RSS

Contact us

Saturday 22 November 2008

The new Woodstock generation

Reihan Salam predicts the dawning of a new hippy era as critics of consumerism head to the hills

The hippies thus traded in their shapeless garb for power suits, eventually giving rise to the corporate-cultural elite we now know and loathe — a group that manages to combine the self-righteousness and self-regard of the hippies with the shallow consumerism that made the 1950s such a drag, man. Lately we’ve seen the evolution of environmentalism, the hippie cause par excellence, into a consumerist caricature. Earlier this month the Discovery Channel launched Planet Green, a new cable channel dedicated to the green lifestyles of the rich and the vacuous. Suffice to say, the channel’s agenda isn’t to encourage less consumption so much as more expensive green consumption. It is apposite that the Prius is the ultimate badge of a green sensibility — manufacturing its nickel battery is extraordinarily carbon- intense, and buying an ancient Toyota is at least as good for the environment.

There are, however, countervailing trends. Etsy, a much-buzzed-about internet retailer based in bohemian Brooklyn, directly connects consumers to creators of handmade goods. The goal, for founder Rob Kalin, is to spark a revival in the handicraft sector, and over the long term to build a new, more ecologically sustainable global economy. Granted, this is all slightly ridiculous. You can’t build a flourishing economy on knitwear, eccentric earrings, and homemade pashminas alone. But Kalin has tapped into the power of what you might call the dropout economy — the millions of bright women and men who are turning away from soul-deadening office work, and who are also turning away from what the left-wing Cornell economist Robert H. Frank has referred to as ‘the positional arms race’. The Harrises and Kalin are, in this sense, opposite sides of the same coin.

More articles from: Reihan Salam | this section

Print this article  |  Email to a friend  |  Permalink  |   Comments (4)

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Advertisement

Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine

Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms

Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP

All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved