So, does the title above sound like a phrase from a Dr. Seuss book or what?! That’s about all it’s good for though. If you were looking to be perfectly green for real, you’ve come to the wrong place. What I’m here to tell you is that no one is perfectly green. Not the authors of the green living books you read, not the folks handing out green advice at popular green hot spots like Treehugger or Grist (although I love them both), and most certainly not me.
I mention this because every so often I’ll run into what I call an Green-Nazi. In Humboldt it happened a lot. In Portland it happens less, but it still happens. Green Nazis think they’re greener than everyone else and criticize you on lots of lame little things. You use a reusable water bottle, live in a small house, use reusable grocery bags, and make all homemade cleaners - it still isn’t enough for the Green Nazis, they’ll just whine about the fact that they found one piece of plastic in your fridge or a clothing item in your closet made from conventional cotton. If you have kids it can be even worse because the crunchier than you parents descend in and attack.
To be fair, Green Nazis types are good in a way because they do remind you of what you could be doing to be greener. But on the far bigger cons side, these folks use shame and guilt to make you feel like you should be greener, not education and support. Personally, I hate that these folks turn some people off to green living and make other green-happy people look bad. Lastly, as noted above, the Green Nazis are just plain wrong; they aren’t perfect. It’s totally impossible; well, maybe not totally, but in today’s society, being perfectly green and leaving zero footprints would be a huge feat.
If you’ve run into folks like this, or if green living is frustrating you because you’ve made mistakes, take heart and keep on trucking. To make you feel better I’ve made a list of ten anti-green things I did this week.
- I left the coffee pot on overnight: This mistake surprised me because I’m normally really good about turning stuff off, and even unplugging items when not in use. When I noticed the coffee pot had been left on for about 24 hours, my first thought was HOW not eco-friendly. The second - um, I could have burned the house down (see how my priorities are screwy).
- I used toxic Raid to terminate a spider and trust me I will again.
- I bought non-organic apples: I HATE doing this. Apples are one of the dirty dozen but the organic apples at the store this week looked like someone ran them down with a semi, so I bought conventional.
- I bought non-organic, non-fair trade coffee along with the apples. The organic was too expensive this week where I was.
- I bought my son a Lunchable. One, not organic. Two, so much excess packaging it’s crazy.
- I forgot to refill the water bottle in my fridge so I let the water run before filling my glass when I should have just gotten ice.
- I drove to the store for just two items. Could I have lived without them - yeah probably.
- I threw a toilet paper tube in the trash. I suck with toilet paper tubes.
- I ran one load of wash that could have been fuller had I tried.
- I bought a toxic car air freshener. Stupid because duh, I know how to make homemade and or non-toxic ones.
Do I feel guilty? Actually yeah somewhat. I usually realize when I make green mistakes and it eats at me a bit. Some mistakes bug me more than others, especially when they affect my son (like the non-organic apples). BUT I don’t let the mistakes get me too down. I’m pretty good about green living overall and more importantly I try. If you make mistakes, but try, you can’t really let yourself get too down about it, or you’ll get so frustrated that you’ll give up. Giving up is the worst green choice you can make. Small steps are better than no steps. Tell yourself that the next time you feel bad about a choice you make, avoid the Green Nazis, and trust me, it’ll all be fine.
Do you ever feel green guilt? How come?
[image via stock.xchng]
Post from: Blisstree
Fri, Jul 3, 2009
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