The "Green" Shirt

Moving to the U.S. I strongly believed I knew all about the culture in America. Growing up I was so influenced by American music, TV, and movies that I didn't even reflect upon the culture clash I might experience by moving here. After almost four years in New York I am still learning about the differences in the diverse existing cultures in N.Y., and the culture I grew up with that I thought I knew all about.

Many of the differences are very obvious, and easy to learn and understand; such as holidays celebrated. Other things such as attitudes and values are much harder to truly understand. One of the first common attitude I found strange was the overall view on environmental questions and global warming by both people and corporations. I have always been taught, not only by my family but from school, companies in my town, and the government, the importance of recycling and reducing your carbon footprint.

For many years I've been so conscious about my consumption and how it affects the planet we live on, that it completely blew my mind to hear people argue that such actions are unnecessary. I currently live with an American family and therefore learn about their point of view first hand. I have many times argued the importance of recycling, and gotten the answer that there is no point. I agree that it is useless unless their is a functioning organization to take care of your recycled products. But I do think that it is the governments and the corporations responsibility to take the appropriate actions to encourage such actions. When such institutions exist it is up to us individuals to take our responsibility to help reduce our waste. I was horrified when I discovered that many people threw batteries, food, paper, plastic, and glass bottles all together in the same bag. Back in Sweden my mom would have been furious if I by mistake threw a Coke bottle with the cap in the same recycling bin (the cap on a Coke bottle is hard plastic and should be separated from the soft plastic).

In fact recycling is such an important part of the culture in Sweden that it is considered unacceptable not to take responsibility for your consumption. When my family was struggling to pay the rent my mom would still insist on paying the extra kronors (currency in Sweden) for the environmentally friendly products. I have slowly come to realize that what I thought to be universal is in fact a belief fostered by the culture I grew up in. I've met many Americans who just don't really care about environmental issues, but I have also met many that really do show and interest. It seems to me that caring about the environment is an emerging trend here and that more and more people become aware of the problems that arise with the industrialized countries exaggerated consumption.

What's interesting to me though is that many people seem to think that more consumption is the answer(!). I see people walking around with green t-shirts that say: "I recycle" or similar messages, but what do you really know about the company producing that shirt? Are they really supporting the message you're trying to spread? And is buying more products really the answer? Although I'm very pleased to see companies and individuals take initiative to create awareness about this issue, I'm sometimes confused as to how more consumption is suppose to reduce the damage we cause the environment, to me that seems like a paradox:/