The emotion/thought/action I struggle with is known as “Being Green”.
Personally I am sick of the phrase and think it’s over used. It should just be called “Being Normal.” I don’t think that I, or anyone else, is extraordinary or should have some special recognition for being environmentally friendly. I mean, heaven forbid you take care of the place you live. Everyone should do their own part, it isn't that hard to be normal is it?
For example, what I do to be
- I reuse grocery bags.
- I’m a Nazi recycler (just ask Denae) at home and work.
- I prefer used goods over new (i.e. clothes, construction materials, BBQ grills).
- And my most favorite, I drive my car on waste vegetable oil. I began doing it more for the feeling I get when I drive, (One big mobile middle finger pointed at the oil companies), than for the environmental factor. That part is just a bonus.
So what stops me from going crazy and picking up every piece of trash that I see or from joining the Conservation Club at work? Answer: I’m not here to clean up after You. That’s your job. I have better things to do than spend my Saturday cleaning up the side of the highway. I feel that I am normal, (or what should be viewed as being normal). And once I convince myself that I do enough, maybe my subconscious will give it a break.
So in sticking with Denae’s custom:
Can't post without a picture right?
14 comments:
Not so green here---sorry to say it---I WAS all about recycling until my husband started leaving the folded boxes, mail trash, cans etc ALL next to my trash can inside MY house...all that has to be done is set it outside...so in my immature rebellion I put it in the trash can in frustration. If it made it out of my mud room I would be all about it again. I guess it all depends on what GREEN means to you?
All of a sudden a couple months ago, I started to go really green. We really want to power our house with wind and we are still kind of working on that.
Since we couldn't get that project to go thru, I decided to try to shrink my footprint in other ways. We do use our own grocery sacks, when we can remember to put them back in the car.
And then from doing normal things like that I pollvolted over normal and my family talked about having me medicated more than I am: We were cleaning out our library and decided to throw out all the old VCR tapes that we had taped ourselves - like of Dukes of Hazard and A-Team and Charlie Brown. And I couldn't stand the idea of that plastic tape just sitting on top of the earth for 100 years, so I started crocheting the tape into bags for people to use for shopping bags. (I was going to sell them in my etsy shop)
I got one about half way done and everyone was really questioning my sanity and then one day I went into the library and the giant bag of tapes I was going to use had disappeared. hmmmmm??? No one will claim they took them to the dump, but also no one denies it.
We also are talking about starting a branch of the church out here in Anchor Point so that we all can save on gas driving the 44 miles back and forth to church, but Jason J. said he didn't want to have to speak every month, so we might not do that.
We feed all our scraps to the animals and recycle whatever we can. So, we're not mental about it, but we do what we can. Love, Charlotte
Definitely a nazi recycler.
Don't be offended if you don't get any comments because our friends suck lately. They'd have you believe they're out enjoying Summer, but I know better. Most of them are couped up inside because it's rediculously hot outside. They just suck these days.
Ok, so would you believe that I tried to get a reclycling bin and the city doesn't offer one. They just don't offer it...WHAT!?!? Honestly, i find myself trying to be more and more green, turning the lights off, reusing plastic sacks, etc. You are a great example! Happy b-day on Friday! Hope the Cards win!
I live with my green guilt everyday. I look around and find more things I could be doing (like harvesting the shower water to water your plants or riding my bike to work).
You are making the effort, that's what I keep telling myself. Ben, you are my hero with the Benz. You are light years ahead of others. Keep up the good work.
Anna
I'm a total recycling nerd.
I *am* that girl who will pick up and cut those plastic pop/beer rings with her swiss army knife and then toss it. to maintain my sanity, if it's a super, incredibly dirty one then I'll leave it. I also tend to pick up plastic bags, knot them and toss them.Not sure if that's "green", I'm just trying to prevent the rings from ending up around an animals head and trying to prevent the plastic bag from flying to the ocean and tricking a turtle into thinking it's a jelly fish.
Worm composting is coming soon...Mostly because I think it will be neat and fun, but also, maybe it will keep my garbage less stinky.
I do reuse my grocery bags, too.
I'm also in the habit of bringing my own container to salad bars. I do feel really guilty if I forget to bring it and I'm stuck with a huge plastic or styrofoam thing (even if it's recyclable, I still feel like I'm being wasteful)
I might be getting a little out of control.
Being from Oregon, I grew up thinking "green" was "normal" so I hear you. I think I have rubbed off on Lauren though. I call her my "Super Steward" since she is such a good recycler (better than I am).
A strange thing I do that gets me plenty of funny looks is I usually brown bag it to work and put my PB&J sandwiches in those little ziplock bags. Instead of throwing them away after I eat the sandwich, I take them home, wash, dry, and reuse them. I figure I've probably only saved $10 in 4 years on ziplock bags, but the warm feelings I get inside are priceless. Please note I always throw away (and never reuse) a ziplocked bag that held meat.
-- J. Funk
Um, I guess I don't do a lot either way. I keep my trips to a minimum to save gas, but I still drive fast when I can. I did switch to re-usable grocery bags, which I actually like better anyway - I HATE when those plastic ones tear, so this solved 2 problems. We switched to re-newable heat by using wood, and rescuing trees that had been cut to put in a road/subdivision. Other than that - I don't get too involved in it. Oh well!
I love this! We try really hard to keep things "normal" where we live...reuse, and we do pick up after other people....Jared and I often try to see who can pick up the most "trash" on our way in from the parking lot to the store front....every little bit helps, right??!!!
Happy Birthday Ben!!! Hope you had a great day! Come to our house some day and help us recycle!
I recycle all of my salmon eggs from salmon I catch, to catch more salmon! hehe I never had an urge to be "normal" anyone can be normal. Brian
Happy Birthday Ben-jammin "Green" Katzoff. You rule you earth friendly guy :) we just got cruzer these gdiapers--compostable or flushable. pretty sweet, maybe we'll write a blog on it ourselves.
You should know that your post just convinced me to do the normal thing and start using our recycling bin. From what I understand, recycling really is a good thing to do. I even just picked all of the cans and bottles out of trash, so there is already a nice collection of stuff in there.
I also love used stuff, but I have to admit that I am motivated more by the feeling of studliness that I get when I can fix or combine a bunch of old junk so it does something useful. I actually don't own much new stuff.
Your car is awesome. Every time I see it, I'm a little in awe that you used your engineering skills to convince that big chunk of metal to run on cooking oil.
I'm less excited about giving the middle finger to the oil companies. They use other people's money to do everything they do, and they have a legal are moral obligation to maximize profits. Luckily their "greed" could save the planet.
Hyrbrid cars are getting really popular. I think this is great because it's disturbing that the technology for low-emissions vehicles is (and has been for many years) available at a reasonable price, yet most of us continue to drive our guzzlers. People might say they are buying low-emissions vehicles to be green, but I bet the primary motivation is that gas is $4/gallon.
The oil companies should be doing more for the planet; they should be charging at least $30/gallon for gasoline. That would make people "normal" pretty quickly.
Let me help my husband out here and clarify: he means that the rules of economics dictate that the oil companies are doing the right thing by charging as much as they are charging. These companies are owned by stock holders who also need to make money - therefore the oil companies' "legal and moral" obligation is to maximize profits (i.e. charge as much as people will pay for their product).
He's also saying that people who are green/normal should not really complain about the oil companies because the higher the price of oil the more the public will be clamoring for alternative fuel options. Therefore, their "greed" could save the planet - by demonstrating that a change is not only necessary but convenient (as in the case of hybrid cars) and encouraging people to buy less gas.
Sorry he's such an amoral jerk when it comes to anything with economics. He can't help it. I'd be annoyed by it, but it makes me look like a saintly bleeding heart activist by comparison. (And you too!) That is why you should be Christ-like and still be friends with him...
I promise we will recycle more.
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