Why a #hipster, #vegan, #green_tech economy is #not_sustainable | Canada | #Al_Jazeera
▻https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/hipster-vegan-green-tech-economy-sustainable-190605105120654.html
morceaux choisis:
The illusion of ’#sustainable_development'
When capitalism teams up with growth-oriented efficiency improvements, one result is the fabulous #hipsterised “green tech” enclaves we see emerging in cities around the world, including #Montreal.
In recent years, veganism has also been sucked into the #profit-making “green” economy. Its rising popularity is indeed quite mind-boggling. What was traditionally seen as a subversive and anti-establishment form of resistance to the global food industry and its horrific abuse of animals has increasingly become a “cash cow”.
In the process, the implicit socio-economic violence behind #gentrification will be invariably “greenwashed” and presented as development that would make the area more “sustainable”, “beautiful” and “modern”.
Unfortunately, creation by destruction is what #capitalism does best, and its damaging practices are anything but green. This #market-driven “#sustainable” vision of economic activity, #ecological-conscious diets and “hipness” within modern capitalism reinforce inequality and still hurt the environment.
On a global scale, capitalism is most certainly not “cool”… it is literally #burning_our_planet. An aloof, detached, apolitical coolness which centres on individuality and imagery is simply not going to cut it any more.
Such lifestyles may appear marginally efficient, but they are, by and large, a convenient by-product of shifting social and ecological costs to those less privileged both locally and global