The Quandry of Green Shopping

It can be argued that green shopping is an oxymoron and has minimal value in the discussion of green living. When we buy "stuff", whether it be a new gas guzzling Hummer or a Toyota Prius we are still contributing to the depletion of our natural resources, and polluting our environment, which at least in the long run, is not sustainable. So is green shopping a reality or is it simply a term used by industries to "green wash" their products? There are shades of green; the greenest shopping trip is the one that is averted. Yet we still need stuff sometimes, we are really just doomed to live without modern conveniences or face an alternative of the inevitability of an Earth that is less able to provide the necessities for our ancestors then it does for us. Green shopping is not the clear panacea of sustainability and eco-friendliness it is sometimes advertised to be.

Don't fret too much. The reality is probably less dramatic. So we can continue to take our cloth bags to the natural food mart for fair trade chocolate and Australian caught lobster. What? Australian caught lobster? That's right, but whatever you do, avoid those ecosystem destroying Caribbean lobsters! The Monterey Bay Aquarium put's out a widely trusted handy eco-friendly seafood guide which you can memorize or print out using your laser printer and forest devastating paper. Of course, you can always use paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and eco-friendly corn based ink. Corn based ink is easier to recycle but it is it really conducive to green shopping, considering corn cultivation is very energy and land use intensive?

Green shopping can get as complex as a six sided Rubix cube. The point is that we can only do the best we can when attempting to go green shopping. The solution lies in our general lifestyles and changing our culture to one that adopts sustainable practices to the extent that they no longer need to be labeled as "green". In this world an individual will not have to make as many complex decisions because all products will be as green as they can be. Designers of all types from architects to auto makers are finally placing effort into ensuring they produce goods that are green shopping friendly. The responsibility must shift further to the manufacturers of goods so that all shoppers are green shoppers whether they wish to be or not. In the mean time the average consumer can do what they can by attempting to place their vote for greener products when they shop and perhaps even think twice before they shop?