consumerism

If you mainstream it, they will come

I took two tidbits away from this interesting Clint Wilder piece on framing clean energy (via Sustainablog). Here's the first:

In opinion research conducted last year in Rhode Island, the Clean Energy States Alliance and marketing consultancy SmartPower found that the label of "clean" energy had a much more positive public reception than "green" (too political), "renewable" (too niche), or "alternative" (too much of an implication that its users must adopt a new lifestyle).

These kinds of things are small but important to know for everybody who writes or talks about environmental issues. Little bits of repetitive framing add up. For my part, I'm going to make a habit of using "clean energy" instead of the alternatives.

Here's the second:

But even when viewing clean energy as positive for the environment, the public was skeptical of its ability to replace fossil fuels.

...SmartPower ran a public information campaign, including TV ads narrated by actor Peter Gallagher spotlighting renewable-powered houses, hospitals, and factories with the tagline, "Clean energy: It's real. It's here. And it's working." The result? A thousand new customers switched to the local utility's green power option in 100 days, and the number of people who agreed that clean energy is as reliable as fossil fuels jumped from 40% to 51% in the same period.

That's a pretty extraordinary shift in opinion in response to one ad campaign.

I draw the same lesson from this that I drew from the news that 75% of people consider themselves "green shoppers" -- there's broad interest in green issues out there. Mainstream America is sniffing around at organic food and clean energy. Folks don't know if the stuff is ready for prime-time, and they're not yet willing to go out of their way (or pay lots more) to support it, but once they're convinced it's legitimate they are willing to take the leap. (See: Prius, Toyota)

There's a huge market waiting.

Product service systems

You know what's cool? Product service systems.

What are product service systems, you ask? How can they revolutionize the way we think about ownership and affluence? How can they dramatically reduce our ecological footprints?

These are good questions. However, I'm too lazy, and it's too Friday, to answer them here. Instead, I'm going to do the bloggy thing and point you to a bunch of stuff you should read. Meet back here for discussion.

• For a long and reasonably comprehensive description of PSS stuff, download this UNEP report (PDF).
• You could browse around the Product Service System Information Network's website.
• You could read this Worldchanging post, which, as is their wont, is packed with further links.
  
  Or, if you find all that stuff too taxing...
  
  
• You could browse through Treehugger's PSS category, replete with fun pictures and snappy descriptions of real-world PSS examples.

I'll write more about PSS some time, when it's not so damn Friday.

Of Motion and Emotion

I seem to have touched a nerve: it seems that more people had an opinion about my posts on the Cascadia Scorecard weblog discussing the Prius and the potential benefits of hybrid SUVs than about anything I'd written before.

My question is: why?

Dan Aykroyd rants about overconsumption

In an interview done to promote his (widely panned) new feel-good flick Christmas with the Kranks, Dan Aykroyd let loose his opinions on overwrought consumerism:

"[T]he common enemy in North America is the Western consumer. The consumer has driven oil up to $50 a barrel so we have to have these wars," he said. Still, he called for supporting the troops fighting those wars: "we've got to support those young men and women who are out there protecting our big fat bloated lifestyle. ... But let's take that $110 billion we're putting into conflict and put it into hydrogen cell research."

The interviewer pointed out the obvious: "But as a Hollywood success story, you're part of that whole fat bloated lifestyle." To which Aykroyd replied, "Yes, I know. I drive a V10 Ford Excursion and I have to tell folks all the time: look, I've got five kids and a dog and birds. I would have to have two Lincolns with two V8s, you see, so it would be 16 cylinders."

Lest ye judge, though, he properly disposes of his bottles and cans! "But I recycle at home. I started that with my dad in the neighborhood, we started a recycling thing that turned into quite a big thing with all the people in our neighborhood up in Canada doing bottles and cans and glasses."

Hollywood stars: throwing stones from glass houses since the sign was erected in 1923.

Celebrate Buy Nothing Day at Wal-Mart

This Friday I'll join culture jammers and lazy-asses the world over in celebrating Buy Nothing Day (inspired by those jammers exemplar over at Adbusters). Stick it to The Man by sitting on your duff; dig it.

More energetic rabble-rousers are encouraged to head to the nearest lair of Beelzebub (Wal-Mart, yo), not to feed the beast, but to congest the aisles as part of a Whirl-Mart Consumption Awareness Ritual. (See live action video of such!)

Freecycling groups spurn the landfill and spawn goodwill

Paint of no return. Let’s say you’re cleaning out your garage. Maybe you run across some old cans of paint and a couple of rickety chairs you’ve never gotten around to fixing. Would the Salvation Army want them? Not likely. You could throw the stuff out, but there’s that pesky issue of landfill space — […]

Ministers help kick off new phase of anti-SUV campaign

There are more scenic places for a demonstration — the Lincoln Memorial, say, or the lawn of the Capitol. But the Lynnway, an endless stretch of dreary light industry and heavy commerce just north of Boston, was perfect for our purposes. Not because of the greyhound racing track, not because of the discount furniture outlets. […]

"Clean cars" are the devil's tools, diverting attention from truly green solutions

The “clean car” is cool this season. “Is your car an energy hog? Get a new one,” a web ad bombards me before I have finished the morning’s second cup of coffee. “Your vote counts here,” says the flashing ad that rates the energy efficiency of the web surfer’s car, luring owners to buy a […]

The Toyota Prius sounds great, but why is it so hard to get one?

My 14-year-old car is on its last legs. I desperately need a replacement, and as an environmentalist, I want the cleanest and (especially with escalating gasoline prices) the most fuel-efficient vehicle available. Have you seen this car? Toyota has a new product that I regard as fitting the bill, a four-door, five-passenger, part electric, part […]