The Green Movement: What's Lacking?

I’ve always considered myself a proponent of the green movement and one who is fairly sensitive of the earth’s condition. I understand the numerous benefits associated with organic living including the fact that organic products are free of chemicals that are harmful to our bodies and that recycling cuts down on landfill waste. Moreover, I’m extremely concerned by the facts and findings that surface each day about the earth’s deterioration. A report conducted by the World Wildlife Fund states that humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds the Earth’s output by 25 percent, which means that we’ve been using more resources than the Earth can create for nearly two decades now. I’m sad to admit, however, that I am far from being the prime example of a true environmentalist. Sure, I recycle—when the bin is within my intended path. I ride my bike and take the bus—when I’m travelling short distances.  And I purchase organic items—when they’re on sale. Needless to say, my green initiatives are contingent on the basis of convenience.

This issue has been in my mind for a long time and I've always hesitated to tackle it head on. There’s a part of me who wants to become the ultimate tree-hugger who tailors her every habit to promote a greener society. I certainly do care about the world and I’m conscious of the things that I do to affect the environment around me. However, there is another part of me who is too overwhelmed by issue of global warming and hung up with the “drop in the bucket” phenomenon that I am unmotivated from changing my habits and choose, instead, to remain in the same state. I want to learn how to lead a green lifestyle, but it comes with so many factors—from transportation and food choice to purchasing habits and managing waste—that it often overwhelms me. I feel that if I can’t do all of these things, then any other small contribution is practically worthless. It’s also difficult to expend additional effort, money, and time to commit a green deed when there’s no apparent consequence that follows. The green movement requires the involvement of a great portion of the population in order to have any effective and lasting impact on the environment. One person’s efforts are practically futile if the society around her remains stagnant. I often find myself wondering why I should spend more money on green products when my neighbors are spending significantly less on the same conventional products.  I recently read in an article that organic produce and other foods can cost as much as 42 percent more than traditionally produced foods, and that organic cleaning products and beauty supplies can cost double their non-organic counterparts. As a college student who is still struggling to pay off her loans, I certainly cannot afford to pay these premiums for products that barely yield visible benefits.

So that is my take on the green movement and my selfish reasons for my own inactions. What I am now curious about are the stories of others within the same environment. I'm interested to know the reasons why other people do and don't choose to participate in the green movement. As it deals with purchasing behavior, I can imagine that many families continue to buy traditional products simply because they can't afford green ones. Still, I wonder whether these same people would change their habits if they were to experience a salary increase or had more disposable income. What this comes down to is whether this is really an issue of resource scarcity (lack of money and time) or if it can be attributed to mere laziness and carelessness. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to finally delve into this topic and thoroughly explore the following questions:

• If environmental sustainability is such a big concern in this day and age, why aren't more people participating in the green movement?
• How many people show concern for the condition of the earth?
• Does this correlate with the amount of effort that they are willing to expend in order to promote a green environment?
• What do people know and don't know about the condition of the environment?
• What are the most common green practices? Are these the ones that require the least amount of effort or are the most effective?
• What motivates people to practice green living? What practices would be more effective?
• How can we increase the motivation for others to practice green living?
• What are the drawbacks of going green? Why are people unmotivated to go green?

The potential problems I can expect to face with this topic include selecting a target persona, narrowing down the scope of such a broad category, and getting caught up in the specifics of each of the areas (initiatives, motives, sciences of green practices, problems, cost, opinions, etc.). Since the topic has already been discussed by many, I'm also afraid of running into problems of trying to find a new twist on it. I would hate to turn this assignment into a simple research paper on global warming and am striving to incorporate customer insight-related elements into the product. The main issues I would like to address are the motivations and reasoning behind people's actions--or lack thereof, rather. As someone who is also guilty of falling behind in the green movement, I'm interested in exploring the "why's" of the situation. I feel that this issue is fit for this assignment because as inhabitants of the earth and members of society, we are all essentially consumers of the resources around us. Knowing that the earth's destruction will negatively impact our standard of living, why aren't we, then, more willing to contribute to its sustainability? Environmental management and sustainability should be at the forefront of our concerns if the goal is to enhance our lives (our "customer experience"). These are the types of questions I intend to address; ideally, uncovering the true roots of the issue will help me to discover the most effective solutions.

I ran into a lot of issues during my initial research. I stumbled upon numerous websites and articles relating to green initiatives and general issues that people face when trying to go green, but I couldn't find anything more in-depth on the issue. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places. In any case, I was afraid of being limited by the available studies so I ended up dropping the idea and decided on another topic. If I happen to come across any more research on this issue, I will certainly give it a second thought. Until then, it's going to have to remain open-ended.