The Consumer Movement

The chapter opener follows the efforts of Senator Gaylord Nelson to advance an environmental agenda. Such events as the Santa Barbara oil spill and Cuyahoga River fire were symbols of manmade environmental disruptions. Nelson inspired Earth Day as a way to engage public opinion. Many on the New Left and the environmental movement now saw consumerism as the source of dirty air and water, toxic fumes, poisoned foods, and littered landscapes. That was a point of view Ralph Nader shared. No book on consumerism could ignore Nader’s role in the rise of the consumer rights movement in the 1960s. This section looks at Nader’s background and the controversy he triggered when he published Unsafe at Any Speed, as well as his commitment to wide-ranging consumer rights and environmental projects. The following section looks at “hip consumerism” to show how the counterculture influenced personal styles and gender identities. It features Stewart Brand, who with Ken Kesey launched the “Trips Festival” in San Francisco and then went on to produce the bible of alternative consumption, The Whole Earth Catalog.