Greenwashing the globe
Adrian Parr believes that the sustainability movement has been hijacked
Mark Hopkins
Urban Living
October 15, 2009
Once upon a time, “sustainability” was a buzzword for hippies and
activists, shouted through megaphones with increasing frustration at an
SUV-driving, suburb-loving public. For a while, that uphill battle seemed
more like a downward spiral.
But things have changed: Now, sustainability is everywhere! Laundry
detergent comes in green bottles, leaf-patterns are plastered all over gas
stations and everyone from oil companies to the U.S. military is jumping
onto the sustainability bandwagon. The world is saved! Fire the
biodegradable confetti!
Wait, hold your fire. Sure, it’s great that sustainability is the hot new
trend… but who’s holding the megaphone nowadays? Therein lies the
conundrum.
“In order for the sustainability movement to realize its goals, it has to
become popular,” says Dr. Adrian Parr, “but as it becomes popular, it’s
being appropriated by the interests of Big Business.”
Parr, the author of Hijacking Sustainability, comes to Calgary as part of
the EVDS Design Matters lecture series, sponsored by the University of
Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design. Her lecture, entitled Is Green
the New Black?, is a follow up to her recent book, which points out the
myriad ways in which the sustainability movement is being commodified.
At its grassroots heart, the sustainability movement is about equality.
“Equality across races, ethnicities, generations and species,” she says.
“We have to expand the way we think of the social field, which includes
the ecosystems that enable us all to thrive together.”
What we’re seeing, however, has nothing to do with equality and everything
to do with profit. In her book, Parr describes the phenomenon of
“greenwashing” — that is, when companies put an exaggerated spin on their
sustainability practices to disguise their true focus.
A prime example of greenwashing can be found in BP, an energy corporation
that was recently awarded Greenpeace’s “Emerald Paintbrush” award for a
campaign highlighting its minimal commitment to alternative energy
sources, while downplaying its unwavering devotion to fossil fuels and
accusations of human rights abuses in Columbia and Turkey.
Nor is greenwashing limited to the corporate sector. “The U.S. military
has now come out with the idea of a ‘sustainable army,’ which is an
oxymoron,” says Parr. “This is an institution founded upon the application
of violence. It’s irrelevant if the Hummer you drive down the streets of
Baghdad is a hybrid or not. If you’re going to kick the shit out of the
local Iraqi citizen, you don’t ask the soldier about the value of those
victims’ lives; you ask the victim. The army has taken on the facade of
somehow advancing the principles of sustainability, but this is nonsense.”
Parr worries that even new sustainability technologies might be co-opted
for corporate gain. “Who’s going to own the patents on this new
technology?” she asks. “If all the patents for green technology are owned
by the privileged, we’re essentially saying to countries like India, China
or Sudan, ‘if you want to go green in your economic development, we’re
going to make you pay for it.’”
While sustainability may now be a household word, it seems to have shed
much of the ideology that first made it shine. “There’s a real disconnect
between the goals of the grassroots sustainability movement and the ways
in which, as it becomes more popular, Big Business begins to realize that,
hey, this is something we can tap into to make money,” says Parr. “They
use it as a strategy to mask some of the more abhorrent environmental and
human rights abuses. This is a situation that is actually counter to the
public good, because everything’s up for sale.”
All in all, this new spin on sustainability looks pretty bleak, but Parr
remains hopeful. She points to the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in
Bali, when the American delegate was dragging her heels on a commitment to
the Bali Road Map. The delegate from Papua New Guinea, an island-nation
with fewer than seven million inhabitants, made this reply to the U.S.:
“We ask for your leadership. We seek your leadership. But, if for some
reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please,
get out of the way.” Many analysts point to this simple and poignant
response as the reason for an about-face by the American delegate and the
adoption of the climate plan.
This, says Parr, demonstrates a key strength in grassroots movements.
“They can capture the imaginary,” she says. “I think we’ve lost sight of
the potential to reinvigorate the public common, but it’s there. It’s
always there and it’s up to us to feel motivated enough to activate it. We
all have skills. It’s just a matter of putting those skills to work in
forging a vision and path forward into the future.”
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