-It's hard to be an eco-warrior, but it's easy to drive like one.

-Bottled at the source, untouched by man.

-In recent decades, we've seen a boom of sustainable and green products that address consumer concerns about the environmental impacts of the stuff we buy.

-Kind to skin and the planet.

-Companies market everything from organic cotton clothing to electric vehicles- -We're going all electric.

--as eco-friendly alternatives to everyday goods.

On paper, it looks like a great strategy.

Companies can continue to generate goods and profits while providing consumers with a way to reduce their emissions and impact on the planet.

-People buying Tesla's new Model X could be in line for a big tax deduction.

-Governments can incentivize green products with tax rebates and cuts while growing the economy.

-We're going to provide tax incentives and point-of-sale rebates to help all American families afford electric cars and trucks.

-This shop till you drop approach to a better environment doesn't consider the larger problem.

Vast overconsumption, overproduction, and the economic models that degrade our environments.

The assumption that you can buy your way out of climate change has bigger consequences than we might realize.

Take a look at one of the most popular green products money can buy, the electric vehicle.

According to Tesla's 2020 impact report, Tesla drivers collectively avoided over 3.5 million tons of CO2 emissions that year while driving their electric vehicles instead of gas-powered ones.

That's about the equivalent of taking 755,000 gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

This may appear like a lot, but consider what went into manufacturing and powering a Tesla in the first place.

First, Tesla's components are more emissions-intensive to manufacture than the average internal combustion engine vehicle.

The batteries and electronic parts use rare earth elements like cobalt and lithium, which are highly toxic and energy-intensive to extract.

Mining these elements is linked with human rights abuses and indigenous land dispossession around the world.

-This is what the world's soaring demand for cobalt is doing to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

-Forging the steel, shipping all the parts, and junking the battery after its use are just a handful.. resource-intensive processes that go into a Tesla's life.

Add all this up, and a brand new Tesla amidst 36 tons of CO2 over its average lifespan of about 17 years.

The same goes for other products we buy, whether you're buying a metal straw instead of a plastic one, or vegan shoes instead of leather, purchasing new goods, even ones that are marketed as sustainable or green, will require natural resource use and produce waste.

Obviously, we need things in order to live, and many people don't have enough, but the level of consumption that happens among industries and higher income groups in wealthy countries far outpaces those needs.

In fact, countries like the US use up resources faster than they can regenerate, all while releasing far more than their fair share of greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants.

-The global economy is considered to be operating in ecolo.. -What we find is humanity uses 70% more than what earth can renew.

-The question we should be asking is, why do so many of our environmental solutions require people to buy new stuff?

For most countries, buying and selling as many goods as possible is a marker of a healthy economy.

We measure this as gross domestic product, or GDP, the total monetary value of all goods and services produced in a year.

Throughout the last century, most countries aimed for a constantly growing GDP as a measure of improvements in quality of life.

-Raw materials, goods, and services move from nation to nation, meeting demands and raising the standard of living of everyone.

-A bigger GDP usually means more TVs, cars, toys, household appliances, and food, but for wealthy nations like the United States, that metric has devastating consequences for global environments.

-The G-20 accounts for around 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and around 80% of global GDP.

-Overall, we generate more wealth and stuff, but the impact of that consumption is reflected in ever-depleting resources and biodiversity.

A rapid peak in emissions in the last century, and more people impacted by pollution and climate change.

GDP doesn't measure the quality of what we make or buy or whether it actually makes our lives better.

It doesn't account for equitable access to goods or who our economy makes wealthy, and who it impoverishes.

-Our growth national product now measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

It can tell us everything about America, except why we are proud that we are American.

-Companies can manufacture green products cheaply by paying low wages and mistreating workers.

-The suit accuses Tesla of mistreating foreign workers forced to work 80-hour weeks, paid below minimum wage, and were threatened with deportation if they reported workplace injuries.

-Even if green products could be completely separated from carbon emissions using all renewable energy in their production, it isn't happening fast enough to meet our emissions targets, not to mention at their current cost, most of us can't afford to buy green products.

In the end, we can't buy our way out of climate change.

It's simply better to buy and sell less stuff overall while understanding that individual consumer actions aren't going to beat back climate change.

We have to rethink how our economic systems function.

Instead of just switching out all our cars to electric, we can design where we live to require fewer cars, better urban planning, more public transit.

-Demonstrators in Berlin take to their bikes, they want more car-free cycling routes in the city center.

-We can electrify the entire grid because most of the electricity powering electric vehicles is generated by dirty fuel anyway.

-In Borrego Springs, panels can generate enough electricity to turn on .. in 26,000 homes.

-In Sierra Leone, there is finally reliable power from renewable sources.

-Placing solar canopies over the massive aqueducts making it easier to distribute the power to the surrounding community.

-We need to imagine a future where everyone is able to access good-quality, long-lasting things they need.

-Washing machines, dishwashers, and fridges will have to be built to be longer-lasting.

-New policy to prioritize enforcement against manufacturers that make it difficult for consumers to fix products on their own.

-Instead of trying to grow an economy endlessly, we need to question that endless appetite to grow.

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