irre Green thinking, or greenwashing? Are corporations sincere about environmental efforts? By Anna Eroujenets since the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, climate change has become a widely publicized concern. The world’s news outlets jumped on the “global warming bandwagon,” sensationalizing the issue and creating an overall state of paranoia. Corporations saw this as a great opportunity for a new market, bombarding us with “green” and “organic” products. In a capitalist economy, a large corporation’s main goal is to make the production costs as low as possible, in order to increase profits. This results in short cuts, which often harm people and the environment as well as taxpayers who are left with the many externality costs. If corporations rarely look past the bottom line and bad publicity, are all these green products an honest attempt to do their part or just another way to raise profits? When purchasing these products, consumers may feel like they are making lifestyle changes in a positive direction, when in fact it is a carefully constructed image. Are shoppers aware of what goes on behind the scenes? For example, a large grocery store chain in Canada introduces |: the past few years, especially corporations to make real changes; after all, they are the ones who have excessive impact on the environment. The list is endless, but some of the major impacts include: deforestation, pollution of air and water, et cetera. According to an online article from a popular environmental science and conservation news site, “deforestation has shifted from poverty-driven subsistence farming to major corporations razing forests for large-scale projects in mining, logging, oil and gas development, ~ and agriculture”. It is our job as individuals to make sure those changes happen by pressuring these companies. If one needs knowledge of what happens behind the scenes, the best location to start is our own workplace. Through encouraging our co-workers to do the same, we can create our own grassroots movement. As someone who has worked in customer service for the last three years, I talk to many people from different walks of life on a daily basis. When people learn that I am enrolled in an environmental studies program, they are usually very sceptical and a lot less enthusiastic than I am. Even my classmates display these attitudes. Most feel like it is too late to act and express lack of hope In a capitalist economy, a large corporation’s main goal is to make the production costs as low as possible, in order to increase profits. If corporations rarely look past the bottom line and bad publicity, are all these green products an honest attempt to do their part or just another way to raise profits? cloth bags and begins charging for plastic bags to appear environmentally conscious. To a shopper this may appear like an environmentally friendly decision. However, we do not see that at the same store, the clothing we buy and put in our “green” bags comes individually wrapped in tissue paper and plastic, with plastic hangers. None of this is recycled but rather immediately thrown out upon arrival. A corporation painting an environmentally responsible image to conceal environmental violations is known as greenwashing. This is just one example in a sea of thousands and it needs to be changed. We must push 16 and defeat. The truth is, we are all stakeholders and our opinions and concerns count if we go out of our way to make sure they are heard. Too much debt has its consequences By Ishmael N. Daro, CUP Opinions Bureau Chief SASKATOON (CUP)—It is a basic fact of life for many students that we live in debt. The costs associated with post-secondary education are great and ever-increasing. And though students are not always known for their money management skills, even the most profligate undergrad can occasionally take the beer goggles off to have a moment of financial clarity: if expenses exceed revenues for long enough, the party comes to a crashing halt. Yet the temptation to spend more than you earn is enormous. We are, after all, a generation raised on borrowed money. From mortgages and car loans to student loans and credit cards, it seems few people ever actually own what they pay for. It is not entirely irrational that we use credit for the things we want. When used responsibly, people can live comfortably and pay down their various loans over time while also enjoying a stable, comfortable life. But when people forget that borrowed money is just that— borrowed—it can have disastrous consequences. The economic recession was caused in no small part because people wanted to live outside their means, taking out enormous mortgages in the process that they could never have paid back even when the economy was good. U.S. banks actively exploited this “buy now, pay later” impulse because they, too, had gotten hooked on risky money. Now that the dust has mostly settled on the economic fallout—at least in Canada—we still face the challenge of changing our behaviours. According to a TD Canada Trust study, 80 per cent of Canadians find it difficult to save money. Numbers from the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada show that Canadians are increasingly financing everyday expenses with credit instead of earnings. Among indebted Canadians, 85 per cent have debt on a credit card. Even the national credit card is in the red. The federal government is expected to spend $56 billion more than it makes in 2010. The overall national debt is currently over $510 billion, with each Canadian’s share at about $15,000. Bad habits can be hard to break and as economies around the world start to recover, our spending habits are likely to stay as bad as ever. Most young Canadians, in particular, don’t have the discipline to save and avoid debt that older generations had. Living on borrowed money also means living on borrowed time, and sooner or later the debt collectors always come knocking.