In a post that got WAY off topic over at Music City Bloggers, #9 (the same nutcase I mentioned in this post) responds thusly to someone’s suggestion that we “get off the oil tit:”
Do you ride your bike to the grocery store? I guess you have a little cart behind your bike to haul the vegetables home. I’ll stick with my car.
While this post isn’t a direct response to #9 or anyone else, reading this comment reminds me of a rather disturbing trend I’ve seen lately. Namely, the idea that if you can’t or won’t make every aspect of your life 100% eco-friendly, then you might as well do nothing (or worse yet, if you do one thing eco-friendly, but not another, you are somehow a hypocrite!). Some of it’s politically motivated (“Al Gore isn’t dumpster-diving for his food, what a hypocrite!”). Some of it seems to be the result of some defense mechanism (“I don’t want to feel guilty for not doing my part so if I package it together as an all-or-nothing proposition, I can feel ok about not taking it on”). Some it is just the result of low self-esteem (“I’m so small, what can I possibly do that will make a difference”). Whatever the reason, I’m calling bull. A would-be environmentalist needs not do without the luxuries modern life gives us. Being “green” is about doing what you can to reduce waste or conserve resources, not about reducing your consumption or waste to zero.
Sure, it’s great if you can bike to work. If you’re close enough, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for your body. Most of us don’t have that option. My legs start to hurt at mere thought of biking to work and even more so once we move a good deal further away. That doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do. With simple steps such as keeping my tires aired up, staying within 5 mph of the speed limit, using cruise control on the highway, and (especially) taking it easy on the accelerator when the light turns green, I can increase my gas mileage by up to 30%. In addition to putting a bit of extra cash in my pocket, the potential is there for a massive positive impact on the environment. The average American drives 34 miles per day. The average car in America gets about 25 miles to the gallon. That means that if every American driver (all 196 million of them) took the simple steps above (without even changing the frequency in which they use their vehicle or the kind of vehicle they drive), America would save about 51,592,258 gallons of gasoline every day. In one year that’d mean the equivalent to over half the amount stored in the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve!!!
You don’t have to live completely self-sufficiently in a hut in the woods to help the environment. All you have to do is take small and simple steps to just improve from where you are, and whether you’re the type of person who makes your one car trip a week in a Prius and that’s only to pick up some food to supplement what you can get from your garden or the type of person who drives the kids to soccer practice in a Hummer while chowing down on McDonald’s, there is some small step you can do to decrease your negative impact on the planet, without having any kind of significant impact on your life. If we all took just one small step, what an impact we could have.
Heck, I ride a scooter that gets 90+ mpg, and the MTA bus.
It’s more than any of them would do, I know.
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You mentioned the economic benefits. Perhaps that is the best way to sell these ideas. Thats one thing you have to give Ed Begley jr. credit for. He isn’t mean or pissed off, and he lives what he preaches, and he brags about how much his lifestyle saves money.
#9 is Stealth Stupidity in action. I think he’s a paid Karl Rove operative. No one can be taht stupid. I think he exists to troll the internet and disrupt the conversation.
Other parts of the discussion were a lot more interesting.
Thats one thing you have to give Ed Begley jr. credit for. He isn’t mean or pissed off, and he lives what he preaches, and he brags about how much his lifestyle saves money.
And the right still writes him off as a joke. I have a huge problem with people (not pointing at you Glen, your comment just made me think of it) who insist no one can have an opinion about anything in this country unless they are first living the perfect life. You know, the whole “Al Gore is a hypocrite because he flew in an airplane” crowd. That’s bullshit.
#9 said I need to ride a bicycle to the grocery store to be taken seriously about anything. No, actually, I don’t. Bush lies all the time, that hasn’t been a problem for #9. Last time I tried to ride a bike in Nashville I was nearly killed. Hey maybe if there were more sidewalks I’d walk to the store more often than I do. Maybe if it wasn’t 100 fucking degrees outside.
I have a huge problem with people who insist no one can have an opinion about anything in this country unless they are first living the perfect life.
And that’s exactly why I wrote this post. I have no idea if Al Gore is a hypocrite or not, because I don’t know exactly what he’s said about the environment. If he’s said no one should fly in planes or use electricity, then he’s a hypocrite, but if he has simply said people should do something to help the environment, then he’s not because my understanding is that he has taken steps to help the environment.
Ed Begley Jr may “practice what he preaches,” but caring about the environment doesn’t mean you have to live like Ed. I don’t suggest that anybody live like Ed unless they want to. All I suggest is that people find simple ways to live greener than they currently do. If you use/waste the equivalent of 7 trees a year (that’s the average for an American), then what I ask is that you find a simple way to perhaps use 6.5 trees next year. Most people won’t (or even can’t) live like Ed Begley, but everybody can take some small step, and if everybody does, the effect will be greater than if 100,000 Ed Begleys popped up throughout the country.
All I suggest is that people find simple ways to live greener than they currently do.
That’s what I suggest to people all the time. Can we make small adjustments to try to do better? Then let’s do it! We don’t have to be living in huts, all sackcloth and ashes to save the planet- we just all need to be doing what we can do that suits us best.
For example, I can’t take the bus or drive a scooter since I live in La Vergne and have 3 kids. So I drive a Honda Accord instead of a van or SUV. It’s a fairly minor adjustment in my lifestyle. If everyone would try to make these minor adjustments, we’d all be in a lot better shape. (and, as has been mentioned in the comments, save money as well)
Sorry for the diatribe, it’s just a pet, well, not peeve. It’s a pet, um, issue of mine.
I have to entirely agree. This has nothing to do with “all or nothing.” If every citizen would make minor changes to their lifestyle, such as purchasing cars that only obtained 30MPG or more, we could easily see major impacts for the better on a global level.
I feel perfectly good about the minor, but large, changes that Ian and I have made in our lives:
1. Only drive cars that obtain 30mpg or better highway mileage. We have a 2006 Toyota Avalon and 2004 Honda Civic, both of which easily reach those goals.
2. Replace all lights with halogen bulbs.
3. Conserve energy when/where possible. Don’t leave a faucet running unattended, don’t have the A/C set to 70 degrees on a day where the outside temperature is 90+, don’t leave lights on throughout the home, don’t leave electronics such as a computer or TV turned on when not using them.
All of these are minor changes that have minimal impact on my personal lifestyle, but they make a MAJOR reduction on the carbon footprint we leave behind.
As for those saying “all or nothing,” good luck with that
I’ll instead opt to purchase a membership to a legitimate organization such as http://www.terrapass.com and offset the remainder of my carbon footprint with an equal amount of financing for alternative energy studies.
-Gary
#9 is a freelance moron who’s worn out his welcome on several community forums in TN. It’s never his fault, natch.
If you can stomach it:
http://www.knoxviews.com/node/3506
http://www.knoxviews.com/node/3697
Following his eventual banning, he started a semi-regular gig co-blogging at “saysuncle.com” but he doesn’t quite get the audience that he craves – that is, the audience that vocally contradicts his k00kery. He needs your negative energy to reinforce his puckered, paranoid worldview.
Engaging him in conversation will only make matters worse. FYI. Forewarned is forearmed.