<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Earth Day: the ultimate empty gesture]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Stephanie Ogburn http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:40:29 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/1 This is an awesome essay and a stirring call for civic engagement. Right on. However, I don't think we need to get rid of Earth Day. Sometimes symbolic activities provide an entry point for people on the edges of a movement, and an opportunity for education that can also lead to awareness and political engagement. So while I agree that yuppy versions of going green are frequently lame, I also think it's difficult for everyone to become politically engaged right off the bat, and offering people other ways of getting involved (like starting a garden, or cleaning up a riverside park on Earth Day) is an important way to start the learning process and also build the community connections necessary for making progress on the important issues of our time.

]]> This is an awesome essay and a stirring call for civic engagement. Right on. However, I don't think we need to get rid of Earth Day. Sometimes symbolic activities provide an entry point for people on the edges of a movement, and an opportunity for education that can also lead to awareness and political engagement. So while I agree that yuppy versions of going green are frequently lame, I also think it's difficult for everyone to become politically engaged right off the bat, and offering people other ways of getting involved (like starting a garden, or cleaning up a riverside park on Earth Day) is an important way to start the learning process and also build the community connections necessary for making progress on the important issues of our time.

]]> Comment #2 by GreendesignerWestSac http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:12:25 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/2 Hmmm... while I can definitely see why you feel as cynical on this topic as you do (and in fact I largely concur) I have to say that Stephanie's also correct: most folks do need some sort of entry-point to go from a sort of amorphous general sticky feeling of goodwill-to-the-planet to more targeted, specifically-helpful things, especially when realistically, we're asking them to make some real lifestyle changes.

For purposes of transparency and full disclosure: though I don't live in a yurt, I DO live in a 1200 sq ft New Urbanist home in West Sacramento which beats California's Title 24 energy-efficiency standards by ~ 40%, uses a bevy of green building strategies and materials, and is part of a LEED ND development... (look up LJUrban's Good project to see pictures) and I ride a motorcycle to work a lot of the time due to the fuel efficiency (and 'cos it's fun - green can be *cool* too) and often bicycle. I organize carpools for my work as part of our local TMA... and there are more and more people in their 20's and 30's just like me making smaller-living choices all the time - this is perhaps one of those societal-level shifts that will be largely generational - I'm not certain, but I suspect this is so. I have hope. 

]]> Hmmm... while I can definitely see why you feel as cynical on this topic as you do (and in fact I largely concur) I have to say that Stephanie's also correct: most folks do need some sort of entry-point to go from a sort of amorphous general sticky feeling of goodwill-to-the-planet to more targeted, specifically-helpful things, especially when realistically, we're asking them to make some real lifestyle changes.

For purposes of transparency and full disclosure: though I don't live in a yurt, I DO live in a 1200 sq ft New Urbanist home in West Sacramento which beats California's Title 24 energy-efficiency standards by ~ 40%, uses a bevy of green building strategies and materials, and is part of a LEED ND development... (look up LJUrban's Good project to see pictures) and I ride a motorcycle to work a lot of the time due to the fuel efficiency (and 'cos it's fun - green can be *cool* too) and often bicycle. I organize carpools for my work as part of our local TMA... and there are more and more people in their 20's and 30's just like me making smaller-living choices all the time - this is perhaps one of those societal-level shifts that will be largely generational - I'm not certain, but I suspect this is so. I have hope. 

]]> Comment #3 by everquestforgreen http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:24:38 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/3 Great article(cynicism works in an article title!). It seems to me that you have two choices.

1. Change friends since the ones you have seem to be hypocrites who only pay lip service about environmental issues to look good at dinner parties.

2. Change your attitude towards your friend's hypocritical views and accept the fact that trying to be greener is OK and being reminded that we are all hypocrites with Earth Day serves a purpose.   

Earth Day maybe about being greener and starting somewhere.



]]> Great article(cynicism works in an article title!). It seems to me that you have two choices.

1. Change friends since the ones you have seem to be hypocrites who only pay lip service about environmental issues to look good at dinner parties.

2. Change your attitude towards your friend's hypocritical views and accept the fact that trying to be greener is OK and being reminded that we are all hypocrites with Earth Day serves a purpose.   

Earth Day maybe about being greener and starting somewhere.



]]> Comment #4 by Ben Jervey http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:20:44 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/4 Amen!  So well put!


Last year, I wrote something attacking the "save the planet" Earth Day rhetoric, but the absurd behavior we engage in to "celebrate" the environment needs just this sort of lambasting.  

]]> Amen!  So well put!


Last year, I wrote something attacking the "save the planet" Earth Day rhetoric, but the absurd behavior we engage in to "celebrate" the environment needs just this sort of lambasting.  

]]> Comment #5 by spector70 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:14:25 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/5 I walk nearly everywhere that I go, I do my best to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  I really think that this "Screw Earth Day" is a very arrogant, lousy way to get a message across.  I do my best every day.  I walk to work, to the grocery store, to pay bills, nearly everywhere.  The christians have their Easter, let me have my one, single holiday - Earth Day.

Before you place yourself too high on a pedestal, remember that fires start with a spark.  Give people Earth Day and hopefully the spark of environmentalism will ignite.

Happy Earth Day.

]]> I walk nearly everywhere that I go, I do my best to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  I really think that this "Screw Earth Day" is a very arrogant, lousy way to get a message across.  I do my best every day.  I walk to work, to the grocery store, to pay bills, nearly everywhere.  The christians have their Easter, let me have my one, single holiday - Earth Day.

Before you place yourself too high on a pedestal, remember that fires start with a spark.  Give people Earth Day and hopefully the spark of environmentalism will ignite.

Happy Earth Day.

]]> Comment #6 by wallrock http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:34:32 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-15-earth-day-empty-gesture/6 Wait a minute - in one paragraph Akst is saying that recycled cans and local rutabagas are "nonsense" with respect to the real concern, our carbon footprint.  But it's perfectly acceptable to start with modest energy-saving measures like CFLs and weatherizing, so long as it leads to long-term change.  So what, locally-sourced produce and recycling don't reduce carbon emissions or lead to long-term change now?  Come off of it.  Akst claims that Earth Day is an "empty gesture" because he knows of people that self-righteously claim eco-purity when in fact their not perfect.  Big surprise: people aren't perfect. 

]]> Wait a minute - in one paragraph Akst is saying that recycled cans and local rutabagas are "nonsense" with respect to the real concern, our carbon footprint.  But it's perfectly acceptable to start with modest energy-saving measures like CFLs and weatherizing, so long as it leads to long-term change.  So what, locally-sourced produce and recycling don't reduce carbon emissions or lead to long-term change now?  Come off of it.  Akst claims that Earth Day is an "empty gesture" because he knows of people that self-righteously claim eco-purity when in fact their not perfect.  Big surprise: people aren't perfect. 

]]>