Page 501 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

476 M.P. Mueller and D.J. Tippins

all under the auspices of eco-mentalism. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company uses the
well-known “Camel” to sell its cigarette brand. Many companies deploy this sensa-
tional appeal to obtain funding – even the World Wildlife Fund! (Click http://www.
worldwildlifefund.org/ogc/ to adopt a charismatic “Coca-Cola Polar Bear”). While
it might be argued that animals serve an important artistic function in plays or
Broadway performances, or anthropomorphized dances, which are products in one
sense and expressions of human imagination in another sense, they are not intended
as a way to manipulate buyers per se. During breast cancer month (October), many
advertisers use the color pink to manipulate sensitive consumers when very little, if
any, of their profits will be given to fight breast cancer. For example, many companies
throw a pink ribbon on their advertisements to show support but also to attract valuable
attention to their products, which do not always generate cancer research. Starbucks
uses the RED label (AIDS research) to “go green with red” giving a small fraction
of their profits to support the Global Fund (http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/) while
downplaying the historical consequences of coffee production on the world’s rain-
forests and vast biodiversity. The list goes on and on. Another example is cotton,
which is advertised as the “fabric of our lives” and usually marketed in a way that
emphasizes environmentalism. Check your “Do You Know Green” knowledge at
TheFabricOfOurLives.com web by taking a fun ecomentality quiz (http://www.
mysteryfabric.com/MysteryFabric/?section=gre). Question three is particularly
interesting in that it claims organic cotton is not the only eco/environmentally
friendly cotton, using the logic that “all cotton comes from a plant – so it is renewable
and natural, organic or not.” Perhaps eco/environmentalism ought to be indigo,
cobalt, navy, or sapphire blue? A color dejected!

Cultural Studies, Eco/Environmentalism, and Academic Careers

Before we move on to discuss environmentalism as an ethical and moral imperative
for activism, we want to point out more of the critiques that are plausible to surface
for eco/environmentalists. Scholars in academic careers are particularly vulnerable
in that to obtain tenure and promotion at a university or college there are certain
expectations that will be considered compromising ideas. For example, the notion
“publish or perish” has deeply seated ramifications for culturalists and environmentalists,
because academic articles are typically printed in higher-priced journals and books,
which are not accessible for people who cannot afford them, or who have limited
access. One example is a scholar the first author has worked with from Ghana. This
scholar notes the difficulty of keeping up with euro-western academics, because of
her limited access to journals. “Open Access” programs typically cost more than
US$3,000 to publish articles on-line. Very few professors (let alone new or assistant
professors) can afford to make articles accessible, unless they publish their work in
on-line “free” journals, or run the risk of copyright infringement. The problem with
“free” journals is that they are not generally valued or embraced in terms of what it
takes to obtain university promotion and tenure. There is a significant trade-off when
considering whether one should publish articles on-line or the lowly compromising