Green Kitsch

Who knows how long this green movement will last?  Either environmentalism will become such a way of life that it won't be noted as a movement anymore or it will be abandoned and we'll look back on it with mixed feelings.  In any case, the blog Go Back to Berkeley is here to capture our cute, unabashed attempts to go green.  (Spotted in a post on the Quarter to Three forum.)

Let's Life Cycle Analyze Everything

Consumer products already undergo some testing, generally to meet governmental regulations or a recognized set of standards.  This testing is done to ensure that the product attains a level of quality and does not pose an unacceptable risk of injuring the user.  But there is a risk from these products that is being overlooked: the environmental risk.

Some companies perform life cycle analyses of their products, attempting to quantify all environmental impacts of a product from cradle to grave.  A life cycle analysis examines, among other things, the environmental impact of the following phases in a product's life:

• Extraction and transport of materials used to make the product
• Manufacture and transport of the product
• Use of the product, including maintenance, repair, and storage
• Disposal of the product by consumer
• Destruction of the product through landfilling, incineration, or recycling

Life cycle analysis can reveal surprising facts about how a product impacts the environment.  Unfortunately, life cycle analysis is not widespread among industry, and the companies that practice it usually do not do so on a regular basis.

As the American economy recovers and our manufacturing sector is hopefully renewed, it would make sense to adopt industry-wide life cycle analysis practices now--not to wait until we're "ready."  If all products were to undergo life cycle analysis, the vast amount of information, processed by our vast computing power, can reveal areas of improvement that can be addressed in methods more easy and efficient than traditional methods of environmental remediation such as emissions reduction.  The life cycle analysis data can be made available to the public and can lead to a new, product-level movement in environmental stewardship.

As consumers, we all buy stuff, keep it in our house, and dispose of it in our environment.  It would be useful to know how everything, from our ballpoint pens to our plasma TVs, affect the environment from cradle to grave.

On Calling Oneself a Consumer

We're consumers, right? That's just the reality of it. Is there anything inherently wrong with thinking of ourselves as consumers? Maybe there is, if the self-assessment ends there.

Episode 34 of the Humanist Network News podcast features an interview with Gurinder Singh Azad, a humanist activist in India who works as a telemarketer to Americans. At about minute 54 in the podcast, the activist talks about how the rising economic success of call center employees has given them a thirst for material luxuries. The interviewer, Duncan Crary, comments that consumerism is like a drug being exported from America to India.

Mr. Azad disagrees with this, saying that Indians have developed consumerist attitudes on their own. Other countries are not to blame if Indians are increasingly embracing wealth over health.

Mr. Crary then observes: "People refer to themselves, a lot of times, as consumers. It's a very unhealthy thing to refer to oneself as a consumer. Because a consumer has no responsibility to do anything but consume."

On that, the two agree, as do I. When I'm merely a consumer, I only care about whether that new product--whether it's a hamburger, game console, or car--fulfills its function and serves my private needs. I don't think about how that product might be affecting me beyond its intended purpose. I don't think about the costs borne in its manufacture or its disposal.

We should think of ourselves as more than consumers or end-users. Our willingness to buy stuff is the reason stuff exists. We're the effectors. Imagine playing a "god game" sim, moving that hand around to dig the ore, put it in a factory, create products, and move those products to stores. That's the consumer's Hand of God doing the work, changing the landscape and perhaps bringing on disasters.

It's great when companies give us ways to reduce our environmental impact, such as digital distribution and "green" household products. We might find it easy to dismiss these options as having minuscule effect or as mere marketing ploys. But they're a start and, as people who are much more than just consumers, we should take advantage of them.