The Carrot Project

I love the odd color-hue shifts going on in that video as you lean in and out.

And I sort of agree with your unnamed antagonist’s critique; I don’t really believe that long-term change will come mostly from buying “the right stuff” instead of “the wrong stuff.” And I think political involvement is hugely important.

But at the same time, most of us are both citizens and consumers (as well as, increasingly, producers), and I can’t see how it hurts to advocate for “better” over “worse” from both of those stances, rather than just ignoring one of them.

If by “it won’t work” he means that Carrot Project isn’t likely to single-handedly change the course of capitalism; sure, fine. But if it provides a useful resource to a bunch of people, maybe even creates some community along the way, and nudges things just a little bit in the right direction, that’s success in my book.

And I don’t quite get his obsession with you going back to China, either.

An assertion that people are fundamentally “citizens” before “consumers” smacks of dogmatism. It isn’t appreciative of the facts on the ground.

Let’s say it is true that we are all best thought of as “citizens” who elect representatives to enact socially responsible regulations on our behalf.

Let’s also say government regulation is in fact the best way of realizing a crunchier world.

Even if you accept these two questionable premises as given, smart folks like Lawrence Lessig would argue that in practice our political system has become compromised (by the very interests that crunchy folks would like to regulate), and that fixing the system is an uphill battle.

Even if what your friend says about how change should be enacted is true, actually enacting it that way has proved quite problematic, slow at best, impossible at worst. It is precisely the failure of elected government (or any other mechanism) to be responsive enough to crunchy issues that folks like you have started thinking about other ways to move the ball forward.

Socially and environmentally responsible production and consumption shouldn’t need to wait for our political system to be fixed. If you must see people as “citizens” rather than consumers, then grant at least that it would be a great good for citizens to be informed enough to demand the right changes of the representatives they elect.

I hope that the Carrot Project will become a space for that conversation to happen. I hope it will become a place for the results of that conversation to be distilled into information simple enough to help normal folks make better decisions for their own health and well being, whether it means buying crunchier toothpaste, or electing representatives who will make better laws governing the production of toothpaste.

Or, heaven forbid, both.

@Carl By “it won’t work,” I think the dude meant that it won’t change anything, that it’s a total waste of time. And, obviously, I’m with you. If what we’re doing can be helpful, if even in a small way, then I think it’s totally worthwhile.

@Wiley It absolutely would be “a great good for citizens to be informed enough to demand the right changes of the representatives they elect.”

Demand the right changes of the representatives they elect and demand the right behavior of the economic entities with which they exchange value.