Diane MacEachern’s Recent Comments

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  Big Green Purse

  Thanks for your comment about my idea. The book doesn't promote shopping. Big Green Purse promotes using consumer clout (which sometimes means spending money, and sometimes not spending any money at all) to reduce our environmental footprint - at home, at work, among industry. As for the "gendered perspective," it simply has to do with the way men and women process information. No value judgements here, and no stereotypes intended. Read the work of Carol Gilligan at Harvard, Deborah Tannen at Georgetown, and any other number of researchers. Men and women value different kinds of information, process the same information differently, and communicate what they mutually value in very different ways. Simply from an organizing perspective, doesn't it make sense to understand the most effective ways to reach target audiences to inspire social change? Sometimes we organize along socio-economic lines, or other demographics: a campaign about safe energy appeals to college students and senior citizens for very different reasons, and a good campaign figures out how to talk to both. It's the same with men and women. We'd be smart to take this into consideration as we map out our strategies for educating and mobilizing as many people as possible to protect the planet. On Can your pocketbook save the planet? The author of Big Green Purse says yes posted 1 year, 5 months ago 5 Responses

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  Don't dismiss the market.

  I appreciate Mike Tidwell's advocacy of legislation as a climate change solution. But look at all the environmental legislation already on the books. NEPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Wilderness Act, the Alaska Lands Act, Superfund, etc. etc. We still have serious environmental problems, primarily because none of this legislation gets at corporations where it really matters: their bottom lines. Marketplace interventions - whether it's people buying compact fluorescent lightbulbs, organic food, fuel efficient cars, or recycled paper - can play a role in the climate change equation by forcing companies to change their business practices in ways that legislation hasn't, won't, and never will. And it will happen without the need for government enforcement of regulations that are often too weak to make a difference anyway. It takes decades to pass a law; the electorate only has a chance to vote every two or four years. Consumers can wield the power of their purse or pocketbook every day.

  Diane MacEachern, www.biggreenpurse.comOn Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate posted 2 years, 2 months ago 61 Responses