Let's be honest - outside of America's most famous drug addict, Rush Limbaugh, not many people take seriously the image of environmentalists as tree-hugging, patchouli-drenched hippies (although that's an accurate stereotype of your average jam-band follower).  There's another stereotype of environmentalists out there - that of urban white yuppies/hipsters who are in love with their own righteousness (except they love Stephen Colbert and David Cross, so that means they can't be accused of humorlessness).  And that stereotype seems to be on full display here.  Give the hot people about 10 years, substantial male-pattern baldness, and a few pot bellies from all that vegan food, and you're looking at South Park's "Smug Alert" episode and the Seattle Weekly's "Ask An Uptight Seattleite".

Environmentalism has to be a big tent, and what I worry about is that "lifestyle environmentalism" just transforms it into another status marker or, even worse, a faddish rebelliousness that will get tossed overboard for the next hip thing, a la Thomas Frank's "The Conquest of Cool" and the recent book "A Nation of Rebels".  The future of environmentalism isn't with the beautiful people ghettoizing themselves inside small urban enclaves.  Let me rephrase that - a successful environmentalism isn't going to be based on the beautiful people ghettoizing themselves in a few urban enclaves.  

If people want to be fabulous, and being 'green' is seen as being fabulous, and more people jump on the green bandwagon in order to be fabulous....  isn't that simply fabulous?

Kaela

The pictures are great & I think Dave is incredibly good looking.  And I'm really objective.  More power to Grist.

Aunt Phyllis

The original post went on at length about how wonderful it was that this party "defied stereotypes".  I merely pointed out that, in reality, it seemed to actually confirm some far more widely held stereotypes (i.e., lily-white, San Francisco, gentrified urban, hipster-leaning, affluent, etc).  It's real nice and all to want environmentalism to be "fabulous", but fashions change.  What's fabulous today is laughable tomorrow.  Do you really want to go the route of turning environmentalism into another class marker, a status symbol?  I'd say that is precisely the stereotype most widely held about environmentalists today, not some 60s-era picture of sandals and patchouli flogged to death by aging conservative radio talk show hosts.

That's all I'm gonna say about this - it's great you had a nice party.  But when people go on about how it defied stereotypes, as if somehow it's a great moral and political event, don't act shocked if some people don't quite buy it.  

The little joke about how it's actually the "cute, charming" chick who's responsible for something and the dude who's her sidekick...well, that doesn't do much to make up for it.  nor does the fact that she's the only woman you mention who's doing something more meaningful than blogging.  Surely there must have been women there who actually run companies, or are scientists, or what have you?  Maybe they weren't cute and charming enough for you to chat them up?

I'm sorry, I'm in a really bad mood, and don't have the energy to put this in a nicer way, but I think it needs to be said.

Too bad Laurie David didn't attend.   The real glam star of the movement.  Daryl Hannah ought to have come too.  Oh well.

Grist will penetrate further and further  into the stratosphere of eco-politics.  Faith based reality?  Hehey.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

  As for those folks who thought JackH was wrong to point this out, get real.

  He was merely stating what most of the EJ folks would say (and I didn't see many of them and there are lots in SF!! (unless like me they have all fled)).

  Sorry to rain on your parade, but practice some real diversity and watch those clouds go away!!

patrick

  Nor do I begrudge folks for having a good time...

  The plaint is not to poop the party but to wish for a large mroe fun.... er diverse crowd (grin).

  And Willa is right... I remember going to a party given by an SF liberal (they would say left, I won't ) mag, and everyone had to sign in, and part of signing in was declaring who you "were" (so they could make sure they didn't miss anyone important).  The staff helped write it all down, and there were lots of "wifes" and "girlfriends" listed.  One irritated person wrote "sleeps with **" under his name to the applause of several of us.

  It was the last time I went to such a party (not that I was invited so often... nor did I give them any more money (back in the days when I had an income)).

  (When asked I lied about who I was, and was therefore ignored by the gliterati... not that if I had told them it would have mattered... I prefer the beer and veggie burrito crowd myself.)

pace,

patrick