The Green Routine

Originally published September 24, 2008

A little while back I was in a clothing store looking at T-shirts. I was surprised to find one that was advertised as being sustainable because it was made from 100% organic cotton. I didn’t really care about that, but the price was only three dollars so I bought it. It Later, it occurred to me that the shirt was so cheap because it was probably made with slave labor. This makes the sustainability of the shirt a moot point. Trying to help the environment by exploiting slave labor is not the right thing to do.

Situations like this are happening all over. People are being too self righteous about sustainability. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that it’s important to be eco-friendly. But I just don’t like everyone shoving sustainability down our throats. All the time I’m seeing commercials about companies changing something to make them more sustainable. This is fine, but the reason they’re doing this is just to make themselves look better. They feel the more green they are the less evil they will seem. It’s a legitimate marketing tactic, but I’m certain they spent more money advertising their sustainability than they did on actually becoming sustainable. If a big corporation wants to get me on their side they’ll have to do more than that. Personally, I like getting stock rather than hearing about sustainability. In fact giving me stock would be sustainable. All intangible forms of assets are very sustainable.

Dickinson College is very much fond of announcing their level of sustainability. In front of the center for sustainable living, better known as the tree house, there is a parking spot that is “reserved for fuel efficient vehicles only”. When I saw that sign I never wanted a Hummer so bad, just to park it there. Hell, if I had a Sherman tank I would have parked it there. I’m fine with people wanting to live more sustainably, but if I’m not allowed to park somewhere because of the car I drive someone’s going to get brutally beaten. If you want to devote your life to being eco friendly, fine. But I’ll be damned before that gives you the right to tell me where I can park.

The last thing I want to address is the pessimism associated with going green. The level of fear that is driving everyone to be sustainable is not healthy. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and tell themselves that the apocalypse is not as imminent as many would lead you to believe. Convincing people to be more sustainable through fear is not a good way to motivate people. If you’re taking the whole green thing as far as possible, good for you, but if you are telling everyone that they are killing the planet and you’re bragging about how green you are, then please, for the good of us all, shut the hell up.