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A pivotal push to Go Green at expo
Bags sold at the Go Green Expo in Los Angeles
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KAI RYSSDAL: Alright, you can now officially set aside all your worries over making sure environmental products you buy are actually good for the environment. Next week "Good Housekeeping" magazine is going to announce a green "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval. That clearly means the sustainability movement has hit the big time, even if many of us are pretty green at being green. We sent Cash Peters to a convention that's designed to help us learn how.
CASH PETERS: Years ago, the idea of a green expo would have been considered flaky and fringe. Now though? Well, it's still a bit flaky, but, you know, less. Actress and green person Mariel Hemingway.
MARIEL HEMINGWAY: In the past, it's been a movement of "those people." They eat granola, and they're just different from us. The fact of the matter is, I think people really are concerned with their parks, and their environment, and their homes. But it's all overwhelming to them.
Overwhelming is right. The Go Green Expo was stuffed to the rafters with bamboo towels, hemp this and hemp that, and geeky men telling you why you should ionize your tap water.
Go Green Expo MAN: So ionization breaks the clusters up and makes them into small little clusters, or small little cells of water, therefore your cells get, the water gets to the cells taking all of the nutrition and oxygen...
Hmm. Yes. I see. That's the problem right there. To the rest of us, eco-friendly people sound like whacked-out brainiacs.
Go Green Expo Woman: I'm on Planet Green right now.
She sure was. And on Planet Green, everything is different. Lisa Fenton was promoting an electric car. Top speed 35 miles an hour. That's two notches up from a skateboard. And it's ugly.
LISA FENTON: I don't think so. We've had a lot of people come by here today and they say, "Cute, it's cute."
PETERS: Yes, but those are people with no taste.
FENTON: No taste? You don't think this is great?
PETERS: I don't actually. I think it's really horrible.
FENTON: I guess you don't like a Volkswagen either.
PETERS: You are psychic.
JOSH TICKELL: We are at that moment, a critical moment in the green industry where it's kind of like the first computers. They were junk, absolute junk. You couldn't do anything with them. They didn't even spell check. But then suddenly there was a moment when computers became something that everyone can use.
That's Josh Tickell, director of the eco-movie "Fuel," which I've not seen. But is it possible do you think that regular folks say they care about saving the planet, but don't really?
TICKELL: It's not for lack of caring, it's for lack of knowing what to do.
PETERS: OK, it's not that they don't care, they are lazy. And indifferent.
TICKELL: I actually don't even...
PETERS: And boring. And indolent.
TICKELL: I actually don't think they're lazy. I think that there is a lack of basic fundamental education on what to do.
Hmm. And you know what they want us to do? Go back to the land. Boise Thomas has an ecology show on TV. Which, needless to say, I've not seen.
BOISE THOMAS: The big push for me is farming. I think everyone needs to get their fingers dirty again, get dirt under their fingernails, start growing their own food, and start getting back in touch with the planet.
PETERS: You see, it horrifies me, the idea of getting my fingers dirty.
THOMAS:Well, you should...
PETERS: Do you know how much this manicure cost?
THOMAS: You should get involved with people who do, and maybe you can just wash down the shovels or something.
Oh, yeah, you can see me washing down shovels, right? But I have to admit, there's something very exciting and new about all this. I really got sucked in. Bradford Rand, the guy behind the Expo, is like a modern-day Noah, and the tree huggers are helping him build an ark.
BRADFORD RAND: This could be the green revolution. This could be a pivotal point where we actually make a stand against the naysayers that say global warming is a myth. I guess when they develop lung cancer or drink poisonous water, maybe then they'll realize that we were right.
Yikes. But finally, back to lovely Mariel Hemingway. Give me one step, Mariel, I said, that will help get me started and on the road to...
Green-Expo Woman: I'm on Planet Green right now.
Anywhere other than where she is. What can I do?
HEMINGWAY: Change your breakfast. Start with that. Change something small.
PETERS: Do you know what I had for breakfast? Hemp.
HEMINGWAY: You had hemp seeds. Actually, you know what, I love hemp seeds. They're nutty.
PETERS: Like yourself, really.
HEMINGWAY: Yeah, kinda like me.
She thought I was joking.
In Los Angeles, I'm Cash Peters for Marketplace.
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Man! I just finished catching up on my podcasts & this commentary was SO insulting & lame!
Mr. Peters came off as such a condescending jerk - who actually benefits from this type of smarminess, anyway? Is there really a large demographic of douchebags tuning into Marketplace to enjoy this?
I was stunned by Mr. Cash's report and checked twice to see if I had to stumbled upon a Faux (Fox) News link. Mr. Cash's performance came across to me as a misfired attempt to parody the eloquent sarcasm often seen on the John Stewart show. Next time you send a reporter to a Green show in L.A. Make it the "Green Living Expo" sponsored by Evan Albright, a 'Green Capitalist', who knows that whatever change in mass behavior is needed, it must make sense to the average citizen in order for it to become mainstream. The best return on your green dollar is one of conservation. This concept may be easier to swallow when you cannot afford to wash it down with a $4 boutique cup of Joe (especially after your pink slip arrives). Did Mr. Cash look around the show for the new LiFePO batteries that are making headlines in the E-auto and solar industry? What about "thin-film solar voltaic? Did he see any vertical wind turbines for residential use by Pacific Wind? (Jay Leno installed multiple units on his garage several years ago). What about the Aptera, soon to be launched this Summer? In a "nutshell", Mr. Case, if you are not working towards the solution, you are part of the problem. Get with the program! New technology and applications thereof are what made America a super-power. btw-It was a Federal law in the late 1700's that every land owner had to grow hemp to help the economy. Hemp was pushed out by corporate/big oil. Bring back hemp (no THC) for a stronger and independent U.S.A. At the very least for erosion control on the prime Agricultural land. (remember the dustbowl years?)
The real story here is that "green" is going mainstream, there are now new options for people to have a positive impact on both their lives and their world without sacrifice or compromise.
-Cars that get more the twice the average mileage, while able to carry a family comfortably down the Interstate.
-Houses that use a quarter of the energy of the average house and are more healthy to live in, but look like any other house on the block.
-Organinic and more sustainably grown foods that taste better and are better for you without costing more than "regular" foods.
All that is out there, yet Marketplace sends out a reporter who does a story based on outdated stereotypes and ignorance. Cash, when does not seeing a movie, or not watching a tv show give you a basis for making disparaging comments about them? Maybe five years ago this report would have made a marginally funny stand-up routine, but now it sounds dated and needlessly negative. Worse than that for national reporting- you missed the story.
Disappointed listener here. The journalist's commentary was neither insightful, interesting nor informative. I am all for challenging assumptions about what we mean by green and business - but please next time use substantive content not name calling. This program has a reputation for good reporting - and deserves better than this.
I didn't get the impression that Cash peters was simply being sarcastic. He simply cherry-picked the flaky elements of the environmental movement ,to berate the whole thing in deference to his big business colleagues who object to any kind of regulation that protects the environment by controlling air and water pollution et al. THis is hardly the first time Marketplace has favored captialism's self-serving commentary. I remember de facto commercials for SUVs by associating them with 'working class Joes" . I also rememeber commentaries by Newt Gingrich and Jonah Goldberg respectively on climate change and ANWAR. No opposing views offered. THis on "public" radio.Of course, marketplace is the same show that celebrated the tenth anniversafry of so-called "welfare reform" with a representative from the 'American Enterprise Institute'(can you beat that?)No voice from poor people or advocates for the poor allowed.Yes, THIS on "public" radio.Is this what they mean by "independent" and "objective' during fundraisers?
I only listen to Marketplace sporadically and I wasn't aware that sarcasm is Mr. Cash's schtick. My impression while listening was that the reporter wasn't funny snarky but stupid snarky. You can be humorous and snarky without totally belittling people. It was a waste of time.
I think that Mahatma Gandhi once noticed that mockery is one reaction to the change we need, especially by those most unwilling to change. As I write about in ECOpreneuring (ecopreneuring.biz), we can be the change we seek (another Gandhi-ism), often by creating an enterprise that makes the world a better place. As a speaker at the Go Green Expo in LA, I was invigorated and inspired by all the innovation and commitment to change. These businesses are re-creating "free enterprise" in a RESTORATION economy not based on destoring the planet or exploiting people. I welcome more mockery (it's better than violence); perhaps more like like Oklahoma U.S. Senator Inhofe who states that climate change is nothing more than a "hoax" created by environmentalists. Perhaps, only then, will it awaken Americans to become what we can be. We've done it before and can do it again. But we're not going to do it driving around in SUVs, complaining about bailouts, and eating more high-fructose corn syrup-laced processed food.
Okay, so you're all right. Cash was snarky, self-absorbed, and mocking. And he was also correct about the way that most people view the green industry and its boosters. A car that goes 35-miles per hour is only going to appeal to a very limited market segment. A segment, moreover, which is largely interested in getting that good feeling that comes with going green - and not interested in getting anywhere in a timely fashion. We as a society should definitely create less waste, drive fewer miles, build cities that don't sprawl, and recycle all of our glass and plastic. And the green movement should promote these things. But the greens aren't going to get anywhere by suggesting that everyone start a garden in the backyard.
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