Greenwashing Critique from Down Under
After my send-up of the dangers of Earth Hour last week, I got pinged about an excellent critique of the world-wide event.
The source - a high school in Australia - was a bit unexpected, but the quality of commentary is excellent. Here’s a quote from Greenwashing - Raising Awareness or Breeding Complacency?, by Jimmy Yan, a member of the Glen Waverly Secondary Eco-Committee:
“Only promoting less consumption as an individualized act misses the point. Earth Hour although promoting less energy consumption, still indirectly promotes the idea that we can bring about change through our individual consumption. Instead of looking at the point of production, Earth Hour looks solely at the point of consumption. A central component of the mentality of ‘ethical’ consumerism is the idea that people can influence the production processes of corporations by simply buying supposedly “greener” products. If anything, corporations have a lot more control over people’s consumption habits than the other way around. Production processes of companies are initiated by the company and are always governed by their economic interests.
“Corporations – bodies that have a legal obligation to deliver profits to shareholders - never do things in the name of altruism unless it will increase their profit margins. Instead of looking at the deeper political and economic reasons for our environmental problems, Earth Hour reduces real social and political activism to merely shopping. This is not “empowering”, quite the contrary, it is completely disempowering and patronizing to tell students that the best they can do to save the planet is to turn off their lights for one hour. This elitist mentality only perpetuates the disease known as the consumer culture and the stereotypes of teenagers as apathetic and stupid.”
A bit wordy, but good critical writing nonetheless. The Eco-Committee Blog gets an A grade from me.
My Earth Hour / War of the Worlds posts:
Tibet/Guantanamo/Spuzzum; Calamity: Driving in the Dark; Survival Guide; Earth Hour Pros & Cons.
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POSTED IN: Advocacy, Ethics, Event Management, News and Ideas, Promotions, Spin
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