“Buying Green”

“Green-consumption” is, at best, an oxymoron. Consumption in any form takes from the environment without and return. Yet we are led to believe by all of these new “green” products that we are giving back to the environment. Spoon fed the idea that by buying a certain product, we are indirectly helping to save the rainforest and clean up the oceans. I have noticed that many products now have the color green on them as if to imply that they are somehow ecologically friendly. The fact that marketing agencies exploit the conservation movement is disgusting but it does have benefits.

We live in a consumer driven society and we are all going to consume no matter what. Any attempts to make our buying more sustainable or green are at least steps in the right direction. Also, as we talked about today in class, “buying green” raises awareness for conservation issues in the public. Despite counter arguments (which I partially agree with) that “buying green” is only a trend and that consumers become more complacent when they buy green. It does give consumers a chance to vote with their wallets as the industry follows trends in consumption. So hopefully the buy green movement has had some impact on industrial consumption.

I have mixed feelings about buying green. If consumers were really concerned about the environment they would put there hard earned cash towards charities that would spend all of the money on conservation or they would contribute their own time towards planting a garden or something. However, in scenarios when consumption is absolutely necessary (ie buying groceries, clothes, cars, etc.) and the products actually benefit the environment in some way (not just saying they are green) then I support buying green.

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