How much longer do you believe the "green" craze will last? `

[Javaman]

Frankly, I see it having oh about 2 more years of fuel left in it.

Why am I the cynic?

Well, given the fact that the earth is in a deplorable condition and the best solutions to come out for the general public are to change the light bulbs and use reusable bags at the market, is it hard to see then me not being a cynic?

How many people are actually biting the bullet to go really "green". You know what that means. Growing more and more of your own food. Raising chickens and bees in your back yard. Digging up your lawn and replacing it with fruits and vegetables. Not only putting in rain barrels but a drip system to use that water wisely. Are people jarring or canning food? Do they save seeds? Could they make flour from potatoes?

As the earth changes, heats up, species die, we are told, if we just cut back all will be well.

I love Al Gore and he is the best, but the reality is; after people listen to what he has to say, what percentage, honestly, takes his word to heart and change their lives for more than a few weeks afterward, before they then realize that it's hard work to really be "green" and then fall back into the easy life of fossil fuel over consumption again?

Have people stopped driving because it's killing the earth with CO2 or have they stopped driving because gas prices are too high? I think we know the answer to that one.

How many people have cut back on meat? how many people grow their own food? how many people truly buy local? Has anyone really tried eliminating plastic from their homes?

Will people use solar cookers? Will they learn to tend and take care of chicks? Will understand that water will be the next major issue for wars? And do they know how to filter rain water to make it potable?

So what happens after the "green" craze wears off? Will it be the "brown" craze? Because everything green is now dead? Or will it be called the "we are fucked!" craze?

Anyone that has been paying attention knows that the "green" revolution is nothing but a colossal marketing gimmick. Were those light bulbs made by truly "green" corps? were those reusable bags produced using no CO2?

china-mart and host of other life sucking corps have taken on the "green" moniker as a way to make themselves more digestible to the masses. Yeah, they sell the light bulbs and maybe a composter, but 99% of their other merchandise is still fossil fueled. I think the term is called green washing. china-mart is very good at it.

I prefer the term, green veneer. At least with a washing something seeps in.

So you must ask yourself, how green are you really? And are you green because it's now cool to be green or are you green because of the mass propaganda machines are telling you that you are green so you feel really good about yourself as we burn up?

[Codeine]

1. Not long at all.

The same issue broke and failed in the late 60s, then again in 1990 or so when the renewed Earth Day/Sting/Rainforests energy swept across the nation and then disappeared in record time. This is just a passing fad on our way to total and complete devastation, I'm afraid.

[XemaSab]

2. K&R for crushing cynicism

I agree 100% with everything you just said, and I'll add that part of the problem is that the American people are SO uneducated they have to be told what to think. But nobody's going to educate the American public, 'cause there's money to be made in keeping people stupid.

I love Al Gore, but God forbid the so-called "green" movement should change the fundamental way a company does business. We need to look at the nuts and bolts of the products we buy, and ultimately buy fewer products that are made better, last longer, and yes, cost more, on the way to not buying much at all.

To paraphrase my friend Clay: The diseases of a consumer society cannot be cured with a consumer response.

[kestrel91316]

3. There's a whole little subculture of us quiet home preppers.

I have been home canning on and off for 30 years, and done a lot of it in the past 15. I can spin on a drop spindle, and crochet, and sew my own clothes, even stitching by hand if need be. I'm gonna have my little Midwestern homestead some day, climate change or not, peak oil or not.

[NNadir]

10. Don't forget the guns and the barbed wire. I recommend you also set

aside a few hundred acres of Mom's estate for remote control land mines too, in case any of those nasty poor people try to break into your little libertarian redoubt. You can farm the part that is surrounded by 8 foot barbed wire capped brick walls of course, all 3,000 acres.

I don't know if you'll be able to find El Saladorans to pick the grain though.

I often wonder if all of those yuppie survivalists in Idaho who plan to live forever in their science fiction redoubts ever wonder if they'll have to shoot their fellow survivalists to get water.

I recommend a brazillion gallon rainwater cistern too, and pure grain alcohol, with no nasty fluoridation to deplete your precious bodily fluids.

[Terry in Austin]

14. NNadir, why do you even bother?

Sheesh!

[kimmerspixelated]

4. I hope it's here to stay.

By now it should be apparent that it is the only way. We have to go green for sustainable energy at least. A new consciousness is predicted to take over, where people actually think about what they are doing. It's not too late, but yes, there are lot's of ignorant folks out there, with no clue whatsoever!

And from what I have heard about investors, they are only geared, as of late, towards green businesses, so there is that!

And green businesses may turn us around economically, so I think it is a very good thing, and hopefully not just a fad.

Back in the 60's and 70's, things weren't dire enough to make the changes stick.

The clock is at 11:54!

[XemaSab]

7. I think a lot of changes DID stick in the 60's and 70's

For example, clean air, clean water, and species protection are things that my generation has grown up with, and to not have these things is unthinkable.

But the changes of that era did not require vast consumer action in order to stick. Changes were made by the government and private businesses, and that's still the level where most of the protection takes place. Yeah, you're not supposed to play with matches in the forest, dump your oil down the storm drain, burn household waste in the back yard, or shoot songbirds, but the rules pertaining to you as a citizen versus the rules pertaining to, say, the Clorox company... it's a totally different level.

Right now we need a level of response comparable to that era, and with the same degree of lasting change. And I'm not holding my breath for that to happen anytime soon.

[stuntcat]

12. yes

it's not a fad, the world's changing whether us monkeys can deal with it or not, hopefully we can save some of it while the wildlife still has a chance. That or it'll be like Terry in Austin said down there. It cannot be just some fad or craze, it's the test of our whole species.

[lutherj]

5. I know many people trying to make significant lifestyle changes.

I know people who are turning vegetarian, and some who are choosing to eat less meat. People who are going carless, making an effort to learn to garden. However, I agree that the dominant social paradigms will have to change. Capitalism and the consumer economy will have to go. Most likely it will only go after a massive collapse of the system.

However, I am very skeptical that humanity will quit burning fossil fuels. Imagine if the US were to get it's act together, make the necessary political changes and actually reduce fossil fuel consumption by 50%, just to choose an arbitrary number. The result would be a sudden drop in world oil prices, which would make oil much more attractive to developing economies, China, India, etc. In addition, imagine the response of middle america, watching the price of oil fall, and being told they can't have it. Even if we were to get some kind of universal treaty regarding oil consumption quotas, how would we enforce it? Even if we enforce it, we would just create a black market. Most OPEC countries have nothing else to export besides oil. They are not going to just shut off the spigot.

Frankly, I think our only hope is an economic blowout, peak oil, and a somewhat rapid powerdown.

But as things get worse and worse, people will choose greener and greener lifestyles, because it is the only hope.

[ElectricGrid]

6. I don't see it being a fad as long as energy is

at it's current price levels. The pocket book is what motivates most people.

[damntexdem]

8. Until we're all dead -- so not that long.

[Terry in Austin]

9. It will probably last until the "struggling to survive" craze kicks in

...if we just cut back all will be well.

Roughly true. However, I'm afraid we'll only start in earnest when cutting back is no longer optional.

In a lower-energy world, options for not cutting back are going to be a tad scarce. Give green a chance, though. For all of its flaws, it's... well, it's kind of what there is for the time being, isn't it?

[cedric]

11. Seeing you use an anarchy symbol as your logo

I can imagine Kropotkin will be spinning in his grave after your pro Gore statement!!

Or is the symbol one of these fashion symbols!!

[Javaman]

13. fashion symbol

;) :rofl: