I am fortunate to live in the “‘greenest city in Canada” and one of the greenest cities in the world. Vancouverites pride themselves on their superior composting and recycling regimes, there reusable bag usage, their zero waste attempts, veganism, trendy bike lanes and their luxurious trips to Wholefoods (aka Whole-paycheck if you’re a student like me..) I’m living in the environmental dreamland of Canada, but just because Vancouverites are consuming green products, it doesn’t make their purchases greener for the environment. What we’re really missing out here is the key to being true environmentalists and that’s the idea of consuming less (Sounds crazy, I know!).
As one fellow blogger put it, “we’re on the right track but we’re letting the cultural moment of comparing, wanting, buying, and tossing, ruin our green efforts.” (Keller, 2018). Our society is blinded by our need to purchase, and linking “green” or “natural” or “organic” to a product doesn’t mean we need it. Instead, our society needs to look at a more circular economy idea to consumption, instead of buying buying buying we should learn to repurpose, re-use, and then finally recycle. It is critical for our long term success as a species to realize we do not need as much as we want. Accepting this truth is the first real step to becoming a true environmentalist.
Sources:
The Four Letter Word Even the Green Freaks are Forgetting
