ABSTRACT
The idealized image of the eco-chic consumer is often a woman and a mother. Indeed, many studies show that women are more likely to be engaged with eco-consumption and that mothers with young children are more likely to buy organic foods such as milk. In this chapter, the authors review prior work on key concepts, including intensive mothering, depictions of intensive mothering, and the caring consumption ideal in popular North American media and ethical consumption. The commodity-centered ideology of intensive mothering takes on new meaning amid contemporary discourses of ethical consumption, especially its dominant North American manifestation as green consumption, or eco-consumption. They present an analysis of the ways Canadian focus group participants related to the Eco-Mom figure. The ideational foundation of the Eco-Mom is one in which mothers are presented as able to skillfully manage information, time, and money while satisfying children’s needs alongside environmental ideals. Money constituted a key source of contention among focus group participants.
