Intellectual Sin
BY GORDON ELLMS
Sometimes it seems like I’m part of some nationwide ego trip. I recycle, I’m cautious about the amount of water and electricity I use, and I’m an Eric Schlosser fan, but someone always comes around that has a better solution. For the United States population that can afford it, green is the bee’s knees.
“Green” has been thrown all over the media. Suddenly, celebrities are not the only people putting money down to help the planet. Environmentalism is no longer subjugated to the hippy movement or to the unbalanced intellectual that moves to the woods. Politicians like Al Gore have capitalized from the tenor and used it to mask their lust for power. The trend is capturing a huge demographic of the United States that major corporations are happy to serve.
A lot of people have problems with huge corporations marketing eco-friendly merchandise. There has to be “that guy” who is just so heady that he thinks his Saab doesn’t stink. If it were possible for everyone in the United States to buy from their local organic farmer and their town grocer, it would be a perfect world. But, we can’t all live in Vermont. The economy of the United States is built around consumerism. Why not have a population that adapts the consumerist life style, aid the economy, and help better the environment? Environmentalists have typically been those who are not part of this excessive consuming demographic and pride themselves on that. The nation finally realizing how cool it is to care for the planet is fine with me. The problem with “green” being a trend is that trends bring the urge for some people to defend just how “with it” they are.
Presently, the U.S. is filled with stuck up environmentalists that always feel compelled to grace anyone they run into with their knowledge of how they make the world better. Take for example, the protein-deprived holler of vegetarians who point fingers when sustainably raised meat is ethically slaughtered. To combat the crude meat industry, people must raise meat locally and under more humane conditions. People are so willing to throw themselves at any situation which could be construed to represent some form of environmental stewardship.
The whole planet warming up is starting to cook some brains. Grasping the idea of cautiously inhabiting the planet is something that will never be universally understood. It’s good that people are becoming interested in how they can lessen their environmental impact, and it’s great that people can create and act upon their own environmental perspectives, just don’t be a jerk about it.
Short URL: http://www.themountaineer.org/?p=271
Posted by editor
on Dec 19, 2008 Filed under First-Person.
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