Opinion: Consumerism The Enemy Of Conservation

So in the last year or so I've come to the conclusion that consumerism and conservation don't really go hand in hand. First lets start off with the definition of consumerism, according to Merriam-Webster, consumerism is "the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; also : a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods." To me this is the first part of the problem, while consumerism may be good for the economy it is certainly not good for the environment. The second is that excess consumerism and a healthy economy can be mutually exclusive --basically you don't need consumerism for a healthy economy. My believe is that this excerpt explains the start of our modern day consumerism in North America.

Shortly after the end of the war, retailing analyst Victor Lebow expressed the solution: "Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate." --Consumer culture no accident, Science Matters, David Suzuki, Mar 07, 2003

To summarize, the U.S government wanted to avoid another depression, and shifted the post war industry to manufacturing crap. Some items were of value, and continued to be produced, just like before the war. However, a trend was started where it was acceptable to create items with a shorter lifespan to reduce initial costs and allow greater consumer adoption. But this didn't necessarily reduce total cost of ownership and as we're seeing today it most certainly doesn't help the environment. Next time you buy something consider whether it's a frivolous item, if it's worth it to spend a little more to get a quality product, and what the environmental impact is. You decided what should be mass produced ever time you buy a product; buying tons of junk just asserts that consumers want to buy junk and that company's should continue to produce it. If all consumers bought quality items with long lifespans, the manufacturing industry would shift to accommodate the demand. The same holds true for goods made in an environmentally friendly way. Vote for quality goods when you make a purchase, and ensure that any purchase you make is necessary.

Cannabis: Literally Going Green

Today I would like to talk about industrial Hemp. Industrial hemp is produced from a strain of the Cannabis plant selected to produce an abundance of fiber. This fiber can be turned into an insanely large amount of products, estimated to be around 50,000. Some of the main uses of hemp are in the textile industry, food products, and many others through hemp oil. The importance of hemp is that it is a naturally resilient plant so few pesticides and no herbicides are needed to grow it. The only other chemicals needed are agricultural fertilizers to increase yield which help make hemp a commercially viable crop. I see it as the lesser of two evils. There's also evidence that shows per acre hemp can produce about 10% more fiber versus cotton or flax. Since hemp is a fairly "green" industrial fiber, it's become quite popular with the textile industry as a green fiber source. More about this in a later post though. Hemp has a few great characteristics I've learned such as an ability to purify soil contaminants, in fact it's being used to help clean nuclear waste at Chernobyl. It can also be used in crop rotations to clean up soil and kill tough weeds. The last practical use is in the production of bio-diesel which can be made from hemp oil. After all this I'd like to get everyone thinking about alternative materials that can be used in everyday products and processes. There's lots of innovation going on in this field, and a lot of companies have already made lots of true green products but unfortunately they aren't always well marketed yet so it takes a little digging to find them.

Green Technology: Bullfrog Power

Green technology has become extremely popular over the last few years. Unfortunately green power generation is impractical for most people. High cost of installation, system maintenance,  and a long payoff are the key reasons people are slow to jump on green power. However, most people don't mind paying a little extra for green power which is where Bullfrog Power comes in. The way it works is you estimate your power consumption and report it. Heres a video that explains the concept in a bit more detail. In return you get invoiced for the extra cost per kw/h for green power, in BC this works out to $.02 per kw/h. Overall this is usually less than a dollar a day. So you buy certified green energy, and offset your power usage; it requires no long term investment, and not only are you helping the environment now, but supporting the industry for power generation in the future.