Organic Panic How green consumerism will survive the recession. By Liza Featherstone Posted Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 1:46pm
Not long ago, it seemed every entrepreneur was hawking an earth- friendly product, each more indulgently costly than the last: $99 hemp yoga pants; coffee that, we were assured, harmed no birds in its production; and pesticide-free milk from local cows, $5 a quart but, as my breathless companion at the farmer's market demanded, "Can't you just taste the grass?" Even Barney's, a high-end destination for New York City's most avowedly frivolous fashionistas, declared the clothing in its Upper West Side window "insanely sustainable."
Now, with consumer spending down 3 percent from July to September, the worst drop since 1980, it might seem that such environmentally conscious shopping was doomed. After all, aren't we cutting back on unnecessary expenses and looking out for ourselves? Yes, but that's not the whole story. Conspicuous righteousness is on its way out, but hard times may usher in a different kind of consumer revolution, this one greener than the last.
We may, for example, be witnessing the end of the Whole Foods era....