Green Week

The mass-market has gone "green", or so they say.
All this week on TV, in print, and around the interweb, the already over-buzzed green movement has reached new heights. We've seen the tipping point.
If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a CFL, the marketing poster-child, or heard the vague phrase "enough energy to power X homes" this week, I might have enough to buy a tank of gas.

Sadly, it's all spin. Nobody wants to be left behind. Example: the new Chevy Tahoe commercials:


[Hybrids are feathers, SUVs are bricks]

Do people really believe they're making a tangible positive effect on the environment by changing their light bulbs or buying a Tahoe? Or are they obeying what the media tells them? And for those who do believe they're helping, are they victim of smoke and mirrors marketing? Is it even about conscience? After all, the Prius is the new status symbol.

I can't answer these questions, which are distractingly more about sociology than saving the earth. But as of today, I am living carless. Am I better than you? (that is, of course, another motivation for many people to live green) Yes. Just don't tell anybody that I don't recycle.