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From Citizens to Consumers: the Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism

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From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Philip A. Wight August 2013 ©2013 Philip A. Wight. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism by PHILIP A. WIGHT has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Kevin Mattson Connor Study Professor of Contemporary History Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT WIGHT, PHILIP A., M.A. August 2013, History From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism Director of thesis: Kevin Mattson When did American environmentalism shift from a focus on collective political action to an obsession with personal lifestyles? This thesis investigates three distinct bodies of environmental thought spanning the 1950s and the mid-1970s to answer this question. The three eco-political philosophies studied here are liberal, eco-socialist, and countercultural environmentalism. The heart of this thesis is the debate among key environmental thinkers—John Kenneth Galbraith, Stewart Brand, and Barry Commoner—concerning the role of individual consumers and the importance of public policy. This debate can be viewed as supply-side (producers) versus demand-side (consumers) environmentalism. This thesis argues America’s modern paradigm of libertarian, demand-side environmentalism and green consumerism stems from specific values, ideas, lifestyles, and worldviews representative of American counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. In championing individual consumer choice, contemporary environmentalism has largely rejected liberal and eco-socialist prescriptions of collective political action and social democratic governance. 4 To my grandfather, Roger Walden Frost, who sparked my passion for studying the past. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Katherine Jellison and Dr. Paul Milazzo, for their assistance, revisions, and insight in the conception and realization of this thesis. Jessica Blissit also proved invaluable with her discerning editing eye and steadfast support. This thesis would be naught without the patience of my parents, Robert and Margaret Wight, who nurtured my love of the outdoors and encouraged my dream of becoming a history professor. I would also like to acknowledge my brother, Alan Wight, for the countless nights discussing eco-politics over a pint. Finally, my utmost thanks to Kevin Mattson, my advisor and friend. You have provided the map and compass—I look forward to joining you on the trail. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction: "The Light-Green Society" ........................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: The Conception of Liberal Environmentalism ................................................ 27 Chapter 2: Stewart Brand and Countercultural Environmentalism .................................. 74 Chapter 3: "Ecology as Politics": The Origins of American Eco-Socialism .................. 120 Afterward ........................................................................................................................ 170 References ....................................................................................................................... 175 7 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” Cartoon ........................................................................155 8 INTRODUCTION: “THE LIGHT-GREEN SOCIETY” What does it mean to be a mainstream environmentalist in contemporary America? Modern “greens” slip comfortably into $245 “eco-501” Levi’s jeans and biodegradable Armani shirts. After consuming a guilt-free breakfast of Fair Trade coffee and organic tropical fruit (regardless of season), they might drive to work in a Lexus hybrid limousine. If they have a sweet tooth toward the end of their day, no problem, there is “Rainforest Crunch” ice cream whose profits preserve endangered landscapes. Home improvements are no hassle, as Home Depot now offers over 2,500 green products under its “Eco Options” program. Even fashion—long the target of environmentalists for promoting planned obsolescence—claims eco-consciousness. Vanity Fair published a “green issue” in 2007 and other magazines offer “55 ways to look eco-sexy.” To be an American environmentalist requires no sacrifice for those with the requisite, dispensable income.1 Consider the recent book title: It’s Easy Being Green.2 By purchasing eco-friendly products, Americans have invested enormous faith in green consumerism. Advocates contend that individual buyers are both the cause and solution of ecological devastation. Thus, saving the environment is a personal, moral responsibility—not a public or collective imperative. Political scientist Michael Maniates coins this the “individualization of responsibility.”3 When enough consumers purchase “eco-friendly products,” the market will offer more environmentally friendly products 1 Alex Williams, “Buying into the Green Movement,” The New York Times (July 1st, 2007), accessed February 14th, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/fashion/01green.html?pagewanted=all; M.P. Dunleavey, “Being Green Doesn’t Mean Buying More, New York Times, May 5th, 2007. 2 Crissy Trask, It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living (Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2006). 3 Michael F. Maniates, “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?” Global Environmental Politics 1, no. 3 (August 2001): 33. 9 and fewer harmful goods. Consumers hold all the power, advocates claim, as each time they swipe their credit cards, they are “voting” for a more sustainable way of life. This form of consumerism rests on the premise that consumers want healthier (fewer chemicals, pesticides, hormones), greener (less packaging, waste, energy-use) and more ethical (cage-free, grain-fed, Fair Trade) products.4 Because individuals are personally responsible for environmental problems, advocates of green consumerism reject collective political action in regulating production.5 America’s modern environmental consciousness can be explained through historian Michael Bess’s conception of the “light-green society” that grew from an incomplete, amalgamated, and co-opted environmental vision from the 1960s. The shade light-green contrasts with deep-green ideology—those who embraced a radical “ecological critique of industrialism.”6 It is a paradoxical situation, where a pervasive—if “shallow”—green consciousness fuels hyper-consumerism; where the nation’s biggest polluters work hand in hand with the nation’s largest environmental organizations; and when the imperatives of endless economic growth coexist with the axioms of a planet with finite resources.7 The light-green society also offers a hybrid vision of technological modernization. Bess argues this society is the “gradual confluence of two antagonistic currents of postwar history,” specifically “the headlong rush for technological 4 Ted Steinberg, “Can Capitalism Save the Planet?” Radical History Review, no. 107 (Spring 2010): 8. 5 Green consumerism can also be understood as a subset of the “Public Choice Theory.” Dave Toke defines such a theory as the belief “that the public good can be best achieved by the pursuit of individual, material self-interest and by minimizing the role of the state.” Dave Toke, Green Politics and Neo-Liberalism (London: Macmillan Press, 2000), 1. 6 Michael Bess, The Light-Green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France: 1960-2000 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 8. 7 Ben Geman, “Sierra Club took $26M from gas industry to fight coal-fired power plants.” The Hill. Feb. 3rd, 2012. http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/208477-sierra-club-took-26m-from-gas-industry-to- fight-coal. 10 modernization, and…environmentalists’ radical critique of industrialism.” American culture has embraced a “shallow” environmentalism both widely accepted and made easy.8 The most salient characteristic of the American “light-green society” is the pervasive belief in the virtue of green consumerism. Personal consumer decisions have become the strategy for fighting climate change and environmental devastation. Mainstream eco-consciousness reduces every decision to one’s personal environmental impact. An expanded and globalized version of green consumerism—“Natural Capitalism,” or green capitalism—is currently the favored economic system to protect the biosphere among politicians, numerous environmental groups, and Wall Street financiers. But perhaps the most popular advocate of green capitalism is the countercultural environmentalist Paul Hawken. Best known as the founder of the garden supply company Smith and Hawken, he wrote two prominent books that advocate for eco-capitalism: The Ecology of Commerce (1994) and Natural Capitalism (1999). Hawken encourages a path “that restores
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