I want to change the environment, I really do. I want to have a green house, buy locally, and one day own a beautiful hybrid car that I’ll name Daisy, or Sunshine. I own a ton of reusable bags, but I forget them 90% of the time, so I’m stuck using plastic…and I’m stuck getting dirty looks. When did giving a shit about our environment, and being “green” become such a class issue? People that would normally throw a cigarette butt out of their SUV now shoot me dirty looks when I complain about the price of organic milk.
Down the road from my house, there is a shack [quite literally] and in that shack there is a family of five that burn their own wood, grow their own food, shoot their own deer for meat, and live off the land as best they can. Five years ago the SUV driving, designer bag toting, wasteful upper class would have scoffed and called them “white trash..” but now they are simply green. These people don’t live off the land because they want to save the planet, and look good doing it, they are just trying to survive on very little.
If you buy your flour in bulk, good for you. If you remember your reusable bag every single time you go to Whole Foods and blow half your paycheck? Excellent! If you can afford a hybrid car, I’m happy. If you buy all your products locally, high five. Do it for the environment, not because you think it makes you better then anyone else. Don’t look down on the person that DOES buy 140 candy bars from Costco because they don’t know better – instead, suggest to them a better solution. Don’t get all high and mighty because you ride your bike to work, and stop at the farm stand for lunch on the way. No one gives a shit.
After all, you’re not doing US a favor by being as crunchy as possible, you’re doing the earth one. And I mean, that’s why you’re going “green” after all? Isn’t it?
Haha! What a brilliant post. Thanks for making my day. Now, where are those reusable bags?
I totally agree! I am so glad those people do all those things, because in the long run, it adds up. But having to deal with their snobbery demeans the whole movement as well as disheartens those who are new to the whole concept. Let’s do our part and be as helpful as we can be in order to help move the green wave forward and save our planet.
Theresa
http://www.embodies.com
This was a refreshing post.
It’s easy to get caught up in the movement, when the movement becomes who you are instead of what you do.
I’m a writer for a couple of green websites and when you get to the point where you know how much bauxite is in an aluminum can and how the growth of India and china is influencing the prices of aluminum, recycling your water bottle seems trivial and not using a reusable bag in the store seems downright criminal.
Thanks for the reality check.
Adam Shake