Will a change in words get you in gear to save the planet? http://bit.ly/14LwpQ. Is this Newspeak? Will it matter to people who matter?
Dean Elmore…I don’t think it matters how we package, market, or speak about the environment (oops, I mean the air we breathe and the water we drink). People don’t really care about the issue because it runs counter to the way we were told to live our lives. Everyone from our elementary school teachers to our parents to the President of the United States has encouraged us to toil harder in order to consume more. That’s the essence of capitalism…that’s the American Dream. The conversations about Global Warming are reminiscent of the Y2K hype that politicos in DC used to frighten the public at the end of the last millennium.
Let’s face it…the planet will be fine. Humans on the other hand will, one day, be gone…just like the dinosaurs. At best, lowering our consumption and reverting to a simpler way of life may make our precious time on this planet more comfortable. However, I don’t see that happening. The capitalistic horse is out of the barn and I doubt I will ever see a collective effort to consume less or produce more responsibly (that’s too expensive). So, for now, I’m with the rest of the folks in the NYTimes poll…environmental issues are the bottom of my list, and in my opinion, almost out of our control; we’re not all going to change at once and marginal changes (recycling, hybrid cars, etc.) aren’t going to “save the planet” (actually, saving mankind living on the planet).
In the meantime, I’ll recycle cans, turn off lights, etc. just to get the environmentalists of my back, but not because I’m passionate about the issue.
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