"Sexy" Sustainability?

I read an article from a Seattle newspaper earlier this week describing efforts at the University of Washington campus to reduce waste by going after the paper cups used by coffee shops (Here's to a sex-cessful campaign: UW students attack paper-cup waste). One estimate has the campus disposing of over 5,000 paper cups per day.

In an effort to entice students to bring their own coffee cups instead of using the paper cups, student leaders from the Young Democrats launched a campaign to make being environmentally friendly more fashionable. This week, the campaign was launched complete with bumper stickers & buttons displaying the catchy, alliterative slogan, "Sustainability is Sexy". While I am all for reducing waste, I question the means by which this particular student group is going about it.

This is not the first eco-friendly movement to use sex to attract attention to a good cause. The article cites examples of using sex to raise money to save rainforests, endangered turtles, and keep people from buying fur. The general idea, states the article, is to move from using guilt as a motivator to do the right thing to making the idea "more attractive and fun".

Sex is used to sell everything from cologne to cars to anti-wrinkle cream. What makes using sex to market toward waste reduction any different? Finding ways to inspire students to reduce their waste is admirable, but (and perhaps I am being a prickly idealist here) the whole idea of using sex to sell it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Most marketing campaigns are geared toward getting people to buy or consume something; it seems ironic to use sex to market toward environmental consciousness which tends to be more anti-consumptive in nature.

The catchy slogan and free bumper stickers may garner student attention for the time being, but what will happen once the hype dies down? If being fashionable or hip is the motivation for forgoing the paper cup and replacing it with one of the stainless steel coffee tumblers ubiquitous to coffee shops these days, what will happen when the trend shifts? Sex may be drawing attention toward the issue for the time being, but is anyone learning why waste reduction is important, how incinerated trash affects our atmosphere, or learning to look at other areas in which they can reduce consumption?

The motivation behind this campaign may not be so global in its intent, but where better than a university to foster this kind of awareness? I don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and I do believe that change starts with seemingly small, personal decisions and shifts in habit (like forgoing a paper coffee cup), but I also believe that what drives that decision is significant as well.

It seems that in a university setting, awareness would be raised by listening to subject matter experts, viewing documentaries, acquiring relevant information, and encouraging discussion and debate. This is not to say that creativity should not be used in how students are engaged, but that the creative approach should appeal to their intelligence & sense of social responsibility instead of their sexuality. Rather than encouraging students to embrace an ecologically conscious lifestyle intelligently, it is being reduced to a mere trend. It seems that if the end in mind is to persuade students to have a heightened awareness about waste reduction, it would be helpful if they were given justifiable reasons for doing so.

Instead of consciousness-raising, they’re taking a shortcut to waste reduction by slapping a “sexy” sticker on it. If anything, it is consciousness-numbing, catering to the lowest common denominator of human intelligence. As can be expected of our culture, people are flocking to what is “sexy” for now. When the novelty has faded, how many will still be favoring the reusable mugs over the disposable paper cups, and of those who still do, how many will remember why? Sustainable may be sexy for now, but sexy is hardly sustainable. Last time I checked, intelligent living is.

I encourage you to share your own thoughts!


For more information…

• Sustainable Living
• Sustainable Agriculture
• An Inconvenient Truth, Official Website
• Overview of Conserving Communities, by Wendell Berry
• Waste Management
• Want to gauge your own impact on the environment? Check out the "What's My Ecological Footprint?" link at the right.

“Earth Appreciation”: A Shameless Plug
I believe one of the first steps in encouraging people to embrace more ecologically-conscious lifestyles is to appreciate and be amazed by God’s creation.

For some earth appreciation, check out Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth”, an 11-part miniseries 5 years in the making, shot completely in high definition. It will be airing beginning March 25 @ 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific and is available to purchase on DVD if you are unable to catch it on TV.

Check out Blue Mountain Mama's thoughts on sustainability here.