Cool Planet Blog

In the current down market green retailers face a unique challenge as we weigh our less is more instincts against our desire to share our passion for green products as well as to make a living.

During this economic tsunami, many families are unable to avoid the record high swells that have already claimed many a bank account.  However, instead of allowing the weight of their possessions to pull them under, many have instead chosen to cast them aside and ride the waves back to a shore left lying in ruin. Rather than seeing the loss of their hard earned possessions as an affront to their very humanity, these individuals looked at the loss as an opportunity to streamline and simplify, get rid of the gag and chains of the material world. In fact over the last decade there has been a simmering movement to do just that. Acquire less only replacing items when necessary, buy natural and organic, slowly enjoy a well prepared meal, reject consumerism, etc… 

These are all wonderful ideas to live by and are gaining some momentum. In fact, even those who didn’t find their lives completely decimated during this recession have also decided to reevaluate their spending, and some have abandoned spending altogether.

So herein lays the dilemma for green retailers. We know that reckless spending, reckless risk taking, and un- and improperly-regulated greedy bankers brought this economic pestilence to our land. We also know that our gluttonous consumptive ways have pillaged and laid waste to the fragile environment left in our stewardship. Therefore, consuming less will do more to combat global climate change and the loss of irreplaceable and precious resources. 

So, is it logical to think that we can we spend our way out of this mess when spending helped bring us here in the first place? On the other hand, is it even logical to believe that if we don’t spend at all some miracle will occur and suddenly we will have our jobs back, our health care back, and foreclosure on our overpriced homes with the jumbo loans will end?

So, reality-check. Burying our money inside of our mattresses won’t create a single job unless you consider the new mattress you will have to buy when you replace the soft foam with bundles of 20’s. No, chances are that you will be reaching into your mattresses soft and pliable inners more and more often to remove cash.  Let’s face it, by now we all know that just as reckless spending/lending caused the latest recession, not spending at all will deepen it, thus increasing the likelihood that you too will be unemployed. Or, the government has to borrow and print so much currency to keep the sprockets turning, that our national debt becomes the burden of generations leaving to colonize the moon and inflation turns into a 3 headed Hedra that devours all our savings accounts.

Voracious consumption won’t sooth our ills either and will cause far more problems in the long term than it solves in the immediate. So perhaps what we need is a happy medium. A safe place in the middle that allows us to invest in ourselves by adding to our savings accounts, but gives us the flexibility to participate in our economy by supporting the products and retailers we believe in.

Balance, like the ying/yang in our logo implies. Think of it as shopping with purpose. When you buy green or fair trade, you are doing so much more than buying something you love, you’re supporting a new way of life that values our health, wellbeing, and a great green future for generations to come. You reclaim your spending power and can scream out to the world that you will not be a victim of this economy.  You will do your part to keep the economic engine running towards recovery and what we hope will be a wiser, leaner, greener future.

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