rid of mass consumption today, in the reality that we call 2007, that opens up a new box, possibly Sherry's, a good friend of Pandora.

[Delphinus]

3. J.F.C.!!!

This makes me sick to my stomach. :puke:

I do NOT belong in this world.

[Javaman]

4. More denial of the inevitable. nt