Maybe you shouldn’t worry about the environment

I was thinking about the one million acts of green initiative and some of the things people are doing to contribute to it and I thought, “Great idea.” Then I thought of some of the things I do and it occurred to me, in almost every case, the thought of contributing to a better environment never occurred to me. The things I do, I do for other reasons. The environmental aspect is just a serendipitous consequence.

I don’t drive. I don’t have a car. I don’t even know how to drive a car. This is not because I was determined to help heal an ailing environment, minimize my carbon imprint and so on. I just don’t like cars. They’re loud and they smell and, from what I’ve seen, they’re very expensive and a heck of a lot of work.  The balancing act between convenience and all a car’s negative aspects never worked in favour of a car. And speed was never a plus for me either. I prefer to actually see and note the world I’m moving through. (Same with boats. Sailboats, thumbs up; motorboats, thumbs down.)

Plastic bags from grocery stores – another no-brainer. Who wants a gazillion plastic bags cluttering the house, the yard, the streets and everything else? Carrying them when they have items in them turns the handles into thin plastic knives that cut into the fingers and palms of your hands – something clothe bags don’t do. (I especially like my clothe bag for the liquor store with its individual pockets for bottles of wine.) Once again, the environmental aspect is just a happy consequence. I like those bags because, in a small way, they make life better.

Turning off lights? I do that anyway because I prefer low lighting and, for as long of the day as possible, no lighting is best. For me. I ain’t saving the world here, I’m just voting for aesthetics.

There is a long list of small “acts of green” people can incorporate into their life, many of which I do, few of which I do because I was thinking about the environment. I was thinking about me. I was thinking about my life and my preference for ease. Most of these acts I do are done because they make my life better and, in many if not most cases, they’re a lot cheaper. My choices mean money in my bank account.

And what is my point? I suppose it is this: for many people, including me, when people start talking about things like acts of green, even if they are passionately behind the idea of fixing the world and eager to get started, the acts themselves have the appearance of being sacrifices. You must give up something you want; you must do something that’s a pain in the butt to do. That’s probably not the case, but that’s the perception. Inside, we’re thinking, “I’m sacrificing to help save the environment.”

So maybe you shouldn’t worry about the environment. Maybe you should think more about the consequences, other than environmental, that many of these acts lead to. Maybe those will persuade you.

Just a thought.