It's Easy Being Green: An Introduction
I have been an environmentalist for over 20 years. I attended the 20th annual national Earth Day celebration on the national mall in high school. I started sending my hard-earned paper boy money to Greenpeace when I was 15. I sent my first check to PETA in college, as my diet began to evolve in a more ecologically oriented direction. When I finally came out into gay culture at the age of 26, I was surprised that more queer people weren’t environmentally minded. I attribute my questioning of nearly everything to the fact that I had to begin questioning my sexual orientation at an early age. How could other queers experience a similar coming out process and NOT continue questioning other aspects of our culture? Turns out, it’s actually hard to find environmentalists, even in this day and age. Perhaps I’ve been an environmentalist for so long that I can’t imagine how some people are so clueless when it comes to protecting the planet we live on. I’ll share with you a few examples.
I was listening to NPR the other day and heard parts of a story about the growing environmental movement and how hard it can be to change habits. They spoke with a woman who works for the World Resources Institute, an organization that claims to be “working at the intersection of the environment & human needs”, who was caught throwing away an aluminum soda can at the office. Obviously, this is a big no-no for an employee at an environmental think-tank. I personally thought it was incredible that someone at an organization such as that could be so absent minded as to take an item that could be considered a “world resource” and simply toss it in the trash. I silently shook my head.
I work in an office that has an “environmental programs” department. The other day, I walked past a trash can near a printer in one of our hallways and found about 5 copies of a water quality status report, fresh off the printer, sitting on the top of the garbage can. Obviously whoever printed this document goofed somehow, which rendered the whole stack of paper useless, but this person didn’t think to walk the 10 steps down the hallway to toss the reject print-outs into the large blue and green paper recycling bin. I did my part by scooping up the papers and putting them in the proper receptacle, again shaking my head.
In thinking about writing this post, I was also reminded of a time in graduate school at UC Berkeley when my class had a meeting with a newly appointed California Secretary of Transportation. During his presentation, he stated that CalTrans (the California department of transportation) “works with environmentalists” when going about their job. During the Q&A period, I got up the nerve to ask him why they “work with” environmentalists instead of becoming environmentalists, implying that one can be both a highway builder and a stuard of the Earth at the same time.
In this day and age, I find it amazing that people in our culture (including elected officials) can still doubt global warming. I’m shocked that more people aren’t vegetarian, for environmental reasons if no others. I’m always amazed when I’m at the grocery store with my shopping cart full of fresh produce, and both in front and behind me in line are people with baskets filled with frozen entrees that I’m sure they have for both lunch and dinner.
I have decided that I am going to focus my writing for TNG on providing information to queer people on how they can lead healthier lives with a smaller ecological footprint. I am going to start by sharing some thoughts I have on the environmental movement, and discussing why I believe that queer people (especially members of mainstream gay culture) are less likely to be environmentally sensitive. Eventually, I’ll be working on a series of videos to help illustrate how easy it is to cook delicious, environmentally friendly meals at home, saving you money and keeping more garbage out of landfills.
If there are other queer vegetarians who would like to help me spread the green gospel, please get in touch with me.
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“…this person didn’t think to walk the 10 steps down the hallway to toss the reject print-outs into the large blue and green paper recycling bin.”
They didn’t do it because the recycling bin was 10 steps down the hallway, and the trash can was right there.
I hate to say it, but convenience trumps environmental awareness for most of us. I say this as the roommate of a environmental fundamentalist who still doesn’t understand why I hate the power strips he’s put on every appliance in the house. If environmentalists would start focusing on making things as convenient (or nearly so) as our current wasteful lifestyle, a lot more people would do the environmentally friendly thing.
Putting the paper recycling bin right next to the printer would be a good start. :)
Thank you!!
MikeB is right as to why so few people are environmentalists; it’s just not convenient, and a lot of people see it as some sort of liberal-created morality. I’m on the fence about vegetarianism, actually. Mostly because I haven’t thought a lot about it. But living in Berkeley, I don’t see how I *can’t* at least seriously consider vegetarianism! I’ll appreciate your posts. There are specific things I’d like to know in order to make an educated decision.
1) What do you do (or aim to do) that is different than most Americans (e.g. you’re a vegetarian)?
2) What sort of commonly held moral reasons do you have for this issue, that most feel can resonate with? What sort of uncommonly held moral reasons do you have?
3) Relatedly, I’d be interested in your honest opinion as to why so many feel uncompelled by your uncommonly held moral reasons. Obviously, it’s inconvenient; but also, most people feel 0 remorse for not doing environmentally friendly things. Most people don’t think they’re being immoral. Obviously you think it’s unwise to be environmentally unfriendly, but do you also think it’s immoral? My hunch is that you do.
I’m really more interested in why it’s morally better to be a vegetarian, as I can think of common answers to 2 and 3 for environmentalism.
Good deal, Michael. I think you’ve got materials for a number of spin-off posts all right here. (And I would love some sort of expose on DC’s recycling programs – more than once I’ve seen the garbage guys toss the recycling right into the normal trash truck.)
We’ve discussed the eating/cooking issue on TNG before. There is a ton that goes into it (time, money, cooking knowledge and comfort in the kitchen). Cooking ideas/recipies that folks can work into their normal routine would be great.
I’d just encourage you to keep a positive frame of reference. I feel that many environmentalists treat others like lazy, slovenly beasts. This may very well be true, but no one likes to hear it. Information in a “you can do it!” spirit is always easier to swallow.
I’m thiiiiiis close to stepping up on my “Ishmael” soapbox. I’ll refrain. :)
in response to Mike B’s post above, I find your reasoning for why people aren’t more environmentally conscious to be a cop-out.
The whole point is that people are lazy, and this laziness has gotten us into quite a pickle. The environmental and sustainable food movements emphasize the fact that creating these types of behavioral changes are NOT easy and they DO require a bit more sacrifice, forethought, and effort on our part.
saying it’s too hard to be green is just as much a part of the problem as people who deny global warming.
environmentalists seem all to ready to overlook the whole notion of children — reproduction is not simply about creating offspring; it’s about reproducing the System status quo. don’t worry about whether “the poor” should be having children; enviros need to challenge their friends as to why THEY are having children — and same sex couples who go to great lengths to conceive with at least one of their pair’s genes are in an even more perverse moral/ethical bind that is hard to defend. even adoption is problematic — because most of the time it takes a child whose footprint would be small and enlarges it.
there are no easy answers to this thicket of interrelated issues, but i’m always amazed how enviros don’t even touch it
d
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