Considering the impact constant growth has inflicted on the planet in the last few decades, can consumerism be harnessed to save the planet?
This question was essentially on display this weekend at Epic: The Sustainable Living Expo in Vancouver, BC.
I was able to secure a media pass and attend the event, held at Canada Place on the ocean, amid a torrential downpour that’s not out of the ordinary this time of year.
It was a veritable orgy of up and coming products that hope to save the world by enticing consumers to make better choices with their dollars: from recyclable clothing, organic beer, fair-trade coffee, eco-travel guides, hybrid cars, sustainable tabletops, low-flush toilets, personal compost bins, living walls, rooftop gardens, the list goes on.
I wandered from booth to booth, snapping photos, glancing over information materials, samples and booklets, inspired by the sheer range and ingenuity represented by these green companies and entrepreneurs.
Surely, with no limit to our collective potential, the future looked bright.
Fad Or Paradigm Shift
But I couldn’t help but wonder how much the glossy optimism, embodied in the latest Toyota Hybrid or trendy green smoothie, was just techno-utopianism in disguise.
Considering the impact constant growth has inflicted on the planet in the last few decades, can consumerism be harnessed to save the planet?
Chris Koscher, a friend and Atmospheric Scientist, remembers the previous earth friendly wave from his youth. “Earth Day was huge when I was kid,” he says. “Everyone was on the bandwagon. McDonald’s was even handing out fresh saplings with their happy meals.”
But then, almost inexplicably, the fervor slipped out of the media and everyone went back to their own lives, polluting more than ever before. Years later, the issue has resurfaced again, this time hitting the mainstream with a vengeance.
This begs the question: will images of stranded polar bears and millions of environmental refugees spur us to take meaningful action?
While skeptical, Chris hopes this time around it’s not just a fad. If the chorus of scientists around the world are even close to accurate in their predictions, we don’t have time to gamble with our future.
If We Imagine It, We Can Build It
Alex Steffen, editor for WorldChanging.com, eloquently posed the challenge we face in his closing talk of the sustainability expo that night, which he also echoes in the forward of his excellent book.
We need, in the next twenty-five years or so, to do something never been done before. We need to consciously redesign the entire material basis of our civilization.
The model we replace it with must be dramatically more ecologically sustainable, offer large increases in prosperity for everyone on the planet, and not only function in areas of chaos and corruption, but also help transform them.
And keep in mind, the rate at which we use the planet’s resources is increasing everyday.
Since we are already running an ecological deficit, and since that deficit is getting bigger, there is absolutely no reason to believe that we can try one thing for a couple decades, and then, if that doesn’t work, try something else.
The living fabric of the planet, once unraveled, will never come back, at least not for a millenia. There are no do-overs on a finite planet.
So that’s the bad news. But here’s the good news:
If we face an unprecedented planetary crisis, we also find ourselves in a moment of innovation unlike any that has come before. We find ourselves in a moment when all over the world, millions of people are working to invent, use, and share worldchanging tools, models, and ideas.
We live in an era when the number of people working to make the world better is exploding. Humanity’s fate rests on the outcome of the race between problem solvers and the problems themselves.
The world is getting better-we just have to make sure it gets better faster than it gets worse.
As I left the sustainability expo that night, I felt a little overwhelmed with the task.
Yet it was impossible to ignore the contagious optimism that characterized the event, and how willing the participants appeared to recognize the scope of the problem.
We cannot fail in the years ahead.
So if we believe that shifting our spending habits to more sustainable businesses will indeed save the world, we’d better be sure that’s the right direction.
Update: Alex Steffen wrote a great article addressing the issue of buying a better future.
Ian MacKenzie is editor of Brave New Traveler, and co-founder of the blogging community TravelBlogger. Aside from writing, he spends his time exploring the fundamental nature of existence and wishing he did more backpacking.What do you think – can we buy ourselves a better future?
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9 Comments... join the discussion!
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I hope EPIC happens again next year. Experiencing that much innovation from a diverse range of industries and organizations, collected together, lends greater hope than hearing about it piecemeal and from a distance. I would say with certainty that no one attending could have walked away thinking “but what can I DO about this?”
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Wow, this is a tough one….It takes a lot, even for people who are aware that these changes need to place to really do the changing that needs to be done. Even if we stopped the pollution in the world TODAY, in 100 years, it wouldn’t be cleaner than it was 20 years ago. So the way we have damaged the earth is irreversible. That being said, it is no way near a done deal. If we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the beauty of this planet, we need to do something everyday to help the planet. I myself wish I could do more, but I am not sure where to start. So far I have sold my car, I am known as the recycle nazi to everyone I know, I use less plastic than I used to, and try to eat more organic. And I encourage others to do the same. I think people want to change, but they don’t necessarily know HOW to.
But I think this is a really important topic and look forward to what others have to say about it.↵ -
Ian,
Great post. I really wanted to attend this event, but I was stuck in Nanaimo. Now I feel informed!
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Lucia — I agree, it’s arrogant to assume that developing countries can change their habits when they’re fighting to stay alive. It should be our job to alleviate their immediate problems, so they can concentrate on adopting new technology. The speaker at World Changing called this the “leapfrog” effect, where countries can skip using outdated technology. For example, in Africa, rather than cross the country with phone lines, it’s much easier (and cheaper) for them to put up cell phone towers.
Jenn – Glad to hear you’re leading by example. I think that’s the best anyone can hope to achieve when influencing others.
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I would look at the developed nations to show the way not the developing nations, take a look at China and America….pumping out pollution like it’s going out of fashion. Even if my own country (UK) did stop polluting it would only be a tiny faction of the world’s pollution in comparison to Nations like America and China.
Until the largest polluting nations take a firm grip of this problem we are going no-where. Sadly because GREED comes before GREEN.
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I find pretty much a shame asking developing countries to abandon their development for the sake of a greener world, from our comfortable first world countries.
And another thing anyone seems to think about is the real cost of every technology and technical advance we should abandon. ¿Do you think your travels, ipods, computers, or even air conditioning are sustainable?… the real thing isn’t anymore buying an hybrid and having a rooftop garden, means saying no to lots of the comforts we already have.
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I am waiting for the water fueled car. You break the hydrogen from water and use it for fuel. Clean cheap and available everywhere.
Now if the petrol lobbies would let those inventions out…↵ -
I do agree with you about the car of the future. It wont work with fossile fuel that is for sure! There are many great invention waiting out there and one of them is water turning into clean hydrogen for out cars!
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