Artjfàulture
aced @ clackamas. ed u
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Clackamas Print?)
Author fields discussion with ‘Green
Washed’ consumers
By Patrick Q uinn
The Clackamas Print
Gan we save th é polar bears
just by using our dollar differ
ently?
Kendra Pierre-Louis, • author
of “Green Washed: W hy We
Can’t Buy Our Way to a Green
Planet,” Would respectfully dis
agree. Last Wednesday, Pierre-
Louis appeared at a book signing
at Powell’s City of Books on
Burnside, where she spoke brief
ly of her new book and its mes
sage before fielding questions
from an eager and opinionated
audience.
“eco-friendly” market and. the
myriad o f products and com
modities within it:-aluminum
water botdes, certified’ organic
produce, the Toyota Prius, etc.
Many Americans; Oregonians
very much included, see these
products as perfect solutions to
the pressing issue of pollution or
climate change or whatever, but
Pierre-Louis’s book asks a differ
ent question, a sort of thesis that
can be found right on thè book
jacket: “Although this green
consumer movement certainly
has many Americans consuming
differently it raises
an im portant
and rarely asked
question: Is this
c o n s u m p tio n
really any better
for the planet?”
The answer,
according to
the author, is a
definitive “no.”
At the - signing,
Pierre-Louis took
time to discuss the hid
den costs and impacts o f
many o f America’s most
favoTed and trusted planet-
saving products. Aluminum
water bottles, for example? are
Usually made from virgin mate
rial, fresh aluminum that had to
be mined, shipped, processed,
easier to see how the recent
Surge in the production o f envi-
ronmeUtally-sensitive things like
the Klean Kanteen has become
ah environmental issue in and of
itself. As the
a u th o r
s e e s
i t ,
t h e
problem
has very
little to
do with
what we’re
buying. The real problem is
the fact that we, as individu
als and as a culture, are still
viciously and constantly
consuming.
The previous state
ment, as Pierre-Louis
would discover from the
attendees in Powell’s Pearl Room,
is one that raises more questions
than it provides answers,, and
perhaps
one
that diehard
g re e n
*'* c 'o n -
| s ’u m -
e rs'
are
hot happy to
hear. After opening the floor
for questions, the patrons in
folding chairs quickly took on
the appearance of high-school
defrafs .feun members. Hands
l SWttli1 3 P e a ^ ^ ^ <’ahdMffeW'*ihst
w T n e1sum e^orTm s"
econom ic manifesto can proo-
in to b o tile f o q n , a n d s h ip p e d a
w e r e g e n t ly s m ilin g n o t 2 0 m in
ably be gleaned from its sub
title. “Green Washed” deals with
the recent emergence of the
third time before finally reach
ing ‘ yoUr local sporting goods
store. W ith this in mind, it’s
utes prior were now sporting
looks of disagreemerit and disap
proval.
first couple of sentences; patrons
would often swiftly and a little
defensively provide rebuttals
to whatever response had been
given them.
Calling it a debate would
imply a stoic formality, ahd the
word “argument” is only a step
away from “shouting match.”
Seeing the author field one bar
rage of questions after another,
sometimes from individuals and
other times from coalitions of
two or three, was not unlike
watching a fencing match. Each
attacked swiftly and defended
vehernendy, but always stopped
before any blood was drawn,
which, in the end, turned out
to be for the better; after run
ning out o f questions, members
of the audience thanked Pierre-
Louis for the riveting discussion
and gradually took their leave
without sticking around to buy
a signed copy.
The "subtle, competitive
-atmosphere that had found
its way onto the third floor df
ecolA Portland’s largest bookstore had
mostly evaporated, ahd while
ogy
¿an d its arrival was sudden and quiet,
social jus it almost seemed inevitable. In
tice. Pierre-Louis, admit s a ¿city with as many Prius taxis
tedly nervous from hav- and New Seasons Markets as
i n g to speak in public in the Portland, the suggestion that
first place, provided clear, logi “buying green” isn’t enough to
cal answers to audience ques- fully assuage the .guilt of today’s
tions, and did so at a ferocious conscious consumer is« more
A woman seated in the back,
having raised her hand approxi
mately 0.6 seconds after hear
ing the word “questions,” asked
something to/the tune of, “Well,
what do you propose as a
solution?”
This timeless clas
sic o f a question,
presented to
every critic of
consumetism
and supporter
o f environmen
talism at some
point in their
lives,
sparked something-
like a discussion that w o u l d
carry on for'T- .
the
re m a in
der
of
the event
and mean- -
der through
spheres of
econom y, I
t h a n .e n j > u g h t o . w a r r a n t s o m e
a question and answer period
would be lackluster, and more
importantly, only true for the
discontent.
“Green Washed” is available
for purchase at Powell’s Books
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