"Finding Nature at the Mall"

Vernon Martins philosophical viewpoint of the environment was pretty interesting to me. The term, "...seeking authenticity through retail therapy..." really stood out to me. I guess it's because I've subconsciously realized this, but never taken it into consideration. We are constantly surrounded by billboards, ads and commercials trying to sell us their brand name, their product, and I can definitely say I am one to give in. But what I don't understand still is why do we buy these things? Because honestly I hardly buy products because of the brand name attached to it, and ads rarely catch me eye, so what triggers me to spend my money? When Vernon spoke about malls being built like cathedrals nowadays it made me analyze our money crisis right now. Why is so much money going into things like this? Malls are meant, like he said, to buy "nothing stuff," so why in the world must it look like a palace? It seems to me that maybe people aren't experiencing true nature not because of the way buildings are being built, but because they are sidetracked with what the building has to offer, and adding fake plants and plastic flowers is just another reason to ignore whats really out there, "seeking authenticity through retail therapy." An analogy could be this, say there is a brand name on true nature, but its too expensive, it seems as though most people would either buy the real version, or settle for second best, and in our case, the majority are settling, because its easy and no time is taken up. What Vernon's speech made me realize most is that our generation needs to slow down, hence the title, "instant generation," we are so wrapped up in getting everything and everywhere so quickly that we don't stop to smell the roses. I really enjoyed his viewpoints and analogies and hope to be spending some more time in nature myself.