i think its very curious the timing of environmental awareness
in america, it came at a time when our supply of oil was low, and people whose high-paying jobs depend on the availability of oil began to get worried because at the rate that america was consuming oil, we would run out, and their businesses would fail.
so they created a movement that was brilliantly marketed, and served their purposes.
it served their purposes because with people being conservationist, it made companies' limited oil supplies last longer- and they can stay in business longer- we played right into their hands.
they made it seem as a reactionary thing, a liberal thing, a hip young thing- branded as new and innovative and conscientious
so that if you participated it in, you are educated and aware- something that people strive to be- as we are aspirational.
it actually created a new market whereas in theory it should have slowed down business because people would not be consuming as much, but now we have many many new companies touting their environmentally-friendly wares.
companies like whole foods, much like jewish mothers and religion, use guilt to attract and keep their consumers, and it is, after all, a business. like their reusable salad bowls, where you get 15 cents off if you use it, is marketed as something that they are doing because they are concerned about the environment, but actually it is just logical that you get 15 cents off because the bowl weighs more.
the entire movement plays at our guilt- our guilt for being on this planet and that we have to pay back for our space here- we can't get anything that is undeserved- but this is a purely human notion, a social construction that has persisted through time, dating back to the church's money collection.
so has paying back guilt always been monetary-based? is guilt a notion created by business to keep themselves relevant? what would our society be like with no guilt?
we also use guilt to keep ourselves in line, which follows the excuse idea, that we need to create excuses to do anything that is not in line with social constructions to assuage our guilt. but there is in fact no inherent reason for us to feel guilty- it is a way to control ourselves. so who is doing the controlling? is it just a notion that has been passed down through time and is adapted into current trends so that they persist?