Treehugger

This recent essay on CNN.com by Elizabeth Economy highlights the parallel paths of economic development and environmental crisis in China.  Every day, 14,000 new cars are added to China’s roads and every 7 to 10 days, another coal-fired power plant opens to help fuel the country’s economic growth.  Although a success story in its rapid development, China also serves as a warning as the environmental costs of that development unfold.

The essay is accompanied by this slideshow of dramatic images from China’s Huai River Basin, a rural area heavily impacted by water pollution, taken by photojournalist Stephen Voss.  The essay and photos also appear in the book “What Matters” by David Elliot Cohen.

Treehugger’s Matthew McDermott blogged about the topic earlier this week, suggesting that in light of the environmental damage that sometimes results from economic development, “we need a new meaning for ‘developed,’ a new measurement of wealth.”  It’s an interesting notion: wealth is so often measured, not just in China but throughout the world, by the amount of material goods you have, the size of your home, the number of cars in your garage … the degree to which you’re able to live excessively.  At present, we don’t live in a world that values conservation as much as consumerism.

We look forward to the day when wealth is measured by the weight of your recyclables … or how small your electric bill is … or the number of miles you log on your feet or a bike instead of in a car.  Until then, our thanks to Treehugger for inspiring us to think about it.

According to our friends at Treehugger, the 11th edition of the Chambers dictionary is now available — and includes some of our most favorite phrases:

• eco-village (also known as the place Reverb does some of its best work)
• carbon footprint (calculate yours here)
• food miles (as in, the fewer food miles between your dinner’s origin and your kitchen, the better)

The fact that environmental terms like these are working their way into mainstream culture and language is a positive sign; awareness begets action … and action creates impact.

If the Chambers dictionary editors are open to suggestions for the 12th edition, we’ve got one: it’s a 12-letter word that starts with “E” and means, “keepers of the earth” … 

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We were interested to read this recent post on WorldChanging, which poses a question about the role of green consumerism in creating truly notable environmental change. 

The debate centers around a report issued by WWF which suggests that “marketing” approaches to creating environmentally-responsible behavior change are inadequate, and that the consumer-friendly message that small and painless steps can ultimately lead to larger-scale impact is misguided. 

The WWF report and subsequent blog post led to a healthy debate on whether small steps can actually save the world.  Comments following the WorldChanging blog post ranged from “there’s nothing small about individuals taking personal responsibility” to “the huge problems facing us cannot be solved with the use of ‘greener’ bulbs.”  Following WorldChanging’s post, Treehugger also weighed in, stating, “To deride a small step as useless is to deride a single vote as ineffective, but that is what will make change happen.”

Clearly, a hot topic for Earthkeepers everywhere … and we think that’s a good thing.  The more voices lending insight and opinion to the discussion, the more we collectively learn … and the more ideas we generate about how to solve the problem.  Our thanks to WorldChanging for stirring the pot.