Beyond Passive Activism
One particular article by Derrick Jensen in Orion Magazine made such a huge impact on my perspective on environmentalism when I read it last year. It really opened my eyes to what defines a person that truly wants to change the state of the environment. What it demonstrates is that personal consumption and personal waste account for a very small proportion of total consumption and waste. The vast majority of pollution and resource use comes from industry and government. This means, that no matter how much we recycle, compost, and use energy-efficient products, it will never be enough to save the planet unless companies begin to change their practices. So if all we ever do to help our environment is lead a simple life at home, then we aren’t truly engaging in activities that will make a difference.
These ideas really solidified my decision to work towards a concentration in sustainability here at Sauder. If I can use the tools I learn here and bring them to my workplace after graduation, perhaps I can make a more substantial change in the world than if I just drive a hybrid car. Interestingly, I had to remind myself of this article when I went to Guatemala during reading break. Everywhere you turn you see garbage littering the sides of the roads and not a single recycling bin in sight, and so you think the country must be ruining the earth. And yet Canada’s CO2 emissions are substantially worse than Guatemala’s and we use far more energy because of the industries that make up our economy.
Energy Consumption (source Wikimedia Commons):
Guatemala: 623.6 kilograms of oil equivalent per person in 2001
Canada: 7999.5 kilograms of oil equivalent per person in 2001
Image: CO2 Emissions Per Capita Per Country (source: Wikimedia Commons)
I think this is why sustainability marketing is so important. Compared to traditional promotions, it encourages change rather than merely reflecting current consumer preferences, getting people to act above and beyond what’s minimally required of them. Perhaps this type of marketing can move people towards political change, so that we no longer see solely passive activism, such as when people decide to bring reusable bags to the grocery store. These types of activities are good, but it’s time to take our actions one step further.
Hi Jessica, great post… Derrick Jensen is pretty radical and advocates a total dismantling of capitalist society, so I think he would say that sustainability marketing is an oxymoron. He would probably advocate for the importance of radically reducing consumption rather than merely consuming ‘greener’ products. His ideas are clearly thought provoking, and his solutions are pretty far removed from any mainstream conversations.
I’ve heard the statistic that greenhouse gas emissions come from 3 sectors, roughly: one third from transportation, one third from buildings, and one third from industry. If that’s even close to accurate, it means that there is actually a lot of room for individual consumption behaviors to make a difference, in what cars we drive, how we design and inhabit our buildings, and what standards of sustainability we demand from industry, in my opinion.
I think both sides of the debate have important points, but I do worry that marketing has very little to offer when it comes to changing deep-seated values like Jensen thinks is required. What do you think?
Hi Jessica,
I read the Orion article you referred to, and I find it very compelling. I agree that it can be disheartening to think that the actions of an individual who is trying to live sustainably can be nullified, in a split-second, by the actions of a polluting corporation.
When I start thinking this way, I force myself to remember that while a corporation is technically an entity, it does not possess the ability to make decisions. Its decisions are made by a group of individual people, and if only one of those individuals wants to change the way the company treats the environment, they have the ability to bring that issue to the table.
I guess the point that I’m trying to make is that in my view, it’s important to remember that individual people came together and created the corporations and systems that encourage us to mistreat the environment. This leads me to think that actions by individuals actually can make a difference. I think we saw a good example of this in Interface, where one person (the CEO, of course) changed the way his company, and the carpet industry, viewed environmental sustainability.