Green Consumerism Literary Submission

53% of consumers expressed desire to switch to eco-friendly products as of 2007. In today’s more environmentally conscious culture, that number has probably increased.

assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing these items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week”. (Westervelt, Amy. "Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015). So why is the reason that companies are starting to “Go Green”? Its clearly obvious that the change in America from an industrial country to a environmental country has taught big business how to market environmentalism in mass quantities of their product. The strategy of the consumption-environment mindset are increasing rapidly. If this trend of buying without thinking does not slow down, with problems like not shifting priority from consumption to being environmentally aware, things will certainly worsen. On the topic of green marketing, people often see that green marketing refers to the advertising of objects or products with environmental characteristics to them (Like the Nestle bottle, for example). Terms like “Environmentally Friendly”, “Refillable”, and “Recyclable”, are some of the things people associate with green marketing. In reality

The environment is among some of the top issues to be looked upon by the human population in the world today. Sustainability is a word often times used when speaking of this subject. This is a concept represented in the articles “Sustainability” by Christian R. Weisser and “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” by Robert Paarlberg. Each author addresses the issue in different ways; one giving examples of this issue and the other clearly defining it. Each author is writing to spread awareness of this issue. As overlapping topics, each article has similarities and differences to the other.

The rise of green products and the want of consumers to become more environmentally friendly has been increasing. In 10 Green Marketing Milestones, the reading mentioned how the “rise of the Toyota Prius: It may not have saved the world, but at 1 million cumulative vehicle sales the Prius became the predominant fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle” (Neff 2). This is an example of how companies are actually wanting to go green in order to make more profit and rise above their competitors. Going off the Prius example, it was also mentioned how Hummer cars, which use an excess amount of fuel, sales have plummeted. This was because this model no longer appealed to the consumers and General Motor’s had to discontinue the model and even went bankrupt. This sale tactic works and is so successful because the consumer’s mindset have evolved to seek things that are better for the environment. Many would prefer Toyota over General Motor because of their company’s reputation with being green. Although this might not work for all companies, but for some, they have become more successful than their competitors by going green and so, convincing more and more to

A Conservationist Manifesto In A Conservationist Manifesto, Scott Russell Sanders argues that consumerism is a destructive force in the nation. He offers a solution: “As an antidote to this culture of consumption, extravagance, and waste that dominates America today, we need to imagine a culture of conservation.” Sanders encourages readers to think of a new way to exist in the natural world. Sanders enlightened my perspective on the mass amount of consumption that we suffer in America.

We as a society have been presented with the question of whether or not individual action is a valid solution in the midst of the debate on “environmentalism.” Can we as individuals still contribute to reducing climate change with individual action such as riding a bike? In the article “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the world, the author Michael F. Maniates analyzes this question in regards to individuals participating in green consumerism. In response to the growing trend of green consumerism companies have started producing “green” products in order to keep up with consumer demand. On the surface this seems like a step forward to a sustainable future, however “green” products like to advertise their “eco-friendliness”

According to Jhally, surveys were done about what makes people happy and most of the responses were the social aspects of life like self-esteem and having a happy family life, not the material aspects. Using this information, advertisers attach what makes consumers happy socially to products to make them feel as if they need these products to reach their goal. Advertisers use consumers’ emotions to make products to sell back to them. This is causing an ever-expanding economic growth that is clearly having major environmental impacts. However, because people center their life around goods, a conversation will never be able to be brought up about the future of economic growth and the environment unless the consumer changes his or her attitude

Environmentalism has long been accused of being a condition of the affluent – a veritable luxury of the first world condition, despite a resounding deficiency of empirical data to support this assumption. A number of studies countering this point of view are being disseminated, potentially dismantling these postulations (Brechin 1999; Fairbrother 2012; Ignatow 2006; Mart’inez-Alier and Alier 2012), though the cultural disparity explaining a wide variety of environmentalist concerns remains difficult to explain (Brechin 1999), albeit important. Understanding commonalities, more so than polarities, will prove invaluable as we enter an era of globalization and face increased conflict over resource scarcity. A unified approach to solving environmental issues is imperative.

Since the mid 1990s consumers had become more concerned about environmental issues (Strong, 1996). He defines a green consumer as someone who rejects products that are harmful to him/her self or others around him, its manufacturing process damage the environment, consume a large amount of energy, involves unnecessary waste, and use material originated from threatened animal. According to Uusitalo and Oksanen (2004), this consumption concept is known as ethical consumerism. They suggest that ethical consumerism includes concerns about unethical and unfair global trades, like child labor, low paid labor, disrespect of human rights, animal testing, and environmental damage. These concerns had led the origin of sustainable marketing, which means that enterprises build and maintain sustainable relationship with consumers, social environment, and natural environment (Lee, 2008). Lee (2008), predicts two consequences of these increasing sustainable concerns in the near future. First, he says that concepts of green products or going green will be the mainstream. Second, Companies from developing countries will develop international green campaigns to increase their sales, expand their markets, and establish positive image trough green marketing.

Now, more than ever, consumers are displaying a heightened interest in environmental issues, lending itself to the prominence of green advertising strategies. In turn, companies are recognizing the value of communicating their efforts to “Do no harm” to the environment. As such, these companies are adopting various marketing strategies to inform consumers that their products are environmentally friendly (for instance, “pesticide-free” labels), and concerned for the well-being of people (“fair trade” labels are an example) (Fisher et al, 2012).

On your weekly trip to the supermarket it’s easy to find a number of products, from coffee to dishwashing soap, that flaunt their green attributes” (American Psychological Association, 2010). With such rumors of greenwashing, consumers are more confused than ever. However, some consumers know the tricks and are coming to find that there are companies whose marketing practices are legit, not exaggerated or deceiving. APA also found that, “people are willing to spend more of their hard-earned green on green products, according to a 2008 survey of 9,000 adults performed by the global business firm Boston Consulting Group” (American Psychological Association, 2010). Consumers who are willing to pay more for a product or service are assuming that they are purchasing a healthier, safer, and better quality product or service for the environment.

Understanding the demographics of green consumerism can help entrepreneurs explore the environmental market, and home in on likely prospects. Research has shown that green consumers:

One major problem as far as companies using green marketing and why it isn’t working is that the relatively vague definition of green marketing leaves a lot of room for loopholes. Green marketing, by simply being defined as “the marketing of products that are assumed to be environmentally safe,” allows companies to take advantage of this idea even if their products are not the best example of green ones (McClendon 1). Most companies also don’t practice what they preach in such

ABSTRACT Studies of green consumer behaviour, in particular purchasing and disposal, have largely focused on demographics and/or socio-demographics, with mixed and frequently contradictory results. To move the debate forward, we investigated a wide range of 40 sustainability activities with 78 consumers, who placed each activity on a matrix according to perceived

It is important for the customers to be made aware about the green product. It is also important to educate them about why the company is adopting that method so that it becomes a general concern and not only from business point of view.