Think green photo:
Green is every where, it is on the reusable grocery totes we carry to the market, on bumper stickers we read while in traffic, and on the minds of people every where. But what is it about this fascination with green? With the environment in shoddy shape, green is the new icon for cleaning up our world. Many companies are now using green to help sell products that are environmentally safe, but one expert says this is the wrong technique entirely. Nathan Shedroff the author of The Power of Design: Sustainable Innovation.
When we use the phrase reduce, reuse, recycle, we are talking about more than just saving the environment. We easily overlook the different areas of sustainability when considering this phrase. Not only does it sustainability refer to our limited environmental resources and the effect of our consumerism on the environment, but also the financial and social category of sustainability. When the term “Green” is applied to sustainability, the social and financial categories are then alienated. Green refers to the effects of consumerism on the environment, and turns off to the financial and social responsibilities of sustaining.
The term green is not easily applied to capital, although we may sometimes call our paper money “green”, but sustaining our money through budgeting, and cutting back is an important aspect of reducing. We want to reduce the amount of capital being thrown away with products, which are virtually unsustainable and bad for our environment. We have to consider the financial aspect of our consumerism, not only for ourselves, but for the future generations.
The generations to come seem to be at risk just as much as the environment. This is where the social side of sustainability comes in. With the rate of degradation to the environment and the financial situations currently at hand in the world, we have to consider the effect that the future generations will have to live with. Not only are they affected by living in a world depleted of resources, but they will also have to live with the depletion of financial resources as well.
Considering these other categories of sustainability, the word green seems to no longer fit the cause. While “green” is a good way to remind us of the effects of our consumerism, we have to also take into consideration the other aspects of sustainability instead of merely isolating the environmental aspect. So the next time you use the word “green” remember also to think about your financial and social responsibility.
To learn more about Nathan Shedroff’s theories, visit his website at:
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