Green Hypocrisy

Firstly, Happy Earth Day! Growing up in a place like California where enviornmentalism is much bigger, it's a lot of fun.

Now that I've uplifted your mood, let me bring it sharply down by pointing out the huge dislike for the phrase 'going green' in the community of environmentalists. As in, people who practice living Earth-friendly on a larger scale than that offered by consumerism.

It's hard not to hate the kind of person who congratulates themselves on buying one of those all-recycled designer bags and then leaves all the lights on, takes super-long baths, and eats endangered species. Do you get a whole new suite of electronics every year? Are many of these products made by Apple? Then you're probably a yuppie douchebag.

At the same time, though, it's necessary to make some kind of concession to the people for whom saving the Earth doesn't outrank every other personal concern.

Awareness, guys, that's what it's about. Letting people know that they should check and see where their food's coming from--and put the pressure on industry to label all items this way--to not touch that Brazilian beef or Indonesian mahogany. Because sometimes that's all people can do. Our lives are complicated and messy and do you really expect, say, a firefighter or a top researcher or someone who's out there trying to save human lives to drop all that and worry about the real but oftentimes distant (and we're pushing it further back every year) Earth?


So go ahead, plant your carefully chosen native crop of choice. I'll be happy with a tree.