There's Plenty of Grey Area in Living Green
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 3.07
We have been following Vanessa Farquharson's website Green as a a thistle, where she has been writing about the challenge that she took on in March: " Each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment. The idea is that everything I do, I keep doing (so if I switch brands, it's a permanent switch; if I turn down my thermostat, I keep it down), so that by day 365, I'll be living as green a lifestyle as it gets." It started off easy but she is up to day 217 and notes on the blog that it isn't always so much fun. She writes about her experiences to date in the National Post:
The first move was a simple one -- switching to recycled paper towels -- but gradually, the environmentalist in me came out of the closet and started getting a little extreme. Within the first few months, I had sold my car, unplugged the fridge, turned off the oven, constructed a compost bin for my balcony, traded Kleenex for handkerchiefs, began following the "If it's yellow, let it mellow" rule and so on.
Vanessa concludes:
green living shouldn't be so absolute. So many different factors contribute to our carbon footprint, and we all live our lives in completely different ways with completely different priorities, so there's no point in drawing a solid line between the hardcore environmentalists and the cop-outs.People shouldn't feel as though they have to choose between living out the rest of their days in a hippie commune in the middle of a hemp crop with a composting toilet and living in a stylish urban condo with his and hers sinks. There's a big grey area in the green sphere, and so the most sensible thing to do is to simply be aware of what you eat, drink, wear, use and do on a regular basis, then decide what can be reduced and what can't, without obsessing over it. So go on a shopping spree, but maybe walk there and bring a tote bag; indulge in an ice cream sundae, but make it an organic one with fair-trade chocolate sauce -- and save a bite for me.
Worth reading the whole thing at::National Post and ::Green as a Thistle
AMEN! It's funny being called a cop-out just because I'm not as "green" as the person criticizing me. True story, got yelled at one day while eating a hamburger (something about being cruel and not thinking of the environment) by a person wearing LEATHER Doc Marten's!!! Little, gradual changes will get people there faster than going cold-turkey, ask any behavioral therapist or someone who has tried to quit smoking/drinking, etc. I know the arguement that "we don't have time", but usually when you yell at people, they will shut you off and some will do the opposite of what you want just to p-## you off (think about how the US political system works on just this principle).
Keep up the good work Vanessa!
Cheers,
Tom-tom
I appreciate Vanessa's comment that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I think a major aspect of resistance to environmental responsibility is that people feel forced to change their lifestyle. But I believe one's lifestyle can remain mostly unchanged and still become green. It's just a matter of choices. TH does a great service by sharing these choices with us to make it easy.
The transition is always the choppy part. Changing from what we are used to - to something new - always involves work. But like our old habits, we find the easiest way to accomplish our new habits.
It's funny how we can get the "green bug" and end up going waaaay beyond the green we thought we were becoming.
Couldn't disagree more. The fact is, we have not had a conversation on what sustainability is or what it might look like.
If, hypothetically, mining the ore for stainless steel his n' hers sinks causes the death and extinction of all salmon (by polluting spawning streams), do we still want to say, "just think about your life and try to be as green as you can be?"
How about if we want everyone in the world to have the right to access his n' hers sinks, instead of just the richest 10%. Maybe that will, hypothetically, kill the rivers and destroy the surrounding forest. Do we still want to say, "just think about your life and try to be as green as you can be?"
Sustainability is a mental challenge, and it will be a physical challenge until we learn to think about it differently. It is no harder than giving up slavery, or giving women the right to vote. The time for coddling people is past, new reports suggest we may have passed the tipping point on Arctic sea ice. It is time to hold people to a higher standard.
This is kinda why I don't like the term "green", it doesn't necessarily mean intelligent. I believe Vanessa would have done better had she tried doing something new each month or week at least. She needs to give herself time to think through wether what she is doing makes sense and is it really doing the most good, and is it something she knows she can live without in her life. Not everybody is gonna be ok living like a monk. Yet there are some people who would love that. Anyways, kudos to her for taking the challenge either way. I'm thinking of trying something like that myself now.
This is kinda why I don't like the term "green", it doesn't necessarily mean intelligent. I believe Vanessa would have done better had she tried doing something new each month or week at least. She needs to give herself time to think through wether what she is doing makes sense and is it really doing the most good, and is it something she knows she can live without in her life. Not everybody is gonna be ok living like a monk. Yet there are some people who would love that. Anyways, kudos to her for taking the challenge either way. I'm thinking of trying something like that myself now.
Good work Vanessa! I hate when people go for the all-or-nothing idea. My husband is a vegetarian and so often there are people who hear why he's vegetarian and ask why he isn't taking it a step further (such as going vegan) when they themselves aren't doing a thing!
Each of us need to do our part, but the hypocrites and extremists need to lay off and maybe look at themselves with the same critical eye.