Category: Media

The Problem with Consumerism [Videos] | ecogreenlove

The Problem with Consumerism [Videos]

Published on by ecogreenlover1 Comment

In 2009, South Korea did something remarkable. The country poured 2% of its GDP, some $38.1 billion, into environmental projects, hoping to create one million green jobs over the next  five years. The goal was to spur growth in a slumping economy while simultaneously creating a low carbon society. In one sense, the plan worked. South Korea’s economic system did eventually recover, but in a more important sense, the plan failed. From 2009 to 2014, Korea’s emissions rose 11.8%. So, despite massive investments in clean energy, railway expansion, and energy efficiency, South Korea’s emissions still climbed.

So what happened? Why didn’t South Korea’s green growth strategy work? The video below (by Our Changing Climate) will answer that question and more in order to understand one of the insidious spectres that haunts the green energy revolution: consumption.

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Green Documentaries: Bag it

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Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, disposable bags that they throw away without much thought. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to the environment, marine life and human health?

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is not a radical environmentalist, but an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded? What he learns quickly grows far beyond plastic bags.

What he discovers is shocking:

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Green Documentaries: Plastic China | ecogreenlove

Green Documentaries: Plastic China

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Welcome to the land of “Plastic China.” As the world’s biggest plastic waste importer, China receives ten million tons per year from most of the developed countries around the world. With high external costs impacting the local environment and health, these imports are reborn here in these plastic workshops into “recycled” raw materials for the appetite of China – the world factory. This waste is then exported back to where they came from with a new face such as manufactured clothing or toys.

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Green Documentaries: Circular Economy

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Reblogged from MyTree.TV

Businesses around the globe produce nearly as much waste as they do product — almost 110 million tons annually in the US alone. Washington State spent more than 500 million dollars on waste disposal, recycling, and composting in 2009. But what is the real cost to business and the community?

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