Just finished reading an incredibly interesting (if slightly over-critical) article discussing the merits of what the New Yorker is calling "eco-stunts." Elizabeth Kolbert looks at a couple of blogs-turned-books/movies that we've covered quite frequently here (No Impact Man and Green as a Thistle). And, as you might have guessed, she's not amused...
Hot or Not? Eco-Stunts
The New Yorker
Or, maybe she is amused, but for the wrong reasons? Kolbert's basic conclusion is that these green experiments ultimately do little good for the environment because they are marketing stunts — their main goals being book deals, movie deals, and a little bit of green fame. (She points most critically to the fact that Colin Beavan/No Impact Man came up with the idea for his green experiment over lunch with his book agent.)
But we're just not sure if these are good enough reasons to write off what these types of blogs/books are accomplishing. Sure, both Colin Beavan and Vanessa Farquharson got book deals, but we might argue that that was the point — to get people's attention. To show people the environmental consequences of some of their daily choices.
Read the whole fascinating article here. We'd love to know what you think. Do you agree with Kolbert... are these eco-stunts?
And if they are, is that really a bad thing?
Image: Amazon
Comments (2)
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I agree with Kolbert somewhat, in so far as these little escapades don't do much to actually help the environment beyond that mushy concept of "raising awareness".
I'm not sure however, that they are purely acts of self-promotion. Rather, I think that the environmental issues we face seem so big and scary that authors and readers alike will grasp on to projects with some sort of boundaries- 100 miles, 365 days, etc.- in order to be able to quantify the impact of living green. I think that the stunt works only because it satisfies some psychological need to reduce the size of the problem. If only it worked. It's much harder to expand one's viewpoint beyond the boundaries of the watershed/year/apartment and recognize that we are irrevocably globally connected, and recognize environmental issues on that large (albeit hard to stomach) scale.
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Sure, these things are stunts, but I think some of them can go beyond that. A year or so ago, I was enamored with books like Plenty and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. These books have truly changed the way I eat and the way I think about food. Is all my food local? No, but a lot more of it is than before.
I think the key is, is the book just an interesting story about people doing without, or is there something in it that we could incorporate into our own lives?
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