Green Today, Pollute Tomorrow

07.26.10: We bargain with ourselves a lot, especially when trying to do the right thing like reduce our carbon footprint–do something “good”, then indulge.

On Now or Never’s Confessions project, where listeners tell us what they refuse to give up to go green, we’ve found that most people won’t budge on the big ticket items like driving, flying, air conditioning, etc. This begs the question, Can we actually ween ourselves off our modern, carbon-emitting conveniences and what’s behind the decision not to give them up?

This week we talk with two consumer culture experts: Rob Walker, “Consumed” columnist for The New York Times Magazine and Schuyler Brown, a brand and trend spotter with Skyelab on the Licensing Effect, decisionmaking at the point of purchase, the challenges in changing our consumer habits, and what it will take to green the marketplace.

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