how to become a (real) environmentalist

I pointed out in my latest post that anyone can call themselves "an environmentalist." It is a feel-good label, like saying I am a "moral" person. I care about the environment we all live in. But what does it really take to become an environmentalist? Do you need to recycle? Do you have to buy a new fuel-efficient car? Do you throw out those old-fashioned incandescent lights? Do you bring your own bags to the grocery store?

Unfortunately my friends it takes a lot more than that to really help save the environment. And many of the things people view as environmentally responsible are not. For example, you are not an environmentalist when you consume like the average American does. Buying new anything is a big no-no. Buying new stuff to replace old stuff that is in good working condition is the number one capital sin against the environment. Never throw out something that works well, ever.

You see there is a good reason why business types hate the environmental movement. They, unlike many idealistic promoters, realize that it will cost them revenues. It will shrink the economy. Actually, the very best we could do for the environment would be to shrink our economy. By about 85-90% or so.

Business people are very smart though. They understand that you cannot contradict the public's wishes. They also understand that it is much easier and much better to pervert the public's wishes. That is what the green movement is all about. If consumers want green items, sell them green items. Always give the consumer what they want, even when they want something that cannot exist. Always sell new items, even if doing so is the most un-green thing to do. We all have to survive don't we?

You can't call yourself an environmentalist if you live in a big house in suburbia. No matter how clean your neighborhood is, and how much recycling, composting, and other "good" things you do, living large is not a sound thing to do. Driving, the inevitable suburban activity is not green. Not even in a hybrid or electric car. Lighting up your house at night is not green. Using 100 gallons of water per person per day is not green. Having a clothes dryer and using it is not green. Maintaining a lawn or a pool is not green. 

I think you get the picture. The only cure for being destructive to the environment is to change your life-style. Fat chance you say. I don't want to give up my wonderful life-style. My happiness that comes from shopping and consuming. Never mind that depression is rampant across the country. We are happy even if it takes Prozac to prove it.

And speaking of fat, fat is the right word. Because obesity, the inevitable by-product of our environment-unfriendly way of life, will ultimately take its toll. So will asthma and COPD triggered by air pollution, and other ills. And if those things don't help to set us on the right path, then the inevitable collision with an uninhabitable planet will. Sooner or later we will all become environmentally responsible, whether we like it or not. 

Just take a look at what is happening to the high-flyers on Wall Street today. Those guys who told you greed is good. That the party would never end. That things would only get better. Today is a day of reckoning. Unfortunately there are many more to come.