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While I applaud and, I hope, help advance the “green” movement on a
number of fronts, I think it is important also to recognize the
functional selfishness of the entire effort. If we are honest, “going
green” isn’t really about saving the planet or improving the
environment. It’s about saving ourselves. Our broad, cultural hubris
may let us forget these are separate things.
The long and violent history of Earth provides more than enough empirical evidence to conclude that the planet will continue. From meteors to ages of ice and fire to nuclear blasts – the blue dot we call home has survived. Not all of her species have, of course. But the disappearance of a species, tragic as that surely is, does not, pardon the pun, equate to the end of the world. Earth continues to spin, one hates to admit, with or without us.
Our ecological efforts are, ultimately, ego-logical efforts. What was once a “cause” out there championed by “leftist nuts” like Jerry Brown or Greenpeace, has become nothing less than shared, social self-awareness. Products of all sorts are coming to market to satisfy the new demand; funds of “green business” are creating “clean profit” and advancing “social commerce.”
But let’s not kid ourselves: a recycled milk jug or sustainable hemp farms don’t matter to a system big enough to absorb shocks of historic proportions. The milk jug and the hemp matter only, really, to us. We keep our neighborhoods – and our guilty consciences – cleaner. After so much over-indulgence, it seems right to put things back in balance. Admit, though, that this is an internal, emotional effort to clean up – not an external, planetary one. With such ego involved (“I can save the world,” the collective voice shouts) it is no surprise that the self-absorbed (and ironic) Messiahs of Hollywood are the loudest members of the choir. Private jets to the Live Earth concert prove the point plainly enough.
The green movement is a bit like Alli or the “morning after pill”: post-facto responsibility. So much “green” product is merely the commercial equivalent of an ecological IOU. A cake, both eaten yet not “had.” If you don’t want to be fat – forget Alli, just eat less. If you don’t want to get pregnant – take pre-cautions, not post-cautions. If you don’t want to suffocate – clean up your act before you act. Al Gore can’t have a “greener” mansion. Over-consumption is the root of the problem, not part of the solution.
Yes, we can make a collective difference – and open entirely new and important markets for all things “cleaner and greener.” Just don’t pretend saving your own hide is the same as saving the planet’s future place in the universe. We don’t matter that much; our purchasing patterns suggest we wish we did. “Look, Ma – I’m eating an organic apple” may matter to your Mom, but it doesn’t register with Mother Earth.
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