Independent UK: Save money, save the planet

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Leading article: Save money, save the planet

Sunday, 15 June 2008



It is easy to disparage the recurrent vogue for the frugal life as an indulgence of the middle classes. It is tempting, when people extol their virtue in making their own clothes or growing their own polenta, to think that it is all very well for those who have the time, which is, after all, money. It is a temptation that should be resisted.

It should be resisted because the shift in social attitudes towards what we call the New Frugality is important evidence of a social change that can be a powerful force for good. We report on the phenomenon today. This change has three causes. They are economic stringency, environmental awareness and fashion. They have come together in a way that pushes the trend well beyond the smugger margins of the green bourgeoisie. High oil prices have forced people to use their cars less or to switch to smaller engines, not because they want to minimise global warming but to save money. Higher prices generally are encouraging people to reduce, re-use and recycle, not to conserve the planet's resources but to conserve their cash.

The effect, however, is the same. In the crudest sense, higher oil and food prices reflect the fact that the Earth's resources are finite. What is new about today's rediscovery of the virtues of thrift, what distinguishes it from earlier periods of belt-tightening and make-do-and-mend, is the environmental dimension.

So we should suppress the tendency to mock the more precious extremes of the new movement. When actresses and models proclaim the joys of pig-farming and digging potatoes, or high-street retailers move into eco-bags and clothes swaps, the instinct for scepticism is strong. But we should resist it. A new environmental cottage industry run by some newspapers is dedicated to pointing out the planet-unfriendly hypocrisies of pop stars and celebrities who affect to espouse the virtues of a green lifestyle. Again, we should resist the temptation to revel in their discomfort. For the fashion element of the New Frugality is important in moving green values into the mainstream and – critically – keeping them there when the economic pressures ease off as they are bound to do.

Recycled jewellery might seem transient chic, therefore, but if it is a symbol of a shift in popular attitudes towards excessive packaging, conspicuous waste and reckless consumption, it is all to the good. It might even help to dispel the notion that frugality means puritanism. As Jenny Dyson, the editor-in-chief of Rubbish magazine, says, the pressure on people to be green can sometimes seem "dictatorial and bossy". ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-save-money-save-the-planet-847336.html