Thursday 21 August 2014

Introducing the Backpack



Having Nick Jr. on cable when I was younger meant that I was often exposed to shows with their trademark catchy (?) jingles. I was a little past the age to be watching Dora the Explorer when it aired but did anyway because my sister was in the appropriate age range and she always got her way when it came to watching TV. For those of you who are unacquainted, every episode follows a themed adventure of a Latin American girl (Dora), who completes some tasks along the way together with her talking monkey and stops a fox from stealing by…telling him not to. The highlight though, is probably her talking backpack which always seems to have the appropriate equipment for any task at hand, along with a myriad of “knick-knacks” that no preschool child would carry around in reality.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we do not live in a parallel universe where backpacks speak or are bottomless pits of treasures which we can summon to satisfy our needs and wants. However, that has not stopped us from living as if we did. You might have already heard that we will need two Earths to sustain the population by 2030 if we keep up our current consumption levels (WWF, 2012). Yet here is a lesser known statistic: the amount of consumer goods consumed by the average European or North American household is so huge that to lead an equivalent lifestyle in Roman times would have required 6,000 slaves (Pearce, 2008)! We consume as if there were infinite resources on Earth, our metaphorical backpack. But this is no parallel universe.

But what if! What if our backpack was filled with "green" products? What if the food we ate were organically grown, farmed from sustainable sources and supported fair trade? What if the T-shirts we wore claimed to have been made from organic cotton and had the "chasing arrows" slapped on its front? What if the pencils we used came from wood-less sources? If our mobile phones were made to consume less power? If our shampoos and soaps did not contain parabens? If all over the packaging was the term "environmentally-friendly"? If this was the case, would our footprint on the planet be any lighter? Would it give us the right and the ability to consume like we did and just maybe, live as if we had Dora's backpack?

Green consumerism includes various practices focused on reducing consumption, consuming more sustainability and alleviating the negative impacts associated with consumption (Mansvelt & Robbins, 2010) (For the purpose of this blog, I will be focusing on "green" consumer goods). It seemingly offers us a solution to our problem. You may have guessed by now, though, that it is not that simple. While Green Consumerism has its benefits and may potentially lower man's impact on the environment, it also has its own slew of problems. It has been called out by some as an oxymoron, others have raised concerns over greenwashing and still more question the extent to which "green" products are actually that - green. Over the next two and a half months I will discuss and cover some of the main issues and controversies associated with Green Consumerism and attempt to give you readers an idea on the Green Consumerism scene. I may also share some products that have been "Greenified", if you will, that perhaps you may have your own opinions about. Feel free to share your thoughts and any "green" products you may have come across!

References:
   WWF (2012). Living Planet Report 2012 [Online PDF]. Retrieved August 22, 2014, from http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/1_lpr_2012_online_full_size_single_pages_final_120516.pdf

   Pearce, F. (2008). Confessions of an Eco-sinner: Travels to Find Where My Stuff Comes From. London: Transworld Publishers.

   Mansvelt, J., & Robbins, P. (Eds.). (2011). Green consumerism: An A-to-Z guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: http://dx.doi.org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.4135/9781412973809