http://www.huliq.com/10282/earth-day-2012-marketed-entertainment-while-nation-set-go-green
The revelation that companies promote sustainability and global responsibility to increase revenue, rather than for the sake of benefiting the environment, comes as no shock. Companies are leaping on the green bandwagon so fast that is difficult to walk into a store and not see a sign for organics, recycled products, or Eco-friendly choices. Has Earth Day become just another marketing ploy?
The article puts a different twist on this holiday as it points out all of the free entertainment and marketing promotions that take place. Concerts, free giveaways, and special TV programs will occur on August 22nd. Target gives away reusable totes, and PBS airs "Revenge of the Electric Car" and other environmentally focused programs. While I do not want to be a complete cynic, I did find myself questioning the effectiveness of Earth Day in achieving its ultimate goal of promoting conservation and concern for the environment.
With Earth Day just one day away, ask yourself what does Earth Day mean to you? Is it just a feel-good holiday that attempts to downplay the negative ways we impact the environment, or does it truly raise awareness of humanity's responsibility to protect the earth? Who are the people / corporations / countries most likely to take part in the celebration? What is the main reason for their involvement? Money or conservation?
I have just read a similar article on NY Times' green blog entitled: "That Special Day: Bah, Humbug?". Here, the author likens the increased marketing of Earth Day to that of Valentine's Day. Earth Day, especially, should not be a day to promote customers to buy/consume more. In my opinion, people should be outside helping to clean up the Earth or planting trees, not inside shopping for good deals. Increased marketing for Earth Day is a good idea to make people aware of the special day in general, but stores need to do it in a different way. In Europe, they charge people to use the plastic bags instead of reusable ones. The author ends with a good point: "Earth Day is transient. If you only showed love on Valentine's day, would that really mean anything at all?" Hopefully one day we can expand Earth Day practices from just one day, and integrate them into our everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteWhile the article makes some good points about the need for the principles of earth day to extend beyond a singular day, several things about this article concern me. The first thing is the tendency of many in the environmental movement to lash out against the commercialization of the movement. This is understandable to a point, if people think that buying a few green items is enough, but the fact is that people will buy things anyway, and if major corporations are on board with directing those purchases towards environmentally friendly products and promoting reusable items, this still creates a net benefit to the world and does uphold the original earth day mission of environmental education.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that concerns me about this article is that it relies so much on one book and one scientist to make claims about the future of climate change. Climate science is far too inexact to rely solely on one point of view. One quote in particular I found quite problematic was this: "while “the environment is degrading” to such a point that “only help from outside the planet can save us,” say experts." This is possibly the least helpful assessment of global climate change I have seen and the fact that he doesn't cite a specific person with that quote makes me wonder what 'experts' would be saying something like that.
While I think we all would agree that Earth Day does does not bring about significant environmental change, I'm going to play devils advocate and point out that is doesn't do any harm! I think we can look at Earth Day as the Christmas of the environmental movement- while there are those dedicated Christians who attend church every Sunday, there are also those who only make an appearance in mass only on big holidays such as Christmas and Easter. These holiday goers do not bring down the moral of the church, rather, they strengthen it, and enhance the celebration. The commercialization of Earth Day may be misguided, but it is better than nothing, I would argue. I am not going to object to a few more people recycling their trash and cleaning up the beaches, even if it is the only day out of the year that these individuals take part.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so Earth Day is here to stay, how can we improve it? My biggest issue with Earth Day is that it lacks focus. As we very well know, there endless environmental issues that span a seemingly endless spectrum. What I see as a possible remedy for this problem is to have all environmental organizations/movements adopt their own version of Earth Day. Say there were thousands of different themes (represented on websites) on the same day, such as "Earth Day: Recycling," "Earth Day: Save Energy," "Earth Day: Air Pollution, "Earth Day: Organic Foods," "Earth Day: Ocean Cleanup." This way, people could dedicate their day to a specific cause, and who, knows, maybe even become a life time member of said organization/movement in their communities.