January 16th, 2008
To me that is so crucial – consumers showing there is a market. This is the first time that a mainstream huge corporation in America is introducing a green consumer product that’s not a food or beverage – other than light bulbs. I thought, “Man, this is the evidence (that consumer demand for green products can help jump-start the struggling economy). Sometimes people will dismiss the power of the consumer, but this shows otherwise. And everybody wins, because it goes back to, if you work on something like Clorox’s green brand, then you’ve got a great job. … I see the conflict that so many people feel. They say, “I’d love to go work for some environmental NGO, but I’ve got a mortgage to pay. I can’t just go off and do that.” But as the economy goes green, there will be more and more opportunities.
Q: Your movement tends to target the hip and cool — a young, urban demographic. But how do you (and other environmentalists) take this to Main Street USA, small towns that may not even have recycling programs?
A: I think you do that in a number of ways… But again the thing that is cool about Green Works… buy products like that. This has come up on our radio show. Someone called in from somewhere in Missouri, and said they wanted to be involved, but there wasn’t a recycling center within 100 miles of their home. We were on the show and we typed in some information, and found the number for the guy who was in charge of recycling programs in that area.
Q: How does a Main Street USA greenie get more involved? But also, give us some more “lazy” options.
A: Unfortunately, you have to be a little bit pro-active about it. But there’re other things you can do – new services and stuff. You can go to GreenPhone, where if you’re going to get rid of your cell phone or your PDA or whatever … They’ll actually pay you for it and they’ll let you print out a pre-paid postage form to send it in. E-Bay has a trade-in program for your old appliances, your electronics, your toaster or things like that. They’ll just pay you for it….
There’s things now, like Nature Mill, a sweet little garbage composter you can put on your floor in the kitchen and you can compost as you go and don’t have to send your garbage to the landfill. So there are products that are coming on the market like that.
Q: So consumerism can be a positive thing?
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