How Al Gore, James Cameron, and YOU are Destroying Earth

I was discarding my son’s broken toys, and noticed we had an entire box of Wall-e merchandise. Now, the moral of Wall-e was “take care of the Earth,” but Wall-E’s producers saw fit to license a non-stop stream of plastic toys and board-books, and I saw fit to buy this junk, all destined for a land-fill.

I also own a book based on Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as well as two identical copies of Edward Abbey’s radical environmentalist tract “Desert Solitaire.” On Thursday I may pick up Avatar – a movie about evil humans raping another planet with a thinly veiled message about how we’re destroying our own (our favorite movie last year: click here to see our review). A more feature-laden version of Avatar will be released later, but the producers of this powerful environmental message are rushing out a temporary (throw-away) version, in order to commemorate Earth-day. I’ll probably pick up the two-disk DVD/Blu-ray combo (so I can pick the format I like, and throw the other plastic disk away).

I’m starting to wonder not only “Why do these self-proclaimed ‘environmentalists’ keep churning this junk out?” but “Why do I keep buying it?”

And environmental movie merchandise isn’t the only example of my “bad environmentalism.” Often, when I try to act consistent with my pro-environmental attitudes, I ignore the fact that I’m destroying a bit more of the environment on the way. When I drive my car a hundred miles to some national park to go for a hike, am I really being an environmentalist? If I fly to South America for an eco-tourism adventure, on the grounds that I’m bringing capital to the poor indigenous people, why don’t I just send them a check and stay home? And why am I posting this blog, when I know that every time someone reads it, it burns electricity?

When Green Ain't Green

Social Psychologists Vlad Griskevicius, Josh Tybur, and Bram Van den Bergh recently published some fascinating research indicating that environmentally oriented-people might well junk an old car and buy a brand new one to show how much they care about the planet -- without asking too many annoying questions about the energy it took to build that car, or what will happen to those gigantic batteries when they drive the hybrid to the junkyard in a few years (more details on that research in Going Green to Be Seen).

And it appears that while people are willing to pick environmentally beneficial products when it gives them status, very few people seem willing to sacrifice status to save the environment. What percentage of the environmentally friendly people you know would be willing to give up a high-status job in order to reduce their carbon footprint, even if they didn’t need the money? Not Al Gore. Not James Cameron. Not me, and not my dad. These needs for status and pleasure are so engrained in our brain, they’re nearly impossible to resist (see Dustin Penn’s thoughtful paper on the evolutionary roots of environmental problems, cited below).

So, what’s a status-seeking earth-destroying hominid to do?

Since the two of us already recycle and buy green products, it seems we have two options:

1. Hope for the best. Perhaps the next generation will figure out a way to adapt to whatever brave new world we leave them.

2. Inconvenience ourselves. Rather than settling for picking the greener product, we all need to cut back consumption, and cut back production. Take a day off work, but don’t go shopping at Whole Foods – stay home. If you’re a Hollywood mogul behind the next Wall-E or Avatar, don’t just use recyclable packaging on your DVDs, instead don’t license all those lines of associated plastic merchandise. If you’re just a regular Joe like us, sell less of whatever it is you make. (You might not need to work too hard at this is today’s economy, but as the economy turns around, keep it in mind). Sure, you’ll take a financial hit, but if you’re also buying less, you won’t need as much money. One of our wives was making a very comfortable income working five days a week, she talked her employer into letting her cut her back to three days, and now she commutes less, buys fewer things, and gets more net pleasure out of her life (for a more in-depth consideration of these issues, check out Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy).

If the guy at Honda doesn’t sell as many cars, he doesn’t buy a new computer. If the guy at Apple doesn’t sell as many Macs, he’ll might have to bike to work. If the guy at Exxon sells less oil, he’ll just have to suppress his desire to buy every different version of Avatar.

And if James Cameron needs to in a boarder or two to help pay the mortgage on his big beautiful mansion, that might not be the end of the world.

Be sure to forward this blog to everyone you know, and if we ever publish it in book form, buy multiple new copies for all your friends!

Coauthored by Douglas T. Kenrick

References

Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J.M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010). Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 392-404. (for a few more details, see Going Green to Be Seen)

McKibben, B. (2007). Deep economy: The wealth of communities and the durable future. New York: Holt.

Penn, D.J. (2003). The evolutionary roots of our environmental problems: Toward a Darwinian ecology. Quarterly Journal of Biology, 78, 275-301.