THe myth of middle-class environmentalism

Macha

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/ethicalliving.recycling

"Green living is largely something of a myth. There is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image. But another part of the desired image is to fly off skiing twice a year. And the carbon savings they make by not driving their kids to school will be obliterated by the pollution from their flights."

Interesting article on people applying the green philosophy to one part of their lives and then totally cancelling it out with another part. Kinda reminds me of an article I read about how some people who go to the gym tend to over-reward themselves with food and sometimes actually end up heavier.

Heroditas

"Carbon neutral" is the new buzz. Conserve at home so you can jet off on holiday. Sounds good.

mikemac

Tell me about it!
Our manager is mad into this. Recycled paper, warnings to switch off the PC at night and woe betide you if you leave the aircon or lights on overnight. Sure it makes sense from saving money point of view but I don’t want to hear “carbon footprint” every day.

But only management have parking spaces so he drives 3 miles to work in heavy traffic while 90% of us plebs either use mopeds, cycle or public transport.
Sigh!

Húrin

taconnol wrote: »

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/ethicalliving.recycling

"Green living is largely something of a myth. There is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image. But another part of the desired image is to fly off skiing twice a year. And the carbon savings they make by not driving their kids to school will be obliterated by the pollution from their flights."

Interesting article on people applying the green philosophy to one part of their lives and then totally cancelling it out with another part. Kinda reminds me of an article I read about how some people who go to the gym tend to over-reward themselves with food and sometimes actually end up heavier.

For most middle class people, 'being green' is a fashion rather than something they understand the very serious reasons for. They typically think that recycling is an issue intimately connected to climate change. These people do not even typically live green at home, as they tend to consume more stuff.

I've noticed how the people who know least about things like environmentali issues, climate change and growing food, tend to be the most self-righteous about these things. Like the girl who thought that burning all fossil fuels should be banned tomorrow, yet couldn't recognise a carrot plant. Or the call centre worker who raged that the best way to fight global warming was for everyone to reduce their carbon footprint to zero.

It proves that voluntarily 'living green' is no solution to climate change - only campaigning on and politicising ecology can work.

SectionF

It's a myth of consumerism, which is mostly organized for the wealthy middle classes.

Western market economies are based on growth, and on insatiable appetites for, basically, more of everything (See the brilliant Affluenza, by Oliver James).

If they stand still, they cease to function. It raises the question as to whether all these public education initiatives, change.ie, etc., are little more than PR.

It is not possible to be environmentally responsible and to own a second home, go on several holidays a year, travel to Britain to watch football , and speculate on the property market. No one wants to face that though, and, since it's an important middle-class value to be always right, a material shift in opinion (and therefore policy, as it is the middle classes who elect government) is not going to happen any time soon.

Macha

True, I remember we had Failte Ireland in to talk to us about tourism and sustainability. The guy spoke very well on issues of litter, water quality, pollution, landscape and the built environment. But when it came to the issue of carbon-heavy flights by travellers, he kind of grimaced and said "well of course this issue is quite a delicate one for us..".

No surprises there!

donaghs

There may be "middle class" hypocrisy, but try living in a council estate or ex-council estate. My experience living in these area is that people there don't even bother with "doing their bit" and so on. Green recycle bins full of non-reyclable material, black-regular bins full of potentially recyclable material, no composters in gardens, broken fridges in gardens, etc.

And rampant consumerism which matches (and often outstrips) the middle classes, which means upgrading the car and flat-screen TV etc every year. My point being that having some awareness of environmental issues, and trying to do something, is a start, and is better than nothing.

Galvasean

I wouldn't begrudge people who recycle but jet off on their yearly holiday. Lets be honest they would take that plane whether they recycled or not. If anything them recycling is a small bonus.

Easily the most hypocritical 'green' thing I've seen was Live Earth. Lets have bands fly in on private jets and make loads of noise in a field (those amps eat up the electricity). While people travel from far and wide on specially chartered buses etc which cause even more carbon emissions. While there the littering was a disgrace, plastic cups etc trampled into the ground. I'd say over 90% of the people there were in it purely for the gig/music instead of actually caring about the environment. Same for the performers. Most of them are probably there for the PR, not the cause.

djpbarry

donaghs wrote: »

There may be "middle class" hypocrisy, but try living in a council estate or ex-council estate. My experience living in these area is that people there don't even bother with "doing their bit" and so on. Green recycle bins full of non-reyclable material, black-regular bins full of potentially recyclable material, no composters in gardens, broken fridges in gardens, etc.

I see this sort of thing in my apartment building all the time; non-recyclables in recycling bins, bottles of cans and/or bottles in the regular bin.... the laziness of some people astounds me.