O O Ø O O O O
Disposable Environmentalism
In the past, we've mentioned that we're not averse to publishing guest rants. Today, I am happy to introduce and unleash the first such rant (to my knowledge, anyways) to our readership. Please welcome Chris Cooper to the pode, who originally published the rant below on his personal website. Enjoy, we certainly did. - kev
Kristina and I like to eat well, so when we do deign it necessary to watch TV, we usually end up watching the Food Network. We will gladly sit down and watch a repeat of Iron Chef, and if Alton Brown ever packs up and heads for the promised land, I just might find religion and join him, but the one network personality Kris and I just can't stand is Christine Cushing.
Cushing's presence on the air is an unfortunate side-effect of the American-based Food Network starting up a Canadian subsidiary of themselves in the form of Food Network Canada. In order to comply with with CanCon laws, the fledgling network had to jettison several of the original Food Network staples in favour of Canadian derivatives. Christine Cushing's show replaced a superior American show, Cooking Live, hosted by the much more genuine Sara Moulton. While Ken Kostick's show was mercifully short-lived, Cushing's show continues to plague the network several years later.
As if her show wasn't annoying enough, Cushing is now on the air even more, hocking the new Saran Disposable Cutting Sheets in advertisements. The skinny on these wasteful little numbers is that they protect your cutting surface and food from cross-contamination by evil germs. The sheets absorb whatever juices may be leaking from your cut-ables, and then can be simply thrown away.
Companies can't profit from these products unless there is a market for them.
SC Johnson, maker of Saran, is not the only company that seems to sliding down this slippery slope. Andre Agassi has lent his ugly mug to the endorsement of the Schick Extreme III disposable razor. Both my parents and parents-in-law swear by the convenience of the disposable mop/broom “solution” known as Swiffer. Companies can't profit from these products unless there is a market for them.
When the hell did we revert to being a disposable society? Who threw out the memo before it made it to me?
I grew up in the “me”-centered '80s, after which the environmentalism of the early '90s was a welcome change, even if it did come with a disturbing amount of plaid, grunge music, and Starbucks coffee. That's not to say that the '80s were completely without merit, underscored by events like Live Aid, but social consciousness seemed to be kicked up a few notches (to steal a Food Network expression) in the '90s. As someone coming from a strong science background who eventually went on to get a degree in biological science, this was fine by me.
Who threw out the memo before it made it to me?
I remember when Ottawa began their blue box recycling programme. It wasn't hard to motivate my family to start recycling - in a family with 4 boys, the amount of trash we avoided simply by recycling pop cans added up pretty damn quick. Other people were slower to catch on, but in time they did. When I went away to school at the University of Guelph, I was amazed at how comprehensive the university's recycling programme was, going far beyond the standard Wet/Dry programme adopted by the city of Guelph as a whole (which wasn't too shabby on it's own, I might add). Always at the vanguard of environmental legislation, California continued to pass laws to control vehicle emissions and improve air quality. In so doing, they put pressure on other states and countries to re-examine and update their own legislation. Everyone seemed to be on the same page, and everyone seemed to be doing their part.
So how did it all fall apart?
The short answer is that people are lazy and apathetic. I'm not going to pretend otherwise, nor will I pretend that I'm not lazy and apathetic myself. Recent world events have only increased the general level of apathy in people. It's hard to worry about one day being buried in your own garbage when the buildings around you no longer seem as solid as they once did. As with everything, perspective is the key, and people don't have any. Reducing emissions and recycling area are unattractive because they are “hard” - they entail lifestyle changes and ongoing effort. Just like Live Aid magically cured the famine in Africa - we never heard about it again, so it must be over, right? - people were satisfied to recycle a little bit for a couple of years until they grew bored and the notion of “saving the planet” faded from public memory.
The shorter answer is that I deluded myself into thinking it ever caught on.
It's hard to worry about one day being buried in your own garbage when the buildings around you no longer seem as solid as they once did.
Every week now when I put out the garbage/recycling, I'm shocked at how little the people around seem me to recycle when compared to how much garbage they produce. People use gas mowers to mow postage-stamp sized lawns treated with the latest pesticides and herbicides. People drive two blocks to the store in their SUVs to buy more Saran sheets, Swiffers, or whatever. TV inundates us with images of disposable products and tells how convenient it will be when we just throw things away.
Maybe we should throw away the TV.
If you're looking for a solution to the problem, you've come to the wrong place. I don't know how to influence the collective mindset of an entire civilization with no foresight, but I would be interested in hearing from you if you figure it out.
In the meantime, I'll do my best to lead by example - biking, using public transit, composting, and practicing the 3 R's.
See you at the curb.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
PD DLXXV