Seeing Green

So, basically, this article, "Therapists Report Increase in Green Disputes" by Leslie Kaufman, made me want to stick my finger down my throat. It's about couples who have been fighting more frequently and even getting divorced because of perceived differences in environmental values. Here's the opener:

Gordon Fleming is, by his own account, an environmentally sensitive guy.

He bikes 12 1/2 miles to and from his job at a software company outside Santa Barbara, Calif. He recycles as much as possible and takes reusable bags to the grocery store.

Still, his girlfriend, Shelly Cobb, feels he has not gone far enough.

Ms. Cobb chides him for running the water too long while he shaves or showers. And she finds it “depressing,” she tells him, that he continues to buy a steady stream of items online when her aim is for them to lead a less materialistic life.

Mr. Fleming, who says he became committed to Ms. Cobb “before her high-priestess phase,” describes their conflicts as good-natured — mostly.

But he refuses to go out to eat sushi with her anymore, he said, because he cannot stand to hear her quiz the waiters.

“None of it is sustainable or local,” he said, “and I am not eating cod or rockfish.”

Aw, poor widdle baby boomers can't agree on how to save the planet. Talk about first world problems. 

Green issues are so tough. There is just so much waste in the world and there's really no way to stop it. Looking at my desk right now, I see my computer--which may or may not be scrapped for parts eventually--my deoderant--completely unrecyclable--my glasses case, my pen, etc., etc. There's no way to preserve or save these things. Once they've been used, man, they've been used. Attitudes can be truly risible--take, for example, my boss from last summer, who bitched when he saw a receipt with unnecessary text at the bottom, and, when he went to file them, would tear off the unnecessary part and then bitch again about the waste. But sometimes all of this packaging is really unneccessary. For example, in Italy, they sell bananas in a bunch or in prepackaged plastic containers. I confess, I was lazy and bought some prepackaged bananas because I didn't feel like weighing and printing out a price sticker-thingy for the fresh ones, but all of that packaging was just such a waste. That plastic can never be reused. Also, in Italy, they don't recycle paper, and it always makes me wince a little bit to throw all of it out. 

Another problem I have with green issues is that, for the moment at least, it's a wealthy man's (or in this case, woman's) sport. The Obamas have really done a great thing with their garden--gardens are cheap and easy to maintain, but only if you have the space, time, and knowledge to do it. Also, think about the effect organic farming will have on the big food industries: do you think that, as more industrial farms switch to organic products, it will stop the exploitation of migrant workers? Hell no. If anything, it might accelerate the problem. So even if you're doing something good for the planet, you're not necessarily helping humanity. This constant politicization of every choice--from the food we eat to the clothes that we wear--is exhausting, tiresome, and helps very few people (except for the inventors laughing all the way to the bank). Every choice we make will hurt someone or waste something. Instead of going crazy and trying to be as self-sustaining as possible, we should try to find solutions, if they exist, that actually make sense.