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| NEW INTERNATIONALIST 203 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| THIS MONTH'S THEME | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Shopping
for the planet The
price of the future Green
Grow the Neutrons-O How
green are you? The
taste of salvation The
scent of victory Beware
the green con Should environmental groups get into bed with business? Wayne Ellwood reports on Canada's Pollution Probe.
Simply
- nine ways to Passing
the muck Harmony
in abundance Dateline
2000 |
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GREEN CONSUMERISM |
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| FROM THIS MONTH'S EDITOR | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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I took a deep breath. Few simple questions have easy answers. And his was no exception. Nobody wants clear-cut solutions more than a hard-pressed editor whose job is to condense complex material into limited space. The on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand' approach is the ultimate frustration when you simply want a 'yes' or no. How could I best help my friend? This question beset the whole issue. NI has readers in at least five countries; the magazine had to offer something useful to all. And this when there are no simple answers because there are no perfect green products - yet. A few months ago I might have despaired. But at NI you get used to taking on (apparently) impossible tasks. Editors stride around the office and airily announce 'I shall be writing my history of the world this month' or 'I'm summarizing the global economy tomorrow'. No obstacle is too great, no self-confidence too small. Our arrogance or irreverence - depending on your point of view - at least has the advantage of producing something succinct. So I went home and asked myself: 'What would be most useful?' There are books around now, and some magazines, which give fairly detailed analyses of the best buys for green consumers. These publications sell well. But I didn't see anyone poring over them as they pushed their trolleys around my local supermarket. And a comprehensive shopping guide which attempted to span three continents in 23 pages might have seemed ... a little thin? I opted for something that I thought would be both more manageable and more useful - something readers wouldn't have to lug around to the shops because it would implant itself firmly in their minds. What follows is a set of guiding principles to assess the proliferating 'green' brand names and some practical suggestions as to action we can all take to save our planet. This was not unproblematic either. What do time-hungry working parents do to keep their infant clean, without disposable diapers? And is there satisfactory way to dispose of waste? Perhaps you feel that the whole process of greening your lifestyle is exhausting enough without the NI making more complications. Or maybe you have ideas we never thought of, in which case why not write in and share them? It would be wonderful if there was one Supergreen solution we could all buy into and stop worrying. But the way ahead often seems as clear as mud. This issue has tried at every turn to make the path a little clearer. But it never claims that the answers are easy. None of them are. |
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Sue Shaw
for the New Internationalist Co-operative |
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Letters
COVER ILLUSTRATION: Hector Cattolica |
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'OH
wonderful,' cried a friend when I mentioned that I was doing this issue on
green consumerism. 'You can tell me what to buy.' He began weighing up the
pros and cons of a long and detailed list of 'green' products which now adorn
our supermarket shelves. 'Which ones should I get?' he concluded disarmingly.
