Big Green Mess #4: The New Normal is False Consensus

Big Green Mess #4: The New Normal is False Consensus   by J.D. Erickson

This is the fourth in a series of articles exposing “Green” thinking to the light of day. I like apple green, but usually only on apples. Don’t litter. Do recycle when you can. Try not to run over bicyclists. Other than that, leave my country alone.

A tiny white car driven across your television screen by a well-known celebrity is hawked as ‘The New Normal’.  Another small car was named ‘Car of the Year’, by a magazine that once had a good reputation—until it chose the Chevy Volt for that prestigious award.  Environmentalists think plugging their auto in for the night is just the thing.  Trouble is the electricity has to come from somewhere-- a coal plant, hydro-dam, or even an oil-fired electric plant.  Added to the pain is the fact that manufacturing batteries for the new toy cars makes as much of an atmospheric mess as does refining oil.  Add death and or medical costs from crashing these tinny, battery-weighted munchkin movers.  Try driving one through the snow!  One admittedly liberal reviewer said all the time she drove the car (an electric) she worried about running out of juice. 

These overlooked facts are obvious to those of us who still have a functioning brain.  ‘The New Normal’  appears to be the new sustainability slogan, and has been adopted by more than one advertising campaign.   Presently, the “green” signature is often an afterthought; a green reference is seen at the end of an ad.  What’s “green” about a clothing line or hardware store sales? 

I fear that what is behind obligatory advertising is the reliance on “consensus” as practiced by the United Nations-sponsored climate alarmists.  In the case of green ad slogans, the viewer is supposed to believe that everyone is on board with the program.  I stopped in at a new bank to see about opening an account.  A display placard on a table informed me that the bank was “green”.  I walked out.  Another business I had frequented for eight years proclaimed they were “going green”.  I told them they were crazy before I walked out.  You don’t always have to boycott, but you need to let them know how you feel.

Coca Cola has changed its containers—white cans with silver polar bears, and white caps on its plastic bottles—and encourages customers to visit its website in support of polar bear habitat.  Subaru uses t-shirt-wearing actors to sell its cars to five different types of touchy-feely customers.  Meanwhile, the big drink company is being targeted by environmentalists who want to ban its plastic bottles in a national park.  When will the companies learn that the activists simply will not be satisfied?

 Never heard of “sustainability”?  Sustainability is the father of the new normal.  This dark side of the force is even now working for what is known as “civic change”, whereby your children and grandchildren will believe with all their heart that polar bears are dying because America ruined the earth.