‘Buying Green’ Harms The Environment?

An economist has announced that the purchase of eco-friendly products may in fact be bad for the environment. While most of the products in question are actually beneficial to the sphere of endeavour in which they are created, evidence seems to indicate that people who buy such products are less likely to donate or contribute directly to environmental causes. I wonder if there is a similar effect whereby people feel that they can cancel out ecologically unsound habits by buying eco-friendly products – people driving to the organic market in their SUV, for example.

One thought on “‘Buying Green’ Harms The Environment?”

  1. If you’re suggesting that we must choose between them, the question is whether “environmental causes” or “green goods” help the environment more. And the scorecard for “environmental causes” should not be allowed to count whatever good they might be doing by encouraging people to buy “green goods”, because that good belongs on the other column.

    So, I’m inclined to think “green goods” would win this, hands down. Is anyone really seriously of the opposite opinion?

    Of course you can ask why we can’t have both. But then this story would seem to be about nothing.

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