GREEN CONSUMERISM (Pages 27-32) by Dr. Miss. Minu A. Karir in THE INTERNATIONAL MANAGER / ISSN: 2348-9413 (Online); 2348-9405 (Print)

Consumerism, a movement to protect consumers against dangerous products, unethical pricing practices and deceptive advertising, has increased in the recent years particularly in respect to certain issues and protection of the environment in one of them. The main issues pursued by the consumer movement fall into three categories, viz., environmental protection, product performance and safety, and information disclosure. Major forces driving the movement, in addition to consumers themselves, are consumer organizations and other interest groups, consumer education and consumer laws. ‘Green Consumerism’ aims at protecting the consumers against environmentally harmful products and practices. It has increased the interest of consumers in environmental impacts of the products they buy. 'Green consumerism' certainly has the potential to significantly reduce the strain on our environment. Therefore, the choice between 'green' and 'un green' consumerism should be obvious to anyone who cares about the future. But there are certain crucial limitations to the success that can be achieved by an individual's firm dedication to that choice. The construction of a better world requires not only individual actions, but also collective actions and political and institutional restructuring based on a sound understanding of the limits of growth and the concept of ecological sustainability. The present paper deals only with the concept of 'green consumerism' and have also endeavored to highlight some of the emerging issues connected with it and the challenges which the Indian consumer movement and its protagonists are presently facing and/or are also likely to face in the future. Keywords: Consumerism, unethical pricing practices, viz., environmental protection, product performance, Major forces, organizations, consumer education, ‘Green Consumerism’, potential, crucial limitations, political and institutional, ecological sustainability.