Strategic consumption is the recognition that the immediate, or tactical, effects of our purchases are of such limited power as to be essentially meaningless. Bill Rees, who coined the term ecological footprint, says individual behavior changes in the absence a broader strategy for creating change are pointless: “We’re all on the same ship and what we do in our individual cabins is of almost no consequence in terms of the direction the ship is going.” But we’ve all got to buy things, and we quite rightly would rather that our dollars do as much good as they can. Hence the concept of strategic consumption: the practice of basing decisions not only on the immediate qualities of a product or service, but also on the changes buying them is likely to have in the broader world. Strategic Consumption: How to Change the World With What You Buy — Can we “buy a better future?” The green product industry says we can, if we buy the “right” things. But there are plenty of reasons to believe they’re wrong. Make This Earth Day Your Last! — This year’s Earth Day brought in an unprecedented frenzy of consumerism in the holiday-spirit of environmental concern… (more)
(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Purchasing Green at 4:04 PM)