How green is my recession

So – I know this is probably obvious, but it has to be said. All that hard work done in the past few years, convincing consumers to buy green. All that effort in pointing out that the planet will be here long after we aren’t.

And then some greedy b*st*rds in the banking system who think that gambling other people’s money on the price of green vegetable die in March 2010 come along and ensure that all the green drops out of the equation.

Why ?

Because the average consumer is only green in the good times.

Illogical yes, as being green will save you money in good and bad times, but there has always been a premium on green, and therefore, when money is tight, the first against the wall is the planet.

May not be quite that bad, as people naturally buy less, travel less, and generally consume less, but this is just a side effect. The real drive is to save money, and to date, greenness is not sold sufficiently on saving money. Yes I know I but things that are green because it’s my choice. I live in a ‘green’ house, but I am rather the exception.

As life loses a bit of its gloss for the next 12-24 months, I will wonder what could have been done if a small portion of the billions of dollars spent on paying bank bonuses had been spent on saving the planet.

Capitalism is generally a good thing : but extreme capitalism is only a benefit to the few, and really is not much use to the many.

Oh – and I’m not looking to explain why people have loans they can’t afford, That is another subject completely.