I ended my day yesterday in guilt. I bought a regular ol’ greeting card, right after I gave the world so many other options to avoid doing so. I should have bought the card on Monday, looked around, found something made at least with recycled paper. Instead, 5:00pm on Tuesday, I was at Target, cursing myself for not having bought one sooner. It should have been in the mail already.
But should I feel guilty? I mean, I looked through the entire section of Mother’s Day cards, and none seemed to be marked for eco-friendliness. Should it be so hard to do the right thing?
This leads me to my big question: Should we, as consumers, be driving ourselves crazy searching for perfect eco-friendly, sustainable, organic, locally made, healthy products? Or should our mainstream stores take on more responsibility to provide these products to us, so that more people have the option of doing the right thing?
At first glance, it’s a chicken or the egg kind of situation. What should come first, demand from consumers, or a push from merchandisers? Some retail phenomenons definitely get their push from the industry, this just doesn’t happen to be one of them. Of course, big retailers are finally starting to wake up to the growing market…but it’s been a long time coming, and it still goes slow.
It gets me thinking about my good ol’ days at UF, studying marketing. This graph shows how people typically accept new products, services, technologies, etc. The first group (2.5% of the people), are the innovators, then the early adopters (13.5%), followed by the early majority (34%).
I would say that the green movement is reaching it’s early majority phase, which is what has finally woken up these stores. There is no longer risk in green products, people are not only buying them, they are demanding them.
But we are only in the baby stages of green consumerism and retailing. Target may offer Method and Seventh Generation products, but my eco-friendly greeting cards are nowhere to be found.
So should I feel guilty that I looked for a product, couldn’t find it, and ran out of time to do the right thing? Well, I do. And while we’re at it, I forgot to BYOB and wound up using probably 10 brand new plastic shopping bags, as well.
The thing is, I’m a very conscientious consumer, but I still mess up. I want to live in a world that I, along with every other person, don’t have to work so hard to do the right thing. I want to pay for plastic bags at stores (you’ll be sure I won’t forget my own bags more than once). I want to reach for a product and know that I didn’t just kill a tree, or use up some of the only clean water that is left. I want to know that by using this product I won’t be creating more trash to bury into a big hole in the ground. I want my product to have traveled as few miles as possible to reach it’s destination, and whenever possible, buy local. And I don’t want to have to go to the ends of the earth to find these products.
I know that I should feel bad. I messed up. But I want the retailers and manufacturers to feel bad too. It shouldn’t be this hard to be good.
7 Responses to “Tough to be Good”
Rebecca, you’re doing more than most people so don’t beat yourself up. As for the 10 new plastic bags because you forgot to BYOB, just use them for something else (like garbage bags). And the e-cards for e-savvy moms… while a good idea during many holidays, don’t skimp on Mother’s Day. Remember, moms treasure these cards and often keep them forever, especially when they include notes/drawings in your own handwriting.
I think it makes you human. I like that. You can’t be green every hour of every day even though that is the goal. And who can resist Target?
Although the post was not just about my guilt, that is what triggered it. And imagine, that while I was feeling guilty & writing this post, I stop over to SotP and see that I’ve been littering! I just stared in shock for a minute until I caught on! You got me, Rick.
Don’t feel bad…you’re only human. You’ve already done so much more than most people. We live, we learn, we try again
TO all, regarding Mother’s Day cards: I’m Rebecca’s mom and proud to be so! She was always sensitive to people and situations as a child, and while I can’t take direct credit for her becoming more and more conscientious about the environment as time goes by, I certainly tried to teach her economy, recycling (many of her baby clothes were from consignment shops by choice)or at least to avoid unnecessary waste, and to have respect for the world around her. Part of her growth in this direction was to become a vegetarian her first year in college, and while I miss making all the meals she used to love, I applaud her convictions. She knows how I feel about greeting card companies (I hate them)and the pressure of buying a card for any and all occasions, and that as long as important days are acknowledged in some caring fashion, I don’t care about a card. (However, not so for her 87 year old grandmother who wouldn’t understand if she didn’t get one!) So this is to you, sweetheart, for your lovely tribute – better ever than any card. (Sorry, Hallmark!) Love, Mom
What a nice comment, Mom, thanks!
This your for mother’s day I sent organic flowers that were grown fairly and not with slave labour. try it for next time.
http://www.organicbouquet.com/