Environmentalism as Fashion

Look at this ridiculous ad.

A beautiful woman strewn across hot peppers in an act to convince others to not abuse animals by eating them.

I think this is the most blatantly ridiculous and genius example of the only form of communication that our culture deems necessary and valuable.

I'll tell you why I think this ad works. Because the common man, woman and child will not digest information about the world around them unless it's something that they want to be a part of. Much of the time, I think it has to be something that they don't have and want to achieve. This ad uses sex, beauty and power to lure their consumer into listening, if only for a brief moment, to their views on the state of the world.

We're starting to see spokes models for cleaner air, hybrid cars, organic products. We hear actresses who state the proven benefits of cutting back your water usage, singers endorsing the next president. American Idol contestants urging us to help the starving children around the world. And you know what? This has to happen.

We have to have our culture's current leaders pave our way. We need them to. We've given so much power to those that we idolize that we will listen and believe anything. A new President passing Environmental Laws? Yes. Brad Pitt endorsing the next new whatever? Golden.

It's the Media's job. It's their duty. Who cares that we've learned this in science books our whole lives, who cares if there are more floods, famine, fire and tropical storms than we've seen in any one given generation. That air quality is failing, ice burghs are melting, towns are going under water. What is it going to take to convince us that we're doing this to ourselves? That we're putting ourselves into extinction.

I was thinking about all of this when watching The 11th Hour the other night, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. He is a genuine humanitarian who has done many great things for this world and did a great job hosting this jaunt through Depressingville. This was an amazing documentary and spun many threads in my head. Watching The 11th Hour was like flipping past one of those fundraisers for Starving Kids in Africa on the Public Access Channel. You try to turn the channel quickly, feeling momentarily rotten for doing so. Well, The 11th Hour is like two hours of kids with bugs in their eyes. Only it's the Earth and it's dying and you can't turn the channel.

They laid out a staggering concept. That by the age of twelve, we can identify thousands of commercial logos but we can't identify ten plant species native to our area. Our society looks at the Earth as marketable, we view nature as property. Our planet has given us everything we need to survive and we are milking it dry, constantly looking for a replacement for beauty. To quote from the movie, "People are doing the best they can given their level of awareness." Enter spokes model.

The next time I turn on the TV, I want to see Amanda Peet straddling the new Sheik Grass-Powdered Hybrid Lawnmower. And I will be happy.