Living green gets easier, harder

As green lifestyle options become more prevalent, so too does greenwashing

an editorial by katie coleman

Katie Coleman, a master's student in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, is the editor of EJ.

Ten years ago, “living green” seemed like an austere habit reserved for trust fund hippies. But much like e-mail has changed our lives in a few short years, sustainable living has gone from elitist to mainstream. Anyone can do it, and this issue of EJ shows you how.

What Went Before

Living green used to be reserved to grand gestures — sitting in a tree for a couple years, living off the grid, constructing zero-sum buildings that use local materials but cost twice the price, and buying organic foods that doubled the grocery bill.

Then there were slews of recommendations for simpler changes: buy energy-saving light bulbs, use cold water in the washing machine, lower the thermostat and turn your computer monitor off at night.

Now, some of those small changes are habit, and many of yesterday’s grand gestures are finding their way into local supermarkets and architectural firms.

On the surface, then, it seems like the green living movement is doing just fine — through lowered costs and increased access, it has become more salient in more people’s lives.

But cheaper doesn’t always mean easier, and availability might just be a smoke screen.

Contemporary Confusion

Everywhere we go, there are people, products and organizations claiming to be green. But those claims are often unregulated, and we all sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between what’s really green and what is merely labeled green.

Some of these problems are highlighted in this issue’s special section, Green Lifestyles, which focuses an article on these aspects of our lives:

• Our cars: Environmentalists have long known that corn-based ethanol is just about the worst economic and environmental idea since nuclear power, yet it’s being hyped more than ever. Are you confused?
  
• Our homes: Cleaning products’ labels like “green,” “environmentally friendly,” “natural” and “organic” are completely unregulated by the U.S. government. So how do you tell whether Simple Green is any better than Formula 409?
  
• Our food (and our pet food): Organic foods are now sold at conventional grocery stores nationwide, but there’s still debate over whether organics are better for the body nutritionally or just better for the environment the way they’re grown. Plus, there’s more than one kind of “organic” label. Want to know differences?
  Other articles about our kids, recreation and vacation are also in the Green Lifestyles section.

The moral of the story is that while green options abound, they are also a trend — the 00s equivalent to grunge wear and teased hair — and as such come with generic counterfeits. And just as fashion-label hounds can spot a Gucci replica across a crowded street, so too must the environmentally conscious become label conscious to weed through today’s societal greenwashing.

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