A conversation about conservation

There was a time when conservation was a popular notion. Conserving nature, conserving resources, conserving a way of life that balanced human life with the natural world. Over the past 20 years, the concept of conservation seems to have fallen out of fashion among environmental movements, it seems to me. It has been replaced with "buy green." This is perhaps because the environmental community recognized that Americans are going to consume no matter what, so why not at least point them in the best direction for the planet. Buying green is a good choice, but a better choice is adjusting expectations for what people need to buy, and especially for what people want to buy. Every time I walk into a store, I am simultaneously flabbergasted and disgusted by the number of products and amount of junk available for purchase that we now take for granted. I walked through a Bed Bath & Beyond store yesterday, and was assaulted by the excess. And while many more products on shelves are being sold as "green," does that really solve the problem?