Greener Than Thou

The word "green" still seems fairly new to me. I'm not exactly sure when it entered the American vernacular, but I don't recall hearing it much before about the year 2000. Before that, those of us who cared about the environment were simply called environmentalists.

In fact, I'm not sure that I even would have identified myself as an environmentalist back before "green" became trendy, but I've been doing "green" things all my life. I mean, as a child back in the 1970's we recycled all of our cans and newspapers - and this was WAY before the concept of curbside recycling came on the scene. We'd collect the stuff in our garage and a few times a year we'd drive to the industrial section of town where the recycling center was. My dad has had a compost heap as long as I can remember. We never had paper napkins (well at least until my parents got divorced - but that's another story). We always got most of our clothes as hand-me-downs or from the thrift store. And I've been a most of the time vegetarian since I graduated from high school in the mid-1980's.

I suppose this stuff made me a bit of an odd duck back in the day. I mean, while most of my friends were all caught up in the launch of MTV and the latest fashions, I was worried about top soil erosion and acid rain. And when bottled water first came on the scene, the main brand was called "Evian" which, if spelled backwards gets you "naive" - and that's certainly what I thought anybody who would spend that kind of money on water had to be!

So I have watched with great interest as environmentalism has grown from a fringe movement toward the mainstream. And while it is heartening to see more and more people taking up the banner and trying to live in a more sustainable way, I've started to notice a somewhat disturbing trend... green snobbery.

I'm actually not sure that this is such a bad thing, I mean, I'd certainly much rather have peer pressure working for the environmental movement than against it, but it also worries me that so often, rather than supporting other people in their efforts to live more sustainably, we end up berating anybody who has the gall and audacity to _____ (fill in the blank with the eco-sin du jour).

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that people suddenly have started to care about the planet, but at the same time, it seems to me that many (from my perspective) newcomers to the movement are very quick to adopt a holier than thou attitude about their "green topic" of choice.  And what always seems so strange to me is that people are very keen on taking one particular element of green living to extremes. There are vegan evangelists, zero waste fanatics, car-free enthusiasts, solar power aficionados, bio-fuel zealots, frugal living eccentrics, local food junkies and on and on. And while I think that all of these things are laudable pursuits, it often seems that people will choose one topic to get all high and mighty about, while completely ignoring all other aspects of their environmental impact.

Now I don't mean this as a knock on blogs that focus on one particular element of green living... because I think that makes sense in terms of having a focus for a blog. And I also think that focus is necessary when you're trying to enact policy changes. But in terms of day to day living I don't think that "one trick pony" environmentalism is terribly helpful in the long run.

I mean, the reality is that everything we do has an impact, even breathing creates CO2 for heaven's sake! The vast majority of the time we're faced with choosing the lesser of a whole plethora of evils. And which "evil" is "lesser" is quite often a matter of considerable debate!

It's also just a fact that what is a simple change for one person, may be an impossible hurdle for another. So much depends on where you live, and what kind of support systems and resources you have available to you. I mean, there are many things that I find to be simple no-brainers (like going "no-poo" and not using TP except for number 2, and composting kitty litter, and driving under 1000 miles per year) that other people would consider to be extreme. At the same time I know there are many aspects of my life that would be severely frowned upon by certain members of the green movement (I occasionally eat meat, I can't deal with setting the furnace below 70 degrees because my toes go numb, I have a 50 inch plasma television set, and I am a hopeless night owl).

I guess my point is just this. I think that we, in the "green" movement need all of the help that we can get. We are fighting an uphill battle against the forces of corporatism and profit, and we're all performing a balancing act of one sort or another, so we need to support each other in our efforts. I'm certainly not immune from ecological snobbery. I mean self-righteous indignation does seem to be our national pastime these days, and we all love to have an excuse to indulge in self superiority. But, I think that in the long run, the planet and the human race would be much better served if we all tried to lift each other up rather than tearing each other down.