Article: The Hypocrisy of the Green-Living Bullies

**Nada.Leona** · 05-17-2010, 11:55 PM

The hypocrisy of the green-living bullies - Earth Day - Salon.com

I thought this article was interesting, since we were just talking about trying to be green and frugal in another thread.

**IntlMom** · 05-18-2010, 12:15 AM

what a great article~thanks for sharing it with us.....

and yea, it pretty much sums it up!

**Thevail** · 05-18-2010, 12:22 AM

That's a great article!

I have to say, right now Dh and I do the "greenest" that we can, but it certainly isn't what's touted everywhere as being the most green you can be.

Take solar panels for example... $15,000 for the system... our average electric bill is $40 (that's averaged out summer and winter)

So it would take over 37 years to even pay for itself.. long past the life span of those solar panels! Not financially sane!

On the other hand.. passive solar tube lights.. cheap, easily installed, and practically maintenance free forever.. financially sane.

CFL bulbs.. awesome.. as long as you get them on sale!

But you've got to recycle them safely too..

Organic produce.. I'm with her.. when the farmer's market is on, I'm there.. but where does all that "organic" produce come from in the winter? How much emissions does it take to get it to where I am?

I'm kind of a tree hugging dirt-worshipper... but sometimes even I wonder how much of this is just "green-washing" as a marketing strategy for hyper expensive products.

**Dancing Lotus** · 05-18-2010, 08:05 AM

I'm with the writer on this one. I simply can not afford some of the things that I would like to.

Let me share what Buddhism has taught me.
Guilt is a means of control. Do not allow another person to control you with guilt.
Be grateful that you have choices. Be joyful in the choices that you made. Receive those choices with gratitude.Life is not about being sorry for what you can not do but loving what you can.

**mek42** · 05-18-2010, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Thevail

...

CFL bulbs.. awesome.. as long as you get them on sale!

But you've got to recycle them safely too..

...

Not such a good deal when you smack one with a piece of wood while not paying proper attention in the garage / woodshop. :headslap: I'm not even going to replace the overhead door light again until I invest in a cage for the bulb. Thankfully I was standing just far enough away that it didn't rain on my head.

I went to a Whole Foods. Once. Their box products (Kashi oatmeal, specifically) were twice the Walmart price. I can see 10 or 20% higher for not having Walmart's behemoth economy of scale, but not 100%.

**savvy_sniper** · 05-18-2010, 08:28 AM

I do the best that I can at all times and I am always looking to be greener. I WON'T let anybody make me feel guilty!

**Nada.Leona** · 05-18-2010, 09:24 AM

My general feeling on organic products is that I'm willing to pay up to $1 more for an organic product over a non-organic. After that, well, I will find an alternative. DH eats meat, but it's more expensive to buy organic meat at this stage, so we're looking at alternatives for now. I cut out meat form my diet (ironically, morning sickness decreased dramatically!).

**The Muse** · 05-21-2010, 06:42 AM

I think that a lot of being "green" is about choices, so I don't necessarily buy into a lot of the author's points.

Obviously, solar panels and Priuses are beyond many people's means, but food is an area where there's plenty of choice. I genuinely care about animals and the environment and I am a vegetarian. I'm just too cheap to pay the prices for humanely raised meat, therefore, I do without.

Unless someone is disabled or homeless, there's nothing stopping them from learning how to cook, so I don't buy the whole Dollar Menu as only choice line. A pound of dried chickpeas is about $1 and I can stretch that a heck of a lot further than a $1 double cheeseburger.

People choose the $3.69 chicken over the $7 organic chicken becuase they want chicken and they want it cheap. If they genuinely cared about the environment and wanted to do the right thing, they would forgo the chicken entirely and buy 3.5 lbs. of dried beans for the same price as a lb. of tortured chicken.

Instead of justifying buying non-organic veggies from the local superstore, how about eating in season?

I get that not everyone is willing to give up meat, but there is hypocrisy in trying to justify that it's OK to support the inhumane livestock system because it's the only financially feasible option. There are plenty of affordable green choices available, they may not be identical to ungreen choices, but they do exist and they are within the financial reach of most people if they're willing to make that choice.

**mek42** · 05-21-2010, 08:14 AM

Imagine a world where instead of snarkily asking "Why aren't you doing that?" people said "Thank for doing what you are doing."

**stinkbug** · 05-21-2010, 09:07 AM

My SIL is a bully. One of the very first times I met her was right before dh and I got married. I was fixing dinner and didn't have all I needed and she chastised me unmercifully for needing to go *buy* tortillas. Like I was never going to be a fit wife for her brother because I didn't make them from scratch! Yeah.....15 years later, I still avoid her and her "advise" about our lifestyle.
Ironically....her indulgance? A full length mink coat!

**Russ** · 05-21-2010, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Thevail

Take solar panels for example... $15,000 for the system... our average electric bill is $40 (that's averaged out summer and winter)

So it would take over 37 years to even pay for itself.. long past the life span of those solar panels! Not financially sane!

.

Isn't that incredible? You have to wonder... will the average Joe ever be able to afford solar or wind power? Will we always be slaves to the power company?

**Greebo** · 05-21-2010, 09:46 AM

Wind power isn't very productive even for the power companies. I've been getting 2nd hand info suggesting the only ppl making money on wind power are the people who build the towers and the recoup cost times on wind are equally insanely long.

**Nada.Leona** · 05-21-2010, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by stinkbug

Ironically....her indulgance? A full length mink coat!

I dare you to burst into tears the next time she comes by in her mink coat, and make a huge deal about the death of all those poor minks!

**mek42** · 05-21-2010, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by LadyNada

I dare you to burst into tears the next time she comes by in her mink coat, and make a huge deal about the death of all those poor minks!

Or take up falconry as a hobby. Not your fault the birds don't know the difference between a small rodent wearing it's own skin and a big one wearing a bunch of small rodent skins sewn together.

**stinkbug** · 05-21-2010, 03:08 PM

Well ummmmm...she shoots gophers for fun, so pretty sure she doesn't care about the mink. She's the one who is beyond frugal. She's cheap...and rude about it.