Should you bother being 'green'? (Hint: No)
There's only one thing you can do to help the environment, argues Sharon Begley in Newsweek. And it doesn't involve wearing organic underwear
"With apologies to a cliché that predates the advent of Earth Day by a year, it is easy being green. Too easy," says Sharon Begley in Newsweek. Anybody can buy "adorable reusable shopping bags" and "organic clothing," and anybody can recycle their wine bottles. But, unfortunately, the "only kind" of green action that "makes a difference" is contacting lawmakers and urging them to support new environmenal laws (think, a climate bill):
"All environmental progress [to date] has come through national- and international-level regulation—to be blunt, by forcing people and industry to stop doing environmentally bad things and start doing environmentally good things, not by relying on individuals' green good will or even the power of the marketplace.
"By believing that green shopping—or even recycling, turning down the thermostat, or carpooling—is enough, we consent to the continuation of the same societal practices that got us into this mess. Compared with the scale of the disaster, changing individual behavior is pathetically inadequate."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Read the entire article in Newsweek.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The ultimate films of 2024 by genre
From the Magazine In a year dominated by sequels, here are the releases that impressed the critics, from Hollywoodgate and Twisters to Poor Things and Atomic People
By The Week UK Published
-
The big art stories of 2024
In depth From the rediscovery of a long-lost painting and the year's highest sale price to the artwork eaten by its new owner
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: December 29, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published