Money is a lousy motivator for me … it doesn’t really get me to do much. My brother, OTOH, will do anything if you dangle a twenty in front of him, and he’ll do it promptly. We grew up in the same house, we’re just wired differently.

I always recycle, even when it’s inconvenient to me. To me, the waste is immoral. I also drink out of public drinking fountains (taking a chance–I once got bronchitis from a fountain) rather than buying bottled water.

That being green saves me money is just a nice bonus.

“Poor People Pollute Less”

Maybe not voluntarily, but still true.

Karsten

And for dear Granny:

It is not the environmental movement that is moralizing. It is not news that waste and living at the expense of others is not nice. That sort of thinking is actually quite old. There is very little “news” about the envionment. For a while now, it is going downhill and people are too lazy, convenient, and short-sighted to do something about it. Fewer people are respecting those folks and that is good. I see few reasons to respect people who live at the expense of others, do not want to change, and plan to teach their children to do just like them.
And if money will create a change in them: Or economy will find some slick ways to reduce guilty feelings (currently by calling anything “green”) while making profits. It is called “green washing” and is already hard at work. It results in people changing very little of their destructive habits, keeping the economy going and the buck rolling, and feeling pretty good about being “green”. The environmental movement (and humanity) needs willing AND educated participants - not people who want to save money in the first place.
The want to save money has brought us where we are: Spending less and letting others (our environment, people in other countries, future generations) pay for what we do.
It is time to say it. Even if folks don’t like to hear it.

Karsten

Great article. Can’t agree with you more! Green consumerism is still consumerism. As the population continues to grow and natural resources diminish, one of the most important way to save us from ourselves is reduce consumption. Most people don’t like to see or hear the reality until reality hits them on the head, so to speak.

Anyway, appreciate your article. We run a twice-a-month “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” carnival on Organicpicks’s blog. Please check it out.