Are you Green or just Greener?

I am obviously all for taking steps to 'green' my life by substituting ecological questionable for better ones. But in an era in which appeals to 'greenness' have become another marketing strategy for corporations whose practices are less than stellar, I can't help but wonder if any of these new patterns of consumption, which are still consumption after all, are making a difference.

A few observations:
1. The new 'green consumption' is more often than not a way to make the consumer feel better, trendier, and more sophisticated/socially conscious about their choices. It is only truly "green" if it is a practice that you already do or a product you already consume. If you don't use dryer sheets now, using "green" dryer sheets because they are "green" (i.e. not AS BAD) for the environment, probably contributes to the destruction of the planet via increased consumption of resources and additional waste. This means we have to make smart choices about what to consume, and eliminate other products entirely from our consumption. Shifting from paper towels to reusable towels, or swiffer sheets to a reusable, rewashable mop, is probably much more important than buying an (extra) set of organic bamboo sheets.

2. Unintended consequences: I'm no Heiddegarian, but I am persuaded that attempts at environmentalism often have unintended consequences, sometimes in pretty serious ways. Take, for example, the automobile, which was intended to offset the environmental impact of horse manure, which accumulated as a result of horse-drawn carriages and threatened environmental and public health. Decades later, the consequences of driving cars far outweighs the impact of the manure. What unintended consequences might our new actions have? Corn plastic and ethanol production are already impacting things like global food prices.

3. Marketing strategy or the real deal? This is the ever-present problem of the new trendiness of environmental consciousness. Even Clorox has a line of supposedly 'Green' products, and furniture companies appeal to this sensibility by designing products with 5% organic materials and calling them 'Green."

My best advice to do as much yourself as you can. Buying a simple castille soap and using it in a lot of your cleaning endeavors cuts down on waste at multiple points in the consumption chain. Re-purposing materials is also great, because we all know we have too much stuff that we don't use anyway.