The Environ|Mentality: There is usually a way to make your consumption less envirohumanly toxic, but there is also usually an available excuse you can make. Overcome that temptation by realizing a little effort goes a long way.
We all have done it: “I’m in too much of a hurry to take my soda can down the hall to the recycling bin, so I just put it in my own trashcan at my desk.”
“I get all confused when I use the double-sided copying function. I don’t know how to use it.”
My favorite: “Gosh, I print so much I go through a few trees every week.” Yes, admitting the crime of printing items that just as easily could have been viewed on your monitor makes it all better.
“I’m in a hurry. It will be faster to drive (two blocks).”
We’ve all been eco-guilty of making some sort of excuse (or, in some cases, having, on some level, a legitimate excuse) for not recycling/wasting/generally not caring about the envirohuman impact of our actions.
Making a joke about it does not fix the problem, even if the offender is often kidding on the square. But it shows that there is likely some truth to the excuse: maybe, for instance, there are not enough strategically placed recycling bins around the office.
Yes, our world is not perfectly built for living greener. In many ways, it is built with a greener lifestyle at the bottom of the priority list. That’s an infrastructural, bureaucratic, political, and industrial problem, but one that the everyday person can help to change by having an attitude consistent with not finding that excuse, but rather showing that a little effort goes a long way. This is a problem that we are seeing improve, but it’s gaining momentum and we all have to help to move the environment up to the top of the priority list.
Getting up from your desk to toss your can or bottle into a recycling bin is a chance to stretch and get a bit of walking in (another example of how reducing your negative EHI can help you stay fit!). And if your recycling bins start getting full too fast (because of increased participation), perhaps your employer could be convinced to put more recycling bins into even more convenient places.
Remember, you probably have the ability to get past your excuse with little effort; it’s a matter of willpower. When you make a positive example of yourself, others will follow your lead and in that way your positive envirohuman impact multiplies.
EHI again! Show us some eco-attitude!
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May 11th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
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