A Grotesque GREEN Experiment

I was going to write about the work I did last weekend until I read this article in The New York Times that, quite honestly, pissed me off. Tom Zeller Jr. is a “Green Inc.” columnist for The New York Times and seems to have stumbled upon an experiment done at the University of Toronto on Green consumers. Two assistant professors were performing tests on Green consumers and conventional consumers to show a pattern in human psychology and behavior. In one experiment 59 student volunteers were asked to rate each kind of consumer with noble attributes; of course the green consumers rated high. In another experiment 156 volunteers were sat in front of a computer with two visuals in front of them, one with a green store and one with a conventional store. They were then asked to buy products from either store and were also allowed to share money. The people that bought from the green store did just that. The people that bought from the conventional store shared money. One last test had volunteers answer a simple question, which box has more dots. It was very obvious which box had more dots in it, but that was not the point. The point was that green shoppers answered more incorrect than the others, meaning that they were more careless and satisfied by doing one simple job. Researchers used these experiments to conclude that wealthier people are only concerned with the here and now. Wealthier people and westerners think that shopping green means that they have done enough to make the world a better place. Just enough. The conclusion was that richer people who do these minor acts believe they have benefited the world when in fact they might as well have done nothing at all. I beg to differ.

Although Tom Zeller and Toronto researchers present very strong and important facts, I find their experiment and conclusions to be completely biased and pointless. How can you make an assumption of green consumers being rich and careless? I find this to be very generalized and one-sided. It has been known since the first few Green products were in stores that they would be more expensive. And what does it take for more expensive products to be purchased? People with more money. I am stating the obvious. This is not news.

Yet the generalizations are not completely false, so I will not fully bash this article. Most westerners do purchase green products, buy local foods, recycle, buy a Prius and then throw in the keys and call themselves God. But not everyone is some environmental activist who can devote their life to these issues. So can we blame them for not going out when they have a minute of spare time and pick up trash, dig holes, plant trees and protest? No! People are choosing to go green in their daily routines and purchase products on their way home from work differently than they used to. That says a lot. Getting a majority of people to change little, daily acts, as opposed to having few people perform big jobs, will make a bigger difference.

Of course there are places all around the world that are being destroyed at this very moment because of environmental problems and global warming. And of course we can do a lot more to help these places and the people living there. We can do a lot more to help people all around the world with all kinds of different problems. There are people, some rich westerners and some not, who have gone to these other places in the world and devoted their lives to helping other people’s environments. For the rest of the population on the west, people have gone on devoting their lives to other jobs while making green changes in their lifestyle. It has come slowly and will never be enough to heal the damage we have done, but there is a green revolution occurring and we have come a long way. Everyone is aware that they are living in a green movement and that this movement will never end because we are constantly destroying the environment. Change IS happening and that is huge. I consider myself an environmentalist and as much as I would love every single person to be as passionate and concerned as I am, that is not realistic. But I am proud of how far we have come and how much activity is occurring in people’s lives to live in a greener way. “When Green Consumers Decide, ‘I’ve Done Enough’” understates and misrepresents the positive ways in which populations are going green and helping the environment. This issue should not be tied to money. There are plenty of other ways to help the environment without having an abundance of cash.

Go help, Go volunteer, Go GREEN!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?pagewanted=1