Green living for ?new-age’ consumers?
Report: Green living for ‘new-age’ consumers?
Environment-friendly consumption patterns, till now, have been more of an eye-wash than making any concrete contribution towards environmental conservation. Replacing a bulb with a CFL lamp and getting one’s car checked for pollution emission can help to a certain extent but it is not a solution. What we need to change is the attitude that wants ever-increasing comfort and choice. In a nutshell, we should question why we want to have fruits from New Zealand and Australia and fish from Japan.
The market economy wants us to buy products and services associated with our every subliminal need. If we wish to drink lemonade, we will be sold a powdered pre-mix of lemon extract and sugar to be watered down with bottled mineral water. No need to have a lemon tree in your patio nor have access to clean ground water. The market economy has a solution to every problem even before you perceive it. But is this economy truly leading us into a world of self-reliance, preservation and actualization?
If you listen to the market mantras and their gurus, they will claim to have all the answers.
But do they really?
What price nature?
Consider first your personal equation with nature. In the concretized world of walls and floors, our first connection with living soil, its creatures and green carpet is severed without a second thought. What is the price of a hundred dewdrops felt between lush green grass and your naked feet? What is the market value of the
fragrance of a raat-ki-raani tree as you return home late from a meeting? At what rate would you exchange the sound of crickets in the