Category Archives: The Cost of Green

So long as green is sexy, so long as it’s hip, it isn’t really green. It’s an accessory. A good intention. It is important for consumers to be more responsible, of course, and things like LEED ratings and green gizmos raise awareness. They demonstrate that there is in fact a growing desire to live more sustainably. But sustainability is a way of life, not a good to be purchased. It will have to become unconscious, unnoticeable, fundamental, woven seamlessly into the way we live, if it is to be achieved. It will have to reshape the American Dream. Perhaps a single-family house, a yard, and two cars (or two kids, for that matter) is not a sustainable dream. Perhaps we should learn to not only make due with less, but to aspire to less. Less space, less stuff, less stress. Continue reading →

Most people with functioning prefrontal cortexes can get behind the idea of a world in which there is a perpetually ample supply and equitable distribution of food, water, shelter, energy, and other resources. But even assuming such a world is possible and within our ability as a species to render, it is the process, the plan, that presents the biggest obstacle. Put another way, people resist change because they are afraid of losing something. If the way we live is fundamentally unsustainable, and sustainability is what we seek, then changes must be made. What, then, are these changes? And what will we lose by making them? Continue reading →