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I've been called "dark green" by some of the nicest people. I think what they mean is that because I refuse to buy new plastic and insist that manufacturers should disclose the ingredients in their products, I am somehow more virtuous than most. But you know what? I don't buy it.
I don't believe there is a spectrum of greenness, but rather that we all have unique priorities. And whereas I might think plastic is the scourge of the earth, others might be more interested in cutting energy consumption or saving water or making sure their kids are consuming healthy foods.
So earlier this month, when the Market Place radio program aired a segment called "Buying green, but not for the planet," I had to take issue with the implication that unless the reasons for our behavior changes are entirely altruistic, we are somehow selfish.
From the show:
"ANDREA GARDNER: First, I have a confession. When I buy environmentally friendly products, it isn't for the planet. What I mean is I buy organic apple juice because I figure it's healthier for my toddler. Energy-saving light bulbs help me save money. And I think non-toxic cleaning products are just safer. I asked around, and many of my friends admitted the same thing."
Why does Ms. Gardner need to confess in the first place? Why does she feel that the health of her family is somehow disconnected from that of the planet? Or that "saving the planet" is some kind of ideal to which she doesn't aspire? I appreciate marketers' recognition that persuading the non-treehugging public to go green might mean touting a product's health or money-saving benefits over its low carbon footprint. But does it matter? Isn't everything connected?
In my view, we are the planet. When we buy organic food for our families to protect their health, we keep toxic chemicals from running off into our waterways and from harming farm workers. When we buy less or reduce our energy consumption to save money, we help lower carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. And it works the other way around, too. My impetus for living a greener life was the urge to protect wild animals from plastic pollution. I didn't realize at the time that giving up plastic to help the planet meant living a much healthier life myself. After all, how much junk and convenience food can you buy without plastic?
Maybe none of our reasons is perfectly selfish or selfless. I decided to poll other green bloggers to learn how they defined "green" and what was their initial motivation to start living more sustainably. Here is what a few of them said.
Protecting Animals
Image by Alejandro Fallabrino By permission from seaturtle.org
As I mentioned, my initial reason for making green changes was to stop causing harm to animals. Lisa Frack from Enviroblog had a similar story. Since having a baby, she has become more concerned about human health. But her first movement toward environmentalism was all about the animals:
"But at the real heart of it, I was a HUGE animal lover, and animal lovers also are habitat lovers, by definition. That's what got me initially. The sense that they were powerless under humans' habitat destruction. It had an inherent unfairness/imbalance of power in it that I didn't (still don't) like. Kind of like fishing from a helicopter, right? Just 'off' somehow."
For Deanna Duke from Crunchy Chicken, her first foray into the green movement around 1991 was all about owls.
"I think the green movement was really starting to hit on campus then because of the whole 'spotted owl' controversy going on in Washington and Oregon. So, I think I got into the green movement more from a conservation standpoint and it has since progressed to so much more. I think seeing these kinds of bumper stickers just ground my crackers: 'Save a Logger -- Eat an Owl'."
And Jenn Savedge from The Green Parent also wanted to protect animals.
"I think it was back in the late '80s when we got something from GreenPeace in the mail about saving the dolphins or whales or tigers ... some such creature. I read through it quickly but it really stuck with me, and it bothered me that some of the things I was seeing in my little coal mining PA town (pollution, litter, over-consumption) were affecting other
