With the global economy’s increasing interconnectedness, it’s easier to find more consumer products at cheaper prices. But are some companies sacrificing quality for a low, low price? And do we really need all the things big-box stores stock that are supposed to make our life easier? People are concerned with the financial cost of all the things money can buy, but what about the environmental cost? Not to mention the growth our economy could see if we brought some good ol’ fashioned Made in America production back to “the homeland” (I use that term even though it gives me the creeps.) Continue reading ‘High-quality consumer products are hard to find’
Tag Archive for 'consumerism'
Everyone’s been talking the past year or so about global warming, going green, etc. In terms of housing, green construction standards (such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED) have been a hot topic in the U.S. and in other parts of the world (India’s wealthiest resident is building a 60-story “green” home in Mumbai). It’s all well and good that wealthy people like Al Gore are going green with their mansions, but what about the estimated 1/3 of the population that will be living in slums by 2030?
Architect Cameron Sinclair might tell you with a straight face that those people will make decent homes out of wealthier people’s “green” refuse. Sinclair, winner of 2006’s TED prize, started the Open Architecture Network to spread affordable housing throughout the world — a rather impressive goal. The projects in the network are rather interesting, to say the least. According to Sinclair, “Someone’s working on a $700 house. The Now House is a World War II retrofitted home that’s carbon-neutral… There’s a spinach-powered house, there’s a grow-your-own clinic, a clinic you eat. All of these projects have to be sustainable.” So even though the gap between rich and poor isn’t shrinking, it’s good to know that people like Cameron Sinclair are planning a future that’s better for everyone.
From NPR:
‘The Six Sins of Greenwashing’ 
NPR.org, November 29, 2007 · The environmental marketing firm TerraChoice evaluated more than 1,000 retail products for their environmental claims. Based on its research, the firm came up with what it calls “The Six Sins of Greenwashing.”
EcoLogo and Green Seal are an easy way to tell whether a product is truly environmentally friendly.
Continue reading ‘Eco-Friendly Product Claims Often Misleading’
Chris Jordan, a Seattle-based artist, has some amazing photography and digital artwork at his website. In his current series, “Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait,” Jordan takes statistics from American culture (energy usage, the environment, consumerism) and digitally parlays those stats into thought-provoking (that term’s often overused, but in this case it’s appropriate) works of art. The image at left is composed of 200,000 packs of cigarettes, the same number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months.
Check it out — you probably won’t believe what you see.
Not that I don’t want anything for Christmas, BUT…
Morgan Spurlock (”Supersize Me”) has a new film out, “What Would Jesus Buy?”, about Reverend Billy, a Vancouverite who preaches against consumerism on Buy Nothing Day. The antithesis to Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day has been popularized, if you will, by Adbusters. From this CNN story:
A review of “What Would Jesus Buy?” in “Christianity Today” questioned whether (Rev. Billy) Talen’s act, poking fun at both religion and consumerism, went too far.
“Yes, it’s condescending. Yes, it cheapens Christianity,” the magazine said, before concluding: “But the whole argument of the film is that our commodity culture has already cheapened Christianity.”
Something to think about.
