Chevron Loves the Environment??
I know I’m not the first, or only one who’s noticed that everyone is green these days. And I mean everyone. The ad above is published by Chevron as part of their “will you join us” campaign. I don’t think I need to expound too much on the idea that joining Chevron would really be joining in genocide, environmental devastation, and immense greed and corruption.This act, known as “greenwashing” is excellently described in Greenpeace’s greenwashing site. (Note that Greenpeace is not a shining example of a local, anti-racist organization, but their site is interesting).
Many folks argue that having large corporations pitching in to inspire the average Jose to do their part is admirable and a contribution to the green movement. I am conflicted. I’m definitely in the “it’s-about-damn-time” camp for the mainstream interest and popularity of being more environmentally friendly, but I have seen this beast before.
In a workshop I lead a while back, we had a big discussion about cultural misappropiation. Cultural misappropiation is really great topic that I couldn’t adequately touch on here, or in this format, but I do want to adapt a sliver of our discussion to apply here. An image we offered was that of a small community, separate from the mainstream. This community is usually separate from the mainstream because they have been ostracized, kicked out, or forced from the mainstream group with violence. Sometimes this community is outside of the mainstream by choice–they may disapprove or dislike mainstream values, hold themselves above it, etc. Now the tricky part here is that American culture loves not being part of the mainstream. Everyone wants to be their own special, subversive island. So, I will try to define the mainstream as folks who value and try to align themselves with what the larger culture rewards, appreciates, and admires. I’m not too interested in a semantics argument, but I think that most people feel like they have a good idea of mainstream means. I might even venture to offer the example of the white, middle-class, capitalist family as a pretty good place to start.
So, moving on! For a long time, “being green” was not a mainstream idea. In the sixties and seventies, especially during the energy crisis of the seventies and Jimmy Carter’s pro-environmental rhetoric (he famously installed solar panels on the White House–Nixon’s first act as successor was to remove them) there was some general popularity. But, after everyone forgot about that and moved on from the crisis, Americans rejoiced by buying SUV’s and consuming thirty percent of the worlds’ resources* in comparison to their 5% population. Not everyone did this though. Tireless efforts of organizations have risen and fallen, lost and won, and over all struggled hard during that time to protect world resources. Local organizations have made wins in their towns, lobbyist have worked at environmental protection acts. Most of this work was relegated to outside of the mainstream, and definitely with a higher proportion to folks with the privilege to choose what resources they wished to consume. Mainstream America continued living a life that was promised to make them happier, their country bustling, and their families love them: we consumed.
Then, Al Gore made a movie.
Right? I mean it does seem like that sometimes.
In short, mainstream America decided that being green was a good idea. It was good for the environment, it was good for the image, it was good for the ego. Mainstream media hosted their corporate bedfellows’ massive advertisements for “going green,” (that Chevron campaign was $15 million) every grocery store suddenly had 99 cent reusable shopping bags, and IKEA was suddenly an environmental saint for stopping the use of plastic bags (Europe thought of that a little earlier guys…try ten years ago). And, that small community outside of the circle of the mainstream became engulfed. The original green movement, splintered and diverse as it was, suddenly became a giant yellow billboard advertising CFL lightbulbs, and all of the small and significant causes were wrapped up in a neat little package called global warming.
And that neat little package was conveniently dropped in the lap of the average Jose, the individual consumer. Want to fight global warming? Buy a Prius! Never mind the fact that the enviornmental impact of building a Pruis is worse than a Hummer.
But, more importantly, it isn’t me or Jose who is going to stop this ecological downfall. American consumers contribute only 21% of the environmental devastation responsible for the U.S.’s impact on the environment. Corporations are responsible for the vast, vast ecological turmoil, and they have just won their first out. Blame it on the little guy.
I don’t speak about this reality nearly as beautifully as Derrick Jensen in As the World Burns, 50 Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial. Check it out. Through his graphic novel, he really nails it on how the idea of individual responsibility has been harnessed to completely shift the discourse on environmental responsibility away from those with the blood on their hands and in the hands of the individual.
Yet, it is not that I don’t deeply believe in individual power. I just think that it needs to be directed less towards buying more green stuff (as if that isn’t a terrible oxymoron) and focused on community-based local organizing that creates pockets of powerful resistance.
I’m burning out as I write this, especially since I stumbled on a page about peak oil and the imminent demise of the U.S. within two years (luckily it was written in 2004, so I feel a little less stressed out). In the end, I come back down to earth with the reminder that all I can do is be with my heart in every moment, to practice, to pray, and to have faith that I will be guided to do whatever is needed to bring about liberation for me, for the world, on the daily.
*Ehlrich, Paul: The Population Boom
