[Tom Burns]

In Grand Rapids, MI, we are to see today at the Great Lakes Broadcasters' Conference a presentation by Roy Williams on changes in lifestyles as a result of the economic contraction. Do you think this will be?

"Tomorrow's America: Humility and Simplicity are the New Motivators

What this means to business: Purchases in the future will be less about impressing others and more about personal meaning and relationships.

Here are the trends to watch in 2009:

1. Frivolous purchases are being delayed. We’re wearing our clothes longer and keeping the cars we’ve got. We'll buy what we need, but only after asking whether we really need it.

2. We're buying fewer things, but better things. More attention is being paid to quality. Only the poorest are choosing by price alone. Information is king. Details are power. This is good news for makers of better products.


3. “Sustainable” is a concept that will grow in power for at least 10 years. The lifestyle of the 80's and 90's was "upwardly mobile" and its leaders were marked by "conspicuous consumption." But the chosen lifestyle of the next generation will be "sustainable," meaning that we'll strive to live within our means and embrace practices that are environmentally responsible."

[Southsider2k12]

The first two items make sense to me, the third I totally disagree with. For some reason the green movement seems to be something that is something "other" people should be doing. Even many of the "heads" of it are some of the biggest individual abusers of fossil fuels and sprawl. People want to see themselves as green, but few really are. I really believe as soon as the economy loosens up, things will get back to the way that they were. The only thing that ever changes that is the price of commodities. If energy gets expensive, then people will change, for example. They won't do it because it is the right thing to do, they will do it because their pocketbook tells them to do it.