Hey, environmentalism is the new hip. *Valley Girl-speak* You just don't get it. It's like wearing a new pair of Manolos or getting a Dolce & Gabbana purse, it's not that you believe in Dolce & Gabbana, it's that you have it sitting in your closet. So it's okay to open the doors and move floor traffic if you own a Prius and only eat organic food grown in a 100 mile radius of where you live. It's okay to have a carbon footprint the size of Montana if you are a "concerned green celebrity". It's okay to wag your finger at the minimum wage folks for using plastic bags or buying fastfood if you buy your organic Arugala at Whole Foods or plant a slew of non-native trees at a "green event". It has nothing to do with substance and everything to do with style. Would I like to be more 'green'? Sure, but I don't have that kind of money. Bring down the cost of insulation, new windows, gray water systems, cisterns and such and I will jump right on that bandwagon, but for most of us, we simply can't afford it.
I don't care if you drive a Prius or drive a hummer as far as I am concerned that is your business. Just don't tell me how to live my life. Environmental Hippocrates like Jay Leno drive me crazy though. His latest Popular Mechanics touts his Zo6 Corvette that Burns E85 gas. He can afford to drive 50 miles to find E85, which is 85% gasoline by the way. My wifes 2001 Caravan burns Flex fuel (E85), but I have no desire to drive down to Chula Vista to get some.
Har! Photoncourier expects consistency? How quaint and yet how close Photoncourier comes close to the truth without recognizing it:
...much frequented by individuals who glory in their own hipness
Environmentalism is the hipness chit. You buy a Prius to display your environmentalist credentials but let's not get carried away. When it becomes uncomfortable or inconvenient too hell with it.
Thanks for the link, Darren. Another example can be found in the marketing problems of the geothermal industry. These energy-saving devices are basically invisible, which in another era might be a marketing advantage..but now it is a *disadvantage*, because they don't give the owner the visible bragging rights of a solar cell array or a Prius. More here: http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/5556.html
You know, if they really push this localism in food, what will the people in Las Vegas eat? There's no shrimp near there, no fruit plantations, no ranches to speak of. So what will the simple folk do, to help them cheer up when they're blue?
Ellen, I think a certain amount of this stuff is, in fact, about keeping the "simple folk" in their "place." If localism in food results in no out-of-season fruit for the majority, you can be that the well-off (or, more importantly, the well-connected) will be able to obtain exemptions, just as the ruling class in the Soviet Union had its special stores.
I just keep hearing that song from "Camelot" over and over "Oh what will simple folk do....so they say...." Of course you are right. If the celebrities and pundits had to live under such restrictions they would be storming the walls of Walmart. Interesting imagery though.
7 comments:
Hey, environmentalism is the new hip. *Valley Girl-speak* You just don't get it. It's like wearing a new pair of Manolos or getting a Dolce & Gabbana purse, it's not that you believe in Dolce & Gabbana, it's that you have it sitting in your closet. So it's okay to open the doors and move floor traffic if you own a Prius and only eat organic food grown in a 100 mile radius of where you live. It's okay to have a carbon footprint the size of Montana if you are a "concerned green celebrity". It's okay to wag your finger at the minimum wage folks for using plastic bags or buying fastfood if you buy your organic Arugala at Whole Foods or plant a slew of non-native trees at a "green event". It has nothing to do with substance and everything to do with style. Would I like to be more 'green'? Sure, but I don't have that kind of money. Bring down the cost of insulation, new windows, gray water systems, cisterns and such and I will jump right on that bandwagon, but for most of us, we simply can't afford it.
I don't care if you drive a Prius or drive a hummer as far as I am concerned that is your business.
Just don't tell me how to live my life.
Environmental Hippocrates like Jay Leno drive me crazy though.
His latest Popular Mechanics touts his
Zo6 Corvette that Burns E85 gas.
He can afford to drive 50 miles to find E85, which is 85% gasoline by the way.
My wifes 2001 Caravan burns Flex fuel (E85), but I have no desire to drive down to Chula Vista to get some.
Har! Photoncourier expects consistency? How quaint and yet how close Photoncourier comes close to the truth without recognizing it:
...much frequented by individuals who glory in their own hipness
Environmentalism is the hipness chit. You buy a Prius to display your environmentalist credentials but let's not get carried away. When it becomes uncomfortable or inconvenient too hell with it.
Thanks for the link, Darren. Another example can be found in the marketing problems of the geothermal industry. These energy-saving devices are basically invisible, which in another era might be a marketing advantage..but now it is a *disadvantage*, because they don't give the owner the visible bragging rights of a solar cell array or a Prius. More here:
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/5556.html
You know, if they really push this localism in food, what will the people in Las Vegas eat? There's no shrimp near there, no fruit plantations, no ranches to speak of. So what will the simple folk do, to help them cheer up when they're blue?
Ellen, I think a certain amount of this stuff is, in fact, about keeping the "simple folk" in their "place." If localism in food results in no out-of-season fruit for the majority, you can be that the well-off (or, more importantly, the well-connected) will be able to obtain exemptions, just as the ruling class in the Soviet Union had its special stores.
I just keep hearing that song from "Camelot" over and over "Oh what will simple folk do....so they say...." Of course you are right. If the celebrities and pundits had to live under such restrictions they would be storming the walls of Walmart. Interesting imagery though.
Post a Comment