Greed In the Name Of Green

The Washington Post ^ | March 5, 2008 | Monica Hesse

[forkinsocket]

Congregation of the Church of the Holy Organic, let us buy.

Let us buy Anna Sova Luxury Organics Turkish towels, 900 grams per square meter, $58 apiece. Let us buy the eco-friendly 600-thread-count bed sheets, milled in Switzerland with U.S. cotton, $570 for queen-size.

Let us purge our closets of those sinful synthetics, purify ourselves in the flame of the soy candle at the altar of the immaculate Earth Weave rug, and let us buy, buy, buy until we are whipped into a beatific froth of free-range fulfillment.

And let us never consider the other organic option -- not buying -- because the new green consumer wants to consume, to be more celadon than emerald, in the right color family but muted, without all the hand-me-down baby clothes and out-of-date carpet.

* * *

There was a time, and it was pre-Al Gore, when buying organic meant eggs and tomatoes, Whole Foods and farmer's markets. But in the past two years, the word has seeped out of the supermarket and into the home store, into the vacation industry, into the Wal-Mart. Almost three-quarters of the U.S. population buys organic products at least occasionally; between 2005 and 2006 the sale of organic non-food items increased 26 percent, from $744 million to $938 million, according to the Organic Trade Association.

Green is the new black, carbon is the new kryptonite, blah blah blah. The privileged eco-friendly American realized long ago that SUVs were Death Stars; now we see that our gas-only Lexus is one, too. Best replace it with a 2008 LS 600 hybrid for $104,000 (it actually gets fewer miles per gallon than some traditional makes, but, see, it is a hybrid). Accessorize the interior with an organic Sherpa car seat cover for only $119.99.

Consuming until you're squeaky green.

[forkinsocket]

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[capt. norm]

I was thinking that a good use of "cow-pies", once they are properly dried, shaped and painted, could be marketed as Organic Frisbees.

Before:

After:

[Supercharged Merlin]

Hey, here's an even bigger $$$ opportunity! Those cowpies, properly dried, are renewable energy!

Some Indians (oops, South Asians) even cook their food with them. Organic sod-busters burned them for heat! 'Course you'll want our handy-dandy $1975.00 catalytic filter on your stove, but hey, it's renewable energy so who cares what it costs?

[syriacus]

Interesting column, thanks for posting it.