Someone asked a question in an email group I'm a part of that really made me laugh. The question was, "When did you decide to 'go green' ?" Everyone was responding with wistful musings about the day they'd seen the light, and the small beginnings they had before learning about all the ways it can be done. I'm not poking fun at them, and any effort made is a good thing, isn't it? It's the temperature of our world, the current of our society that prompted the question. Has the modern generation missed out, or what!? It's stunning.
I never decided to 'go green'! It's not a new concept, just a '90's era word, a new gimmick or catch phrase for politicians and mass marketeers. The hippies didn't invent it in the '70's either. LOL! I believe 'conservationist' was the phrase that caught on in the '50's and '60's. Prior to that it was just called 'stewardship'. It's been a way of life for me all of my life. Recycled things were called 'leftovers', which were never wasted. Some were called 'hand me downs', or 'second hand'. Excessive living was called 'wasteful', or even frivolous, and finding more efficient ways of doing things was just plain smart, or frugal at the very least. Saving energy, or finding renewable resources was what we all did just to save a little money, or to use up something that would otherwise have been wasted leftovers. We were basically living healthier as it's being defined by the 'green' movement of today, because we didn't add everything that science and big corporations tried to sell to us to our homes or our gardens.
No, it's not a new idea. It's just a popular idea in this generation because they are the first generation to have everything in their lives mass produced, packaged and sold to them all neat and clean, never really connecting them to the real things in life. I'm glad to see it happening! It's just kind of nauseating the way it's presented as sort of 'elitist', a counter-cultural political party, or a radical, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thing. It's just basic stuff, isn't it? It's a result of a not-so-gradual evolution away from the way the Earth and nature were designed to work, by a world that has suddenly found that mass production and mass distribution to mass markets may not be the answer to all the ills of society that they all thought it was going to be. The fact that they are so far out of touch with real life and living doesn't mean that everyone is, and I hate to break it to them, but I can be deeply involved in the 'green' thing, and still be a conservative, a Christian and someone who believes in creation, as well as intelligent, without their political affiliations and without having some great spiritual revelation.
I'm not saying they are all that way, but they are widely viewed as such, portrayed that way by the media, and in my experience they are generally proud of that association. Pride in one's life choices is wonderful! I am happy for them, honestly. Now they need to allow the rest of us to live by our convictions as well, even though they are different.
That's not all I have to say about that, but I have to leave shortly, and I'm out of time.
Thank you Loretta and Gus (Jessika) for motivating me to blog again. It's been 5 months! Wow!
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2 comments:
I hear ya! We cloth diaper, breastfeed, walk to any location within walking distance, mend our clothes and wear them until they are worn out. With all this and more people think we are really "green". Sometimes I laugh and say, "Actually, we are really cheap."
:-)
Cheap! Yeah, that's it! LOLOL We want to go off-grid not so much to reduce our 'carbon footprint' but to stop shelling out to the utility companies and cut that umbilical! I want my own water source not to prevent erosion so much or to harvest a valuable resource, but because I don't trust the city or county folks to keep me supplied, and because I don't want my water to smell like chemicals. I cook from scratch not because it's eco-friendly, or even because of the health benefits, although that's a plus, but because it costs less money.
I think we are a part of a 'grass roots movement', and a 'ground swell' (as long as we're being cliche), of people who are tired of being dependent and weary of being told how to think and live. However, I'm not sure that "The Cheap Movement" or "Going Cheap" would catch on. On the other hand, in our circle it just might!
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