What If The Hokey Pokey IS What It Is All About?
by Erin Courtenay - Madison, WI on 04.28.06
Hardy har har. But seriously - you are a TreeHugger because you give a damn about the world around you, and it's a lot more than the Hokey Pokey that gets you out of bed in the morning. That's what SustainLane CEO, James Elsen was suggesting when he referred to the existential question posed by a bumper sticker (the pre-blog progressive's opinion format of choice) during his talk at today's LOHAS (Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability) conference. For those of you not familiar with LOHAS, it is the market niche that explains the Whole Foods cum Gaiam leanings of those of us who love the eco-scene, but also crave a bit of lux with our tofu (thankyouverymuch). LOHAS is big and getting bigger (according to analysts privy to snazzy demographic wizardry), and embodies the paradox that drives speaker Paul Ray's research, namely: "Things are getting worse and worse and better and better faster and faster." Even if the Hokey Pokey isn't what it is all about - the eco-enterprisers here at LOHAS have definitely put their whole selves in and are shaking the business world all about as they bring wacky ideas like alternative energy, carbon offsetting and recycled textiles into the mainstream. Stay tuned for more from LOHAS - where you can find everything from organic hemp sports drinks to runway ready eco-couture and everything green in between. (Check out Blue Marble for a live blog update on the event).
We're liveblogging LOHAS over at the Blue Marble blog:
http://bluemarble.typepad.com/bluemarble/2006/04/steve_case_keyn.html
Hmmm...I didn't realize there was an 'eco-scene' to love.
Forgive me for saying so, but trying to mainstream ecological awareness by making it fashionable seems to backfire: the 'scene' becomes its own end, and the original goal is lost to the capriciousness and fickleness of the next fashionable 'scene'. It never lasts.
In reply to Ba Humbug:
Actually, it provides a way OUT for the many millions of Americans who would like to have less impact on the environment and more alternatives for a healthy lifestyle. Companies selling LOHAS Related Products offer an alternative to these middle-class, Americans who would otherwise shop at Wal-Mart or Target.
Do you honestly think environmentalism is going to spread across the world before it gets too late without the help of capitalism? A middle-class American soccer mom isn't going to be persuaded to sell her SUV and install solar panels on her condo roof by some Grateful Dead T-shirt wearing college student. But if all of her friends "at yoga" are doing it, then it suddenly becomes something she wants to do as well.
And what's wrong with that? That's GREAT! That's what environmentalists have been working on all these years!
But people like you don't really want to save the planet. No, you just want to be an elitist hypocrite.
yeh i no if the hokey pokey really was what it is all about than life as we know it would never be the same... like instead of eating a potato for dinner youd eat a couch and sit on a potato
personnally, i believe that if it is really what its all about, we are living our lives the wrong way. we need ot shake it all about. we need to put our big unit in and take it out as fast as we can so we shake it all about. now thats what its all about.
personnally, i believe that if it is really what its all about, we are living our lives the wrong way. we need ot shake it all about. we need to put our big unit in and take it out as fast as we can so we shake it all about. now thats what its all about.