Green: The Color of Money
I’m getting MUCH better at managing my anger these days, but two, three … um, maybe four … days out of the week you’ll still find me shaking my fists at the heavens, as I mentally berate the general populace for its apathy toward global warming, our dwindling biodiversity, and famine and drought in much of the developing world. (I mean, nothing depresses me more than watching my husband down a bottle of Diet Coke. Okay, maybe baby seals getting clubbed to death depresses me more. Let it be known that the day my Paxil and Effexor quit on me will be a very dark day for humanity.) Times like these, I tend to forget that there is a sizeable population that can’t afford to be environmental, or have it in their power to make greener, socially conscious choices.
These are the people we’ve been conditioned to view as invisible, whether by guilt or by unrepentant self-centeredness.
Bear with me as I get a little technical: For the have-nots of the world, a sustainable lifestyle is near the apex of Maslow’s hierachy of needs, which means that lower-order, basic needs such as food, warmth, and shelter take overwhelming precedence. In other words, you couldn’t care less about high-falutin’ ideas like mass extinction or global warming if you’re struggling to survive. Organic milk? You’re going to buy whatever is cheapest, factory farming and rBGH be damned.
This is why my younger sister, starving grad student and social activist extraordinaire, believes that the environmental and fair-trade movement is classist. And even though the hub and I are by no means rich—we’re just anti-consumerists who are crackerjacks at keeping our overheads low—I can’t say I disagree with her entirely.
Grist kicked off its mucho-excellente series on “Poverty and the Environment” by admitting the paradox of the American environmental movement. “In much of popular and political culture,” the magazine says, “the movement is dismissed as the pet cause of white, well-off Americans—people who can afford to buy organic arugula, vacation in Lake Tahoe, and worry about the fate of the Pacific pocket mouse.”
Meghan Chapple-Brown, of strategy consultancy SustainAbility, spent years working with low-income minority communities in Chicago. She tells Grist that “some environmentalists think the poor are simply waiting for a green angel to descend with organic fare and free bus tickets.”
One of the central themes of Blue Vinyl really resonated with me. (And seriously, people, I can’t tout this movie any more if the producers threatened to stab my own mother in the face.) Most of the country’s low-income, predominantly minority communities live in some of the worst polluted regions on the map. Where does environmentalism end and social justice begin?
Next: Yeah, that was a rhetorical question, but I’m going to answer it anyway.
(Read Part 2 here.)
kevin said,
March 31, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Great post, with lots to think about.
Strangely, in the context of a discussion on poverty I feel like I should defend seal hunting. I know it is ugly and in a better world it wouldn’t happen, but there are some good reasons why it should be one of the last things we get upset about.
Before anyone jumps on me, I should point out that I am a vegetarian on the way to becoming a vegan and I have read Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation. I agree completely with the idea that we need to minimize suffering and that animals have a right not to be killed for our use. Even so, I want to point out a couple of things about the connection between seal hunting and poverty:
-the people who hunt seals in Newfoundland live in the poorest region in Canada - few would keep doing it if they had better economic choices - these people are at least as poor in money and opportunity as any inner city slumdweller!
-the Inuit, who also hunt seals in the Arctic, are carrying on a sustainable tradition in a place where there are few other options - take away seals and you take away their survival as Inuit people and impede their physical survival as well.
Please combine these facts with the knowledge that: a) it has been illegal to kill baby seals for many years (no matter what the anti-seal groups show in pictures), b) these animals live a free wild life without suffering until they are killed, yet factory farms torture animals from the minute they are born until they are slaughtered. We don’t have to participate in or condone the seal hunt, but I think it is a distraction from the real animal rights battlegrounds.
I don’t love seal hunting, but I think we need to make it a lower priority than stopping animal testing, or ending factory-farming (even meat-eating in general). If we stopped seal hunting tomorrow, there would still be millions of other animals sufferering and dying everyday right in our own regions (some of them are even cute!). It seems wrong to pick on some of the poorest people in North America, when there are much worse problems in our own back yards.
Sorry for making a big deal out of an off-hand comment (yes, of course you can feel depressed about this if you want - it is still wrong), but this is a perfect example of what the Grist series is talking about: environmentalists must be sensitive to human needs as well as those of the non-human world.
p.s. I really enjoy the site and Blue Vinyl truly is a terrific movie.
Jasmin said,
March 31, 2006 at 1:57 pm
I usually reply to comments via e-mail, but I thought this was something that I wanted to say in public.
Kevin, I’m so glad you enjoy my site, and am doubly glad that you’ve watched Blue Vinyl? Doesn’t it make you want to grab everyone on the street and shove a copy in their hand, going “WATCH THIS!”
I do think, however, that I have to disagree with you on the seal-bashing. Human welfare, is of course, a great concern (and some greenies do tend to forget that), but I think there is a difference between the Inuits hunting seals for food and survival versus opportunistic poachers who are taking advantage of market forces and the wanton desire for furs and pelts. The former is done in harmony with the environment, taking only what is necessary. The latter is despicable.
I can’t say I know too much about the non-Inuit low-income communities in the region–so please educate me if I’m completely off course–but surely the Canadian government can devise some other way to employ them without predating on seals for profit?
kevin said,
March 31, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
You are absolutely right that the Canadian government could do a better job of helping poor Newfoundlanders, but sadly most of the alternatives in those remote places (fishing, local agriculture and industries) have already been destroyed by globalization and/or environmental mismanagement. The far north, where I live, is full of transplanted Newfoundlanders looking for a better life and they all pine for home. They are essentially economic refugees.
It is impossible to defend seal hunting in principle. As I said, it is still wrong regardless of anything else. What I wanted to say is just that there are other, I think worse, crimes against animals (chiefly domestic ones) that we neglect when we focus all our attention on the seals.
Rich urban people can easily choose not to kill animals by eating meat, but destitute sealers have few options to make a living. I worry that people (not you, I hasten to add, based on your obvious commitment to these issues) will direct all their anger and activism at the poor Newfoundlanders, while obliviously enjoying a factory-farmed chicken for dinner.
Jasmin said,
March 31, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Thanks, Kevin. It’s obviously not a black-and-white issue … and likely no easy solution. Perhaps someone needs to start an open dialogue … or some kind of community-based program for the Newfoundlanders, but the question is who?
I always appreciate points of view different from my own, so if you ever disagree with me on something, please feel free to voice your opinion :)
The Worsted Witch » How the Other Half Lives said,
April 1, 2006 at 1:31 pm
[...] (Read Part 1, “Green: The Color of Money” here.) [...]
mimulus said,
April 1, 2006 at 8:58 pm
This is a wonderfully complicated topic and one that I wished got more airplay in the sound bite addicted media. It is true well meaning yuppies with lots of disposable cash are doing the eco groovy thing and buying green. Very little to to none of that trickles down to the rural appalachian poor, or those in the rural south or prairie ghettos for native americans. But I would rather see them buying a Prius than a Hummer, supporting CSA’s than Safeway, installing bamboo floors instead of Italian travertine. I think all this activity is helping us to get to some kind of tipping point where commerce and the people will force the government to take social justice and environmental issues seriously.
I used to get angry and strident in my younger days, but have mellowed to the point I just try to be the change I want to see in the world as Ghandi implored. I am certainly not perfect and I am always finding way s to furthur decrease by footprint. But instead of agonizing over it like I did in the past (and achieving nothing) I find ways to work for positive change, even in small ways, and that sustains me.
The Worsted Witch » Variations on a Theme said,
April 4, 2006 at 2:31 pm
[...] What I sincerely hope to convey through this medium is that, barring special economic circumstances, it is possible to lead a sustainable lifestyle without a marked difference to your existing quality of life. (You’d be surprised at how much money you’ll save1 when you’re not buying things you don’t actually need.) [...]
The Worsted Witch » The Good Life said,
April 20, 2006 at 6:45 pm
[...] Despite the admittedly socialist bent of most of my stances, I do believe that conscious consumption by those of us who can afford to is instrumental to driving changes in industry practices that will make sustainability affordable for everyone. But when I hear about women decked out in Linda Loudermilk couture and Loomstate jeans traipsing off to high-end “lifestyle” salons to get their highlights done ( “but it’s environmentally friendly henna, dah-ling”) a discordant chord sounds in my head. No wonder the current movement has been accused of being classist and patrician. In many ways, it is. And there’s a disconnect. [...]