Don't be a dimwit, greenie

Recently I've been reading about the new "green" trend. That's the hot thing now. Everyone is going green. Woopty doo.

About five years ago, everyone was lining up for gas-guzzling, environment-destroying, polar bear-killing SUVs. These are probably the same dimwits who are now running around buying organic hemp ass mats for the leather seats in their Escalades.

I guess I should be happy about this. In a way, I am. But there's still a problem, and the problem is this: consumerism. Protecting the ecosystem has become a commodity. A free-wheeling capitalist economy that is driving the environment toward collapse is now hawking green this and green that. And that is what we call a paradox, friends. Orwell would smile.

The ever-greedy and money hungry have changed us from human beings, organisms that walk the same earth as bears and snails, into consumers. We are relentlessly marketed to. No matter what is going on in the world, the message comes at us from every angle: buy, buy, buy! We believe the world will only turn as long as we can purchase new things, and that whatever we have is not enough. It never will be enough. There will always be something else we need. Trends change, technology changes, and through many media we are told we better keep up.

That mindset is what got us where we are now. You can go way back to any point in history and see how the need to acquire more than what we have has driven men and women to kill each other, to destroy any and all manner of living creatures. But in centuries past, it was on a different scale. Kings and queens, emperors and empresses have invaded, pillaged, burned and conquered since the dawn of history.

But now, the mad pace of American-style, free-for-all capitalismo has turned each individual into a unit of purchasing power. And it is the rate and volume of our consumption and corresponding waste that is pushing the limits of the planet's resources. Our unwillingness to step back and look at our lifestyles, to make small changes and demand common-sense and moderation from ourselves, our leaders and corporations may be our undoing yet.

And that is where the paradox lies in the so-called green trend. Going "green" does not, should not mean a new way of getting people to buy more shit. You are not going green by going out and purchasing a flurry of needless knick knacks, even if they were made organically. Guess what people, those organic hemp ear warmers made in the ever-dwindling rain forest had to get here somehow....by PLANE, BOAT or TRUCK, all of which are known to cause global warming.

Americans (or American leaders at least) tend to believe in the market's ability to solve problems as though it were another god. The market relies on people to start making certain types of choices to create a trend. But we can't rely on people, who are simply following a trend while continuing their destructive habits, to initiate the dramatic changes needed to bring about true sustainable living. Right now, the mindset is, use, throw away, forget. That needs to change. And we need the help of our government for that.

What we need to do if we are truly interested in going green is start demanding that our so-called elected leaders, hitherto useless in this matter, start implementing infrastructures to help us live more sustainably. Because let's face it. The biggest hoax of the green trend is making us think WE, the everyday citizen, hold the key to saving the world by buying a bunch of "green" shit. That's a big fucking cop-out on the part of the most influential people, ie. lawmakers and super-rich corporate head douche bags.

What we need is for GOVERNMENTS to initiate the meaningful changes. We need regulations and ordinances requiring available, convenient recycling. We need public transportation and to transition off fossil fuels. We need regulations forcing companies to use recyclable or biodegradable ingredients in their products, instead of all this plastic that will be washing around in the ocean for eons. We need bans on pesticides. We need our government to grow a pair, step up and lead. We need them to stop being the whining corporate whores they are now, pandering to their fat corporate johns.

Leaders have been waiting for the market system to come around to start making the changes we need because they are a bunch of fucks who are scared to do anything for the populace, for fear of being red-bated. Big government is communism, it's bad, right? People know how best to spend their own money, right?

Wrong. People are generally dull and easily manipulated. Just look at the drooling dullard we blithely voted into office the last two elections. Yeah, we know what we're doing. Look, we need the government's help. We need them to make the big changes.. Ultimately, most people know it's right to care about the environment. But individuals can't build infrastructure and make laws, and that is what's needed.

We can do our part by recycling, turning lights out when we leave a room, buying locally-grown foods and spending of fair-trade products instead of slave-grown coffee. But the best thing to do is start writing letters to our leaders, and I'm not talking about polite letters either. I'm talking about letting them know they're a bunch of irresponsible, dawdling suck asses who've up till now been playing with themselves and inventing bathroom sex games while the Earth melts, so they better start doing something about the environment, like yesterday.

Do it. Do it now.