Adjust your environ|mentality to banish your eco-doubt!

Am I green enough?  Do my greener purchases really make a difference?  Are we collectively saving the earth or just making ourselves feel better about our consumption?

Okay, so you may be going through some eco-doubt.  Everyone does and I’ll help you get over it.  I’ll show you the environ|mentality to see your more sustainable living choices really make a difference and that you can get over your eco-doubt.

Sources of Eco-Doubt

Sure, you see it everyday on the news: the latest oil spill, mountaintop mining, chemical dump leaching into drinking water, or a coal’s toxic sludge flooding a town.  We see pollution in so many forms everyday.

And you likely have thought to yourself something along the lines of, “I’m using a somewhat greener laundry detergent (and paying a little more money for it) and the world around me is being polluted millions of times more than I ever have.  What’s the difference?”

Making A Difference

I was discussing just this issue today during a phone call with my older brother.  He’s relatively eco-conscious, using a reusable water bottle, recycled paper toilet paper, and generally trying to do some of the little greener, more sustainable things you or I may be employing in our daily lives.  So, he’s not your typical eco-doubter.

But I mentioned a cool post from another blog showcasing making your own shipping envelopes from old cereal boxes and my brother lamented that, “We will never save the world like that.”

And I had to concede that he has a point and then tell him how I thought the point is still pretty much wrong.

What’s the point?

Well, we can make all of these eco-changes in our lives, like using 100% recycled paper toilet paper or reusing a cereal box for shipping, but not everyone is doing it, and we are still consuming.  That envelope, when used, will still be shipped by a few pollution-belching trucks.  So what’s the point?

Sure, my brother will play devil’s advocate.  And he went on to mention that until the government regulates such things, and forces businesses and people to do these ecologically-friendly things, such as mail trucks being driven by electrical motors using renewable fuel, the pollution will continue.

How is this point right?

Well, most people in the U.S., for example, do not use 100% recycled paper toilet paper.  Only about 2%!  And I have never received any mail in an envelope made from an up-cycled cereal box.  Most of us haven’t.  And the government would likely not regulate envelopes to be made from such.

How is this point really, “all wrong”?

You are making a difference every time you make a change like this.  Tell yourself that every time that you experience eco-doubt.

Yes, some consumption is still taking place.  Some pollution.  But relatively less!  And that’s important!  Plus, you’re setting an example for consumers, whose buying power affects manufacturers and stores.  Finally, you’re putting green political capital out there for the taking.  And politicians will eventually grab that capital, once it gets big enough.  Check it out!

Being a good example to others

The more people who make these little changes, the more other people will join in.  By you making these planet-friendlier changes, they become more “normal,” and give others the idea to do the same.

Your purchases support companies that produce eco-friendly products (and the stores that carry them).  People see you buying these things at the store, and friends and strangers see you using them makes it all seem the more, “normal,” way to behave.  Their dollars will follow your dollars.

Forcing the Green Hand

This forces the hand of other companies to do the same.  A great example is Clorox, manufacturer of a horribly polluting product, Clorox Bleach, to come out with their own line of greener products, Green Works,  including  this toilet bowl cleaner.

Some manufacturers and stores, far from being leaders with respect to sustainability — I’m looking at the likes of Wal-Mart, Proctor and Gamble, and Clorox –  still will look at the bottom line and follow the money.

So put your money into eco-friendly products as millions have done and watch as others follow you, manufacturers and stores follow the customers, and the dollars, increasing visibility, availability, quality, and, relative “greenness,” of such products all follow your leadership!

Even Better: Green Political Capital

You can even have an impact on politics when you make such changes.  As stated before, you can see others beginning more sustainable practices as it becomes more acceptable or even the acceptable thing to do.

Let’s say a politician, maybe President Obama, stood before Congress and asked them to regulate toilet paper so that it had to be made from 100% recycled paper.  Toilet paper made from virgin wood fibers would be banned in the United States.

First of all, he wouldn’t likely say that at this point, as not enough Americans have expressed interest in using such a product, either by purchasing it (as stated above, about 2% of us use such a product) nor by other means.  Plus, toilet paper isn’t exactly a, “sexy,” product, but still, let’s work with the example.

Green Will, Green Political Capital

What if, in five or ten years, the percentage of Americans using recycled paper toilet paper increased to 33% with millions more stating that they would use it if it were more available to them?  That’s a strong showing of willingness to adjust buying habits!

Well, at that point, you might see a politician or two talking about this issue because of the political capital given them — that is, the perceived or real willingness of voters to support such measures.  Coupled with the more environmental sustainability of such a policy, millions of trees saved from the axe, er, chainsaw, you might find a political figure with clout willing to raise such an issue, especially if the lobbying of environmental groups is concentrated on the matter.

How might this play out?

Maybe they start out with regulating that a percentage of all toilet paper, let’s say 25% or 50% of the content, must be from recycled paper by a certain year.  Then, the regulations tighten over time, increasing that amount of paper.

This might allow for compaines to do the research they probably think is necessary to develop a method of producing the TP at the same level of softness but from recycled fibers.  Slowly increasing the amount of recycled paper fibers through regulations would allow Americans the time for their bums to adjust to the different texture.

And on that note: I don’t really notice much difference in quality between TP from recycled paper and that from virgin fibers.  It’s slight and you get used to it. Not all brands are equal, but there are some good ones out there!  Give ‘em a, uh, “whirl!”

Adjust your environ|mentality

Remember that you are making a difference with each of the more sustainable changes you make!  In more ways than one, your purchasing power and daily practices make an impact both in real terms of less pollution and in public perceptions of sustainability.  Your eco-doubt is understandable given all of the pollution that is taking place.

However, for example, the fact that global warming is on the minds of most Americans led to it being discussed (and, surprise, surprise, admitted is a real issue) by both major party Presidential candidates in our last election!  Talk about progress over the 2004 and 2000 elections!

What do you think?  Do you experience eco-doubt?  How do you get over it?

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2. Environ|Mental: Tie Energy Consumption to Pollution This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series...
3. Environ|Mental: Don’t (Re)cycle Plastic? This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series...