The Middle Ground

I once wrote that capitalism and environmentalism cannot converge. But the optimist in me was determined to find a middle ground and borrowing from a consumerist predicament, I realized the solution was staring at me in the face- human agency. Not limiting ourselves to the roles of consumers but as agents who are shareholders to this materials economy - a linear system running in a finite planet - that inevitably brought about the environmental crisis we are in, I believe we can acquire the power to start the needed change in the unsustainable ways we live our lives. I chose to use the word 'acquire' simply because to be a consumer does not automatically elicit power, even if one has an immense purchasing power - a swipe of plastic at the flick of the wrist.

In one of my blog posts, I wrote about the time when I once fell prey to the supposedly mild Ivory bar soap despite its lack of ingredient labels (woe to the appeal of advertisements). Correspondingly, Michel Foucault wrote about epistemes and power knowledge. To be an informed consumer means empowering oneself with ammunitions in the battle against greedy capitalists. To be an informed consumer means knowing which products are beneficial not just to oneself but for the environment as well. The Nationwide Association of Consumers, Inc. posted the '8 Basic Consumer Rights' in their website, not really rocket science but I believe these have been taken for granted by many of us. A revisit may prove to be helpful.

The Eight Basic Consumer Rights

1. The right to basic needs - a guarantee of survival, adequate food, clothing, shelter, health care, education and sanitation.
2. The right to safety - protection against the marketing of goods or the provision of services that are hazardous to health and life.
3. The right to information - protection against fraudulent/dishonest or misleading advertising/labelling/promotion and the right to be given the facts and information needed to make an informed choice.
4. The right to choose - choice of products at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality.
5. The right to representation - expression of consumer interests in the making and execution of government policies.
6. The right to redress - compensation for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services.
7. The right to consumer education - acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary to be an informed consumer.
8. The right to a healthy environment - life and work in an environment which is neither threatening nor dangerous, and which permits a life of dignity and well-being.

We may hold the power to redirect the unsustainable course of our planet and our lives, make a detour from the trap we set for ourselves in the imminent future. However, I believe we don't acquire power through knowledge alone, that is why we need to go beyond the role of consumers and become agents who act - when individuals make use of that knowledge to become a collective to instigate social change and government action, then that will bring about the beginning of change.

A few weeks ago, I watched Dick "the walrus" Strawbridge (this is my own pet name for him, he has the biggest more adorable mustache I've ever seen ) and Jem "not-your-average cute tinkerer" Stansfield in NatGeo's Planet Mechanics when they made the first air-powered motorcycle. Incidentally, Jessica Soho featured wooden bikes in the Philippines and I looked up pictures of wooden bikes in Banaue on the internet.

Carbon labeling on food products in the UK and the US is becoming a trend in informing consumers of the environmental impact of food products in the market.

A discovery of a mystery ingredient cleaning the Earth's atmosphere may hold promise of more help to alleviate climate change.

Research on organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) versus compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) is helping to arrive at cheaper and more efficient ways to light up households and companies.

A whole city in Belgium goes vegetarian once a week.

Musicians tour as green as possible and make use of 100% recyclable materials.

300 tricycles in Commonwealth are converted from diesel to LPG powered public mode of transportation.

These efforts seem hopeful. But there needs to be a drastic change and at the collective level, obviously, no amount of individual effort can make a difference to the entailed 80% carbon emission reduction by 2050. The government seems to have the upper hand in this - and I'm not sure if this works to our advantage. as they seem to have other priorities in mind. Yes, there is a middle ground between capitalism and environmentalism. But until the government walks the talk, we are left in limbo as top 12 among 200 countries in the rank of most vulnerable countries in climate change.