Life in the Fast Lane

The reports of our death were greatly exaggerated. Was it really only two years ago that we were struggling to digest the dismal message of an essay called "The Death of Environmentalism"? Its authors, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, complained that environmentalists were obsessed with policy and divorced from real politics. Our "foundational concepts" were passé; our institutions were "outmoded." We were wonks, in a word; the public didn’t care. So we stared gloomily into the mirror and asked ourselves a bitter question: Had we really failed? Two years later, the answer seems to be a resounding no. Rather, the question seems to be: How exactly have we succeeded? And then a secondary question, perhaps: What price, if any, have we paid for our success?

Since Shellenberger and Nordhaus issued their fatwa, we’ve seen a tidal wave of public interest in all things environmental. Some people would even argue that we’re at a cultural tipping point. Science drove it: A plethora of new studies showed that global warming is worse, and progressing more rapidly, than we had feared. The media stopped wheeling out Exxon-funded "experts" to counterfeit a debate on climate change, and Al Gore hit the multiplexes. High oil prices and the meltdown in Iraq fed the public’s fear of energy dependency and spurred its interest in alternatives.

Mass-market magazines are now awash with green-themed cover stories and special features. While Newsweek announces the greening of the suburban American family, Vanity Fair puts the once-next-president on the cover, flanked by Julia Roberts (as a green fairy) and George Clooney (as an earth-tone peasant). A new magazine called Verdant , with a column on organic fine wines, features on luxury eco-spas in Bali, and ads for custom-built conservatories, takes the zeitgeist a step further. As editor Sharon King Hoge notes, the word "verdant" means lush as well as green.

Elle , Vogue , and a slew of teen-oriented magazines and TV shows have thrust the world of high fashion, even hip-hop, into the mix, peppering their coverage with phrases like "eco-sexy" and "ecolo-chic." But maybe a better term is "eco-narcissism." I wondered if we had reached some kind of climax, as it were, when I came across an online promotion for green, nontoxic sex toys.

Continued...