Why we enviros should be THE target market

People may not want to live the way we enviros live but they do want to buy the things we say it's okay to buy. That is part of the power of the individual action of living environmentally many people underestimate. People want to associate with it.

Enviro is in. We're the cool ones. Companies that start making their products better and kinder now will have the advantage of being the first to our trendy market.

That's big.

Because you know why? Whether the rest of a company's customers care about the environment or not, they want to be seen to care (see this study on why some people buy the Prius, if you don't believe me). And what makes them be seen to care? When they buy the products that the true eco-conscious say they should buy.

So believe me, companies should want to win us enviros over. And guess what? It's only going to get more that way.

PS If you think more people should read this blog, as I do, then please email it around, favorite it on Technorati, Digg it, Stumble it, and add it to Del.icio.us using the links below. Thanks!
 

Comments

[Jein.Noir.]

Perhaps everyone should give an effort to making this site at least a bit viral. I love this blog, so I'll be sure to share it on Myspace.

[Miss Nix]

I email the posts to a few people every day!

[Karin S.]

Colin--The general enviro stuff is great--but please tell us what's going on in your day to day life! It's been a couple of weeks since the year-long experiment ended, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to hear details of your transition back to the grid.

[Student Doctor Green]

I recently heard a piece on NPR, about "green" living becoming trendy and how fashion designers like Stella McCartney are trying to incorporate environmental values into their work (which I thought was interesting in light of your past post on the fashion show you attended and finding appreciation in something seemingly at the root of consumerism). However, the NPR program expressed concern that making green living a trend makes it as disposable as last years trendy clothing.

What do you think about the possibility that this movement might once again die down like it has in the past? Or that it might become overkill, that will result in backlash? Do you think making environmentalism so mainstream and stripping science in an effort to make it more universal, undermines the movement's validity? For instance, I seen a lot of "carbon calculators" that are grossly inaccurate because they are based on gross assumptions. In a world where so many are already suspicious of the truth behind climate change, how can we balance accessibility and validity?

Also I agree that the personal first person account of your day to day struggles is what makes your blog was so compelling, and I think the most true and interesting part of this project will be your return to the "gray living" where most of us reside.

[arduous]

Student Doctor Green, you raise an interesting point. But I think, once you ingrain simple habits into people, they will have no reason to turn back. For instance, all my life, I've turned off the water when I brush my teeth. Why? Because as a Californian, growing up in the drought, that's what we were taught to do. And now, it's second nature. It's just ... what I do. So if people get in the habit of bringing in their own bags, or of turning off the water when they brush their teeth, I don't think they're super likely to change back. Habits, once formed, are not that easy to break.

[Megan]

I agree with Karen. Those of us who have heat and light and a car and like to cook with olive oil once in a while are really looking forward to your new experiment- achieving balance.

[jeff]

I'm quite worried that "green" is defining the latest trendy market. This appears to mean that people are going out to buy still more stuff that they don't really need which is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen.

We cannot purchase or manufacture our way out of this.

Do we need innovation? Absolutely. Will the newly invented stuff need to be made and bought? Of course. But absent real and substantial behavior change, we're done. Cruising around in a Prius wearing great new bamboo clothing will not avert the looming catastrophic consequences of peak oil (1st wave of trouble) or climate change (more serious wave of trouble).

[Susan Och]

Thirty years ago, I worked for a fruit grower. It wasn't an organic farm, but my boss was a conscientious and thoughtful guy who sprayed as little as possible, which meant that there was an occasional spot of (harmless) scab on the apples. We sold as much fruit as we could either directly to the consumer, or directly to the stores, avoiding wholesale warehouses so that our fruit could get to the consumer as fresh and with as little handling as possible.

Golden Delicious apples, in particular, are very hard to handle without bruising. Anytime you can hear the noise of fruit hitting fruit you are hearing a bruise, whether it be when the fruit goes into your picking bag, when the bag is emptied into the crate, when the crate is trailered out of the orchard, when the apples are sorted for size and condition.

It was always a shock for me to deliver to our local food coops and see how our precious fruit was treated by the consumer. I'll never forget the lady who seemed determined to inspect every apple in the crate, rejecting any blemish, and a lot of unblemished fruit as well. Every reject was tossed back into the crate, bouncing off of two or three others and bruising them as well. When I asked her to be gentle and started to explain the work that had gone into those apples, she sniffed, "Well, these ARE organic, aren't they?"

Why the story? To me, it epitomizes the worst aspects of marketing to "enviros". The lady wanted "organic" apples, but she wasn't willing to suffer any inconvenience for "organic", not even the minor inconvenience of eating around a small spot on her apple. She didn't want to know about the care that went into the handling of her apples, or the soul-searching that my boss went through in trying to balance the demands of the market against his duty as a steward of the land. While we who grew the fruit thought constantly of the people who would buy and eat it, the consumers often had no understanding or respect for our work.

Are people so much smarter about "green" than they were about "organic" thirty years ago? I doubt it. But a quick look at the food coop shelves tells me that there are a tone of companies making money feeding the whims of the "green" consumer.

Sharon wrote about this phenomenom at Causabon's Book:

And underneath the message of green consumerism is an enormous lie - that our major job in the world is to open our mouths like baby birds and wait for markets to feed us a big, juicy, environmentally-friendly worm.

Sharon's point is that we need to be participants, not just consumers. Her call is for everyone, even city dwellers, to grow at least a portion of their own food.

"No Impact is the New Black!" was one of the saddest things I ever read on this blog. "Enviro is in. We're the cool ones." is right up there. Fashion is by nature transient; what is cool today is soon passe.

Everyone keeps asking Colin to tell us how he's going to live now that the experiment is over. I think he's made it pretty clear that he is anxious to reclaim his old role as super-consumer, he just intends to be fussier now.

[Lab Rat]

Ouch, Susan!
I never saw Colin as a "super-consumer", at least not during the NI experiment, just as a guy trying to make a living with one of his gifts, which is writing.

And you also have the gift of writing beautifully...I always look forward to your thoughts and your style, there's something about the flow of your writing that pulls me in, even if I disagree with you sometimes.

As for Green being the New Black, that makes me want to puke, also.

When I told an acquaintance I was cutting way back on new purchases, recycling everything and driving way less, she asked me if I was becoming one of those "green" people.

I told her no, I was just trying to live like the rest of the world.

Why do we have to be "a target market"?
Why do we have to be singled out as some other entity alongside the mainstream?

It seems to me that the Europeans and South Americans and Africans are more green by design. They aren't perfect governments, for sure, but they live a lot closer to the land than any suburban family in North America.

I've always viewed mainstream U.S.A. as a plastic society. We are the anomally, and Colin was born into this society but realized he might be able to change things.

Can anyone help me pinpoint when things started to go wrong in this country?

Just a...LabRat

[Student Doctor Green]

Arduous,
I agree with your statement that "Habits, once formed, are not that easy to break." That is what I think distinguishes your case of growing up in Cali and having conservation ingrained versus the vast majority of America who, unfortunately, did not. The habits in existence are ones of excess, which I think are going to take more than a trend to break. That's why fads like the Adkin's don't cure problems like obesity. Just trying to get someone to change habits that have life altering direct impact on morbidity and mortality in their own lives can be nearly impossible. Without the sort of "proximity" (that Colin talks about being key in change) that something like coronary artery disease has, climate change is not something I think most people will alter (for the long term) ingrained habits for.

[rejin]

Enviros? Sounds like virus.
I don't want to be an enviro, I'd rather be green.

[Diane Gandee Sorbi]

Jeff,
I'm with you on this one. There will always be things people sometimes do need to buy, and the companies that do the best job of making those products environmentally friendly are the ones we should buy from. The problem is that many people may begin purchasing items they want, but don't actually need, with the excuse that, hey, at least it's green. As a recovering shopping junkie I certainly understand the temptation. The bottom line is, for the earth's sake, we really do need to learn to live with less in the material sense. Most of us in this country own much more than we need and will ever use.

[Crunchy Chicken]

I really have to agree that buying something just for the sake that it's "green" rather than something you actually need, isn't exactly environmentally sound. I've been trying to promote mindful shopping rather than shopping therapy.

As supposed enviros leading others, I think we'd do better for the environment by promoting conservation, not consumerism. Of course, there are times when you'll need to purchase something.

I'd rather we influence others to start first considering thrift shops, consignment stores, Freecycle and Craigslist. If they can't find what they are looking for there, then seek out new, environmentally-friendly products.

Aside from all this there is so much green-washing going on with marketing these days, it's difficult for the average consumer to determine whether something really is green. So, that's where enviros (or whatever you want to call yourself) need to step up.

It's a delicate balance.

[Traci]

Hmmmm...I am disturbed by this comment, "Enviro is in. We're the cool ones." and also one in a previous post calling people that live in the country, "country bumpkins". It sounds very elitist and kinda nerdy, as an adult I really don't care what people think of me! Also, for all the scientists they have out there claiming that there is global warming, there are just as many saying it is a bunch of hoopla. Here in AL we had an unusually early cold snap for the past few weeks, no global warming going here!

Does Colin even read the comments sections and answer questions about his blog?

Living in Alabama and in the country (guess I am one of those uneducated, unwashed country bumpkins), and having a large family, without even trying or thinking about it, I think my family leaves a smaller footprint. I guess that what we think of as a way of life (not green, not enviro), you think you have set the tone or started a trend or movement.

It isn't wise or green to replace your appliances for the latest and greatest...unless they have broken down or worn out. As things break down in our home (more often than you think with 7 kids) we replace our appliances with things that are more energy or water efficient (a huge deal since we are in a severe 3 year drought.)

Since I wash laundry about 12 hours per day (again 7 kids, 4 of which are girls), it wouldn't be a wise use of my time or money to beat my clothes on a rock at the nearest river to say it was in the name of being "green"...the clothes would wear out too quickly also, and that wouldn't be a wise choice either. Here in the warm climate of Alabama, you can find clothing flapping in the breeze on a clothes line all year round!

Not having an air conditioner might seem livable in NY (I know what it is like not having an A/C, as I used to live in Michigan), but here in AL, it isn't an option...the heat here is unbearable and deadly. Living "green" shouldn't put your families lives at stake!

Maybe Colin is right, maybe it is the "city dwellers" (although after reading the country bumpkin statement, my husband thought we should call y'all thugs, LOL) are to blame for the supposed destruction to the environment. We don't have smog here (how can you raise your children in that toxic air?)...maybe it is the abundance of plants and trees and good air flow and quality, and not cramming millions of people in to small spaces to live (talk about a health issue!).

"Green" things we do not due to being trendy, but as a way of life before "green" was even in:

1. grow our own food (fruit, veggies, meat, nuts)
2. drive less than 6,000 miles per year (way less than the national average)
3. plan shopping trips for 1 day per week
4. hang clothes out to dry (huge energy save)
5. make our own cleaning supplies (child with asthma due to having RSV)
6. shop yard sales and thrift stores
7. recycle (in cities and towns here you have curbside recycling...for those in the country, we take to drop off centers)
8. have a shut off valve on the shower head
9. eat less processed or restaurant food (why do y'all eat out so much...no cooking skills?)
10. drinking purified tap water (what did everyone think those plastic bottles would do to water? Out of the top 20 toxins, at least 10 of them come from plastics!)
11. avoid advice from businesses (green or not), cause they are all out to make $$$
12. shop as a need, not a want..."super-consumerism" comes from wants, not needs.
13. turn off water and lights, and cut back on the a/c and heat, and use a crockpot or solar oven (a homeschool science experiment) to cook...less energy!
14. collect rainwater to water lawn and plants/trees (I did mention the drought right?!)
15. Here is my Christmas tip: we buy 3 gifts for each child, like the 3 wise men gave to Jesus at his birth (Christmas ain't about the man in the red suit!LOL) We give them a want gift, a practical gift, and a share gift. And, before Christmas, we go through all of our "stuff" and donate anything we can all part with to less fortunate families. Doing something for the earth, sometimes means doing something for someone else!

Ok, this has gotten long, and I hope this isn't viewed as bashing, because that isn't what it is. I just think that what some of us do as a way of life (habit) or to make ends meet or because it is the cultural norm of our region, are more important to the planet than a 1 year stint and then going back to your comfy way of life. I hope some of these things have changed you for the better...although with you getting a book and movie deal out of this, I have my doubts that this was for anything but $$$. I am sure this post will be deleted.

~Traci

[Daughter]

Traci,

I agree, a comment like "country bumpkins" is insulting and unnecessary.

As a whole, however, I find Colin's blog to be positive and encouraging. As an urban dweller, I have learned a lot about how to be more environmentally responsible from reading here.

A wide variety of people comment on this blog, from a range of circumstances (suburban, rural, urban, people with kids, people without kids, wealthy, low-income, American, non-American, etc.). Because of this, I have found that even if Colin's specific post doesn't apply or isn't practical for my situation, often one of the folks making comments will write something that is. Anything that helps people discuss these issues and share ideas is a good thing.

By the way, if you check out Colin's recent post, "Time to Live in the Gray," you'll see that he's planning on keeping a significant number of the changes he and his family made this past year, just not 100% of them. (Some are impractical for their situation, just as handwashing for your large family would be for yours).

[emily]

Traci,
I don't think your post was bashing, but I do think you write off global warming too lightly. One cold winter means nothing. "Global warming," in the eyes of most researchers, will mean a general shift in weather patterns (regardless of whether you think the causes are human or otherwise). If all the predictions come true, then there WILL be much colder winters in all the places that are currently livable thanks to the Gulf Stream. Sometimes people take the "warming" part of that phrase too literally.

I have to admit that I find it difficult to understand when people with no scientific background say they don't "believe" in global warming. It's a complex science. Your average person on the street knows that s/he is totally uninformed about thermodynamics, quantum physics, or the like. Most reasonable people will acknowledge that without more knowledge, they are not in a position to make judgment calls on scientists' conclusions about thermodynamics, etc. Why does anybody think that climate change is simpler?? I am not an atmospheric scientist, or a geologist, or a physicist. When the consensus in their research communities points to a particular conclusion, I don't see why I shouldn't let THEM be the experts. Most of us barely even understand the tip of the iceberg. (It reminds me of something that an acquaintance once said about evolution, and I'm borrowing his metaphor: it's a complex science, as complex as quantum physics. Convince people that it's political and personal, and suddenly the world is populated with experts. Find a way to make quantum physics political and personal, and suddenly we'll all be experts on that, too.)

[Traci]

Daughter,
Hmmmm...ok, I had to laugh because the way you worded it, you made it sound like we didn't wash our hands! LOL In this day and age, it would be very impractical to NOT wash our hands! :::Horrified at the thought of mega-doses of antibiotics::: Drought or no drought, country bumpkin or not, I have very clean children! In fact, if you envision me as a messy haired, fat woman with few teeth and wearing overalls, you would be way off there too! I may live in the country, but I am NO bumpkin, nor am I uneducated! Aside from being a mother to many, I am an author.

I am usually a "take what works for you and leave the rest" kind of gal, but since the "living in the gray" post, it is all superficial green stuff, and nothing about how life is since the end. In that post he didn't list anything they planned to keep doing. I, and others, would love to hear what they are doing now...if they found a balance, or did the needle bury itself in the other side.

I love a mixture of people and something that challenges my brain. I don't mind some of the comments even, except for all the back patting ones...what a waste of words! If you are reading, he already knows he intrigues you. A good blog is written from the heart, with truth, and about what you are living through day to day. If I wanted the words of another writer, I would read their blog or site.

I guess I worry that the urbanites just dive back and forth between the extremes instead of slowly making changes in lifestyle and never making a true commitment to change.

Just wondering Colin, where are you now on your journey? Have you struck a balance?

~Traci...the curious conservative

[Traci]

Emily,
First off, my husband is a Geologist and Environmental Engineer for an environmental engineering and testing firm here in AL, and he is the Senior Project Manager over the Geotechnical division. And does he believe in global warming??? No, I don't believe I could say he does, at least not the Al Gore version of it. He has studied it and believes it to be cyclical. And, before you think I follow him like a lamb to the slaughter, I told him long before he came to the conclusion himself that it was cyclical. I also told him a long time ago that the social security system (economics term paper...I always did pick the hard topics...made an A+) was going to crash in the future if things don't change...he didn't believe me then, but does now!

Ok, now that post was just a slam towards me. But I can laugh it off, because you don't know what I believe or what my education level is (living in AL and in the country is not a sign of lack of education). And, I think you made a snap judgement about me because of my statement of "for all the scientists they have out there claiming that there is global warming, there are just as many saying it is a bunch of hoopla." I am just saying there are a bunch of opinions out there, and I am not leaning one way or the other yet, or not completely. Aside from the cold snap we had, we have had a 3 year drought with no sign of letting up and one of the hottest summers that we can remember...do I think that is global warming...hmmmm, I can't say that either. I believe the world has cycles and we just don't know what will happen. I believe in more of a chaos theory (You *did* skim that subject as it came up in paleontology and climactic conditions, didn't you?)...crap happens and we throw ourselves the other way to try and balance it, only to wreak more havoc on the other side.

As I said, we do plenty of "green" things as part of our lifestyle, whether due to family size, cultural norm, necessity, financial, etc. But, most of these came from our beliefs of leaving less mess for those that follow. But, we also have to think...is this "green" thing going to cause a bigger problem than doing it the other way. We use cloth diapers, cloth wipes, and cloth feminine products in our home. (Sorry guys) I would bet most of you do not, but may buy the "green" brands. That is a great start, but not enough...are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and make a bigger step. We nurse our children instead of using formula...no pumps, no bottles to wash, sterilize, or microwave (no microwave here!). I am not just "the average person on the street", I am one of those well-educated, well-read, always questioning and researching people who like to be challenged!

~Traci...who just isn't going to follow Al Gore (who needed a platform and money maker after his stint as VP, his bachelor of arts degree is in government (not science!)...and he wasn't a good student from what I read...see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore)

[emily]

Traci,

Please don't assume that I was bashing you. I was hoping for a more reasonable explanation of the science as you have learned it. And it was about climate change, not your personal habits. Please don't stereotype me, either, though. I am not, for example, one of "the urbanites" whom you (seem to) feel sure you can accurately characterize.

Nor have I seen An Inconvenient Truth, and I don't plan to. My parents raised me to be an environmentalist before we'd heard of Al Gore. I wouldn't necessarily take his word for it, because he's not a climate scientist, as you pointed out (why did you assume I was just following him?). I prefer to get info from articles that are written by scientists for a highly educated (that's what I am) but slightly more general audience. Just because I agree with the majority of scientists worldwide doesn't mean I'm not a critically thinking person.

You have, though, provided a good list of things to keep in mind in leading a more "green" lifestyle, if I weren't doing much of it already (no kids). Whatever your reasons are, those are habits that other people can learn from. There are occasionally posts here by someone called "Red State Green" who had, either on his post or on his blog, the statement "conservation is conservative." I am always happy to see it when people are conserving, but I don't care too much what your reasons are. I like to think that we can do it no matter our family situations or personal politics. If your politics or finances are a reason to do it--great. If rebellion against our consumerist society is your reason--great. If you worry about every gram of plastic and the fuel spent in production--great (I would just happen to overlap with that reason the most!). I care more about the outcome, I guess.

[Daughter]

Sorry, Traci, I meant handwashing your laundry! :-)