Think Green Live Clean

chelsearoberson

There’s a very dense, academic climate blog called Climate Progress that I try to follow. (It’s the opposite of this site, however; written by the type of guy who probably has a lot more than 3 bullet points per slide on his slideshow presentations) Usually, I skim posts that are pages long and try to ingest all the numbers. But this recent post about a new video making the rounds online caught my interest- and with a look, I found a lot to be disgusted and shocked by.

Basically, a group in the UK made a totally offensive video showing people unwilling to go green being blown up (and worse, except I stopped watching). I won’t link to it. It’s a misstep, a failure in judgment. Which is human- but, in the way that there’s a difference between getting the wrong dish at a restaurant and getting the wrong leg sawed off at the hospital, this kind of mistake hurts a lot.

This site not-so-nicely compiles the worst examples of missteps by advertisers and climate groups who, while trying to get attention, have hurt the climate movement. The crowing is audible–’look at these fascist environmentalists! They want us all to get arrested for not composting!’

So many of us young, environmentally impassioned people forget about the many other people out there. Those who not only belie climate change but truly think that what climate activists want to do is control people’s lives. That’s who these over-the-line videos really speak to.

But those ads and videos don’t speak for me. It’s not okay to use 9/11 images or show kids dying. It hurts people, and it hurts the movement. And what is the movement? For my part, caring about sustainability is 50% common sense and 50% pure selfishness. We just can’t produce a trillion plastic bags a day, for all eternity. And my stating that fact does not mean I want to control the lives of others. And you’d like a good enviro-video? Here you go.