Going Green - Something More?
This past September I wrote about "going green" and the efforts I was trying to make to "green" my life. My list included things such as buying and eating local & organic food; off-setting my car's carbon output; buying my electricity from alternative energy source (wind, hydro, and solar); etc. And over the past few months I have noticed and read about other people doing similar things (mostly recently Ben Jervey in Good Magazine).
While I think that all these efforts are admirable (if I can give myself a self-congratulatory pat on the back) and while I do think that these efforts will make some difference (would Wal*Mart be selling organic food if more and more people weren't asking for it?), I don't think that these efforts are nearly enough. The best way to sum up why I think this (although perhaps not the most rigorous of reasoning) is that none of these efforts, by me or by others, really push us past our comfort zones. Not that comfort or discomfort is a good measure of whether or not something is good/bad; but it strikes me that none of the things that I am doing to go green change anything fundamental. Essentially, they are efforst in efficiency and productivity. Necessary efforts, but not sufficient.
The real question is what can we do that is fundamentally changing? It strikes me that too much of the green efforts and talk these days is a consumerist talk. Doing good through consumption. Even if it is not of the buying sort of consumption, it is still a way of being that sees the world as something to use, to consume, to deplete, even if it is an efficient manner. What is needed is a way of being that is not consumption based.
Where to start? Well, first off, I don't think that there is any one way to approach these issues. I can say that I am trying to stretch myself in several directions. One direction is what I would call the self-sufficiency/fundamentals route. I think that there is a lot to be gained (both personally and on the green side) for trying to do things for yourself, whether that is making things for yourself, raising your own food, repairing things, etc. And in order to gain a level of self-sufficiency you need to have an understanding of basic fundamentals (how do you grow vegetables? how are clothes made? what really is going on in the belly of my apartment building to create heat? where is all my water coming from when I turn on the tap?).
Another direction is simply trying to do with less. I am feeling particularly bombarded with junk these days. In my apartment, in the world outside (try walking down a Jersey City street on an early Monday morning--all it is garbage and rubbish strewn everywhere). And of course, in the media, shopping areas, etc--oh, oh, here comes Thanksgiving and Christmas, time to gorge ourselves. Ahem, I digress. But my next direction is really to prune out the junk that surrounds us everyday--but to try and reduce it in a manageable and responsible way.
While I think that all these efforts are admirable (if I can give myself a self-congratulatory pat on the back) and while I do think that these efforts will make some difference (would Wal*Mart be selling organic food if more and more people weren't asking for it?), I don't think that these efforts are nearly enough. The best way to sum up why I think this (although perhaps not the most rigorous of reasoning) is that none of these efforts, by me or by others, really push us past our comfort zones. Not that comfort or discomfort is a good measure of whether or not something is good/bad; but it strikes me that none of the things that I am doing to go green change anything fundamental. Essentially, they are efforst in efficiency and productivity. Necessary efforts, but not sufficient.
The real question is what can we do that is fundamentally changing? It strikes me that too much of the green efforts and talk these days is a consumerist talk. Doing good through consumption. Even if it is not of the buying sort of consumption, it is still a way of being that sees the world as something to use, to consume, to deplete, even if it is an efficient manner. What is needed is a way of being that is not consumption based.
Where to start? Well, first off, I don't think that there is any one way to approach these issues. I can say that I am trying to stretch myself in several directions. One direction is what I would call the self-sufficiency/fundamentals route. I think that there is a lot to be gained (both personally and on the green side) for trying to do things for yourself, whether that is making things for yourself, raising your own food, repairing things, etc. And in order to gain a level of self-sufficiency you need to have an understanding of basic fundamentals (how do you grow vegetables? how are clothes made? what really is going on in the belly of my apartment building to create heat? where is all my water coming from when I turn on the tap?).
Another direction is simply trying to do with less. I am feeling particularly bombarded with junk these days. In my apartment, in the world outside (try walking down a Jersey City street on an early Monday morning--all it is garbage and rubbish strewn everywhere). And of course, in the media, shopping areas, etc--oh, oh, here comes Thanksgiving and Christmas, time to gorge ourselves. Ahem, I digress. But my next direction is really to prune out the junk that surrounds us everyday--but to try and reduce it in a manageable and responsible way.
posted by Urban Peasant at 1:52 PM
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