the land of plenty

Dear Editor,

It is refreshing to know that there are magazines available that offer readers a window into the world of sustainability, fair trade, organics, etc. I have read Plenty for about a year now and I have certainly been pleased with many of its articles.

However, the main problem I have with the magazine, one that is sometimes alluded to but never fully approached is the problem of consumerism as the key contributor to the climate crisis and the inability of most Americans to fully commit to “being green.” Many self-titled “environmentalists” feel that the cure for climate change is as easy as replacing their favorite products with snazzy new green ones. (“Green gadgets” as you deem them.) Lizz Winstead touched on this slightly in her article “Life in the Green Zone” when she talks about the western addiction to convenience.

The real obstacle in the way of a widespread adoption of green practice is the continuation of a culture centered around consumption. It is certainly a smart and sneaky idea on the part of corporations worldwide to redesign and repackage their products with an ethical spin, allowing them to resecure brand loyalty. The surge in popularity of the climate change issue certainly threatens many companies whose bad practices are sure to be exposed to a now-concerned audience of recent eco converts. Eco-consumerism allows people to keep buying like they have been trained to do, while now feeling empowered and self-satisfied by their new “ethical” consumer choices.

Unfortunately, the environmental crisis is not so easily solved. Switching out “bad” products with “good” ones is not the godsend that so many would have us believe. And that is where my disappointment with Plenty comes in. I was curiously paging through an issue of O magazine today and found that of the 341 pages, nearly two thirds were devoted entirely to advertising. (Not to mention the 42 pages written by O writers covertly advertising through product comparisons and fashion spreads.) Now, Plenty is ahead of the standard newsstand fare because it is much more slender. And the amount of print space designated for advertising is significantly less than a magazine like O, especially because many of the ads are for non-profit organizations focused on the environmental crisis. But I still didn’t escape the feeling that as I paged through I was still being told to buy, buy, buy! (Buy individually-packaged organic snacks and drinks! Buy wind-powered hair gel! Buy bamboo t-shirts and vegan shoes! Buy a windable MP3 player!)

I realize that periodicals need to make money in order to exist and pay their staff. Yet I can’t help but find a green magazine that heralds the advantages of eco-consumerism to be a bit hypocritical. A culture of over-consumption is what has truly pushed the environmental problem over the edge. Children today are told from birth that the answers to their problems lie in shopping malls. (And eco-children seem to be getting the message that the answers are at Whole Foods.) Benjamin Barber’s book Consumed is centered around this notion of a consumer culture of infantilization where marketers prey on the minds of children, instilling in them the values of buying oneself silly. It is a system where companies struggle to create the notion of need in those who have none, while throughout the world those who truly do are ignored and unable to participate in the marketplace. As long as western culture remains dependent on cheap and endless consumption, landfills will continue to overflow, third world children will continue to work for pennies an hour, and fossil fuels will continue to fill the air.

The solution to the environmental crisis is not at the mall (or even the local health food store.) It is in a change of habit and perspective. Conservation isn’t only a term applicable to wetlands and rainforests. Conservation should be at the heart of how people lead their lives. Instead of keeping up with the green Joneses we should be sharing with them! Autonomy benefits corporate America first and the individual last. While we serve ourselves, buying solutions to world problems, we are still hurting ourselves as a global community in the long run.

I would be so much more pleased with Plenty, the “world in green” if it more fully acknowledged that in order for the developed world to claim itself as green it first needs to divorce itself from the capitalist culture of consumption as the solution to the world’s problems.

Being green isn’t about buying biodegradable drinking straws and bamboo laptops. It is about drastically changing how we approach life as a society. Being green is about making the smallest impact possible, which inherently means consuming as little as possible. Anna Sussman’s article “Roots of the Cost” aptly exposes some of the inadequacies of carbon neutrality, a concept whose message is, “Keep buying, traveling, and consuming as usual! Just offset it!” Perhaps this perspective is an enemy to your previous tagline of the ease of being green. But why should it have to be? Lizz Winstead’s article supplements this notion. Convenience can be so addictive that anything difficult looks like the enemy. It would be nice if being green truly was easy! And articles implying that switching to green gadgets, changing some lightbulbs, and buying a hybrid will stop melting the ice caps certainly promote that message! I encourage the writers and editors at “Plenty” to be honest with themselves and their readers and start promoting real lifestyle change instead of the next big thing to hit the store shelf!