The problem of hipocrisy in my little world

Thinking about coming to work today - after a wonderful weekend in the vibrantly green world of AblePonder and then two days in a miasma of being ill - reminded me of a post on AnimalBlawg.com about hypocrisy.

"Today it is impossible to avoid hypocrisy in any struggle against the status quo. The political and economic structures are constructed so that it is practically impossible to avoid being implicated in their workings." - quoted in the blog from Crimethinc’s Days of War, Nights of Love.

I feel as though I am often struggling against the status quo - the assumptions and habits of Corporate America, the habits and attitudes of consumerism, the attitudes and behavior of selfishness.

I guess what it all comes down to for me lately is that people buy into these structures without thought. I happen to be a big proponent of Ayn Rand's brand of selfishness - I think that people SHOULD take care of themselves! I think that capitalism and the service economy is great - people SHOULD be rewarded for their excellence, hard work and creativity!

It just all seems to fall apart out there (out here?) in the "real world."

At least I get the sense that I'm not alone in my (rather wimpy) rage at/against the system. Still and all, I find myself struggling with myself as I struggle against the system... You shouldn't have put that totally recyclable item in the trash - why did you stop at Sonic when you know full well you're buying a styrofoam cup and subsidizing the system that makes those cups - why, oh, why, can't you stop going into Wal-Mart just because it's cheaper? ... and the list of questions goes on.

I find it very similar to my constant (well... constant isn't the right word - more like recurring) efforts to eat healthfully and lose weight. The very real limits of time and money seem to beat me every time, and turn me into a hypocrite to boot. It's so much cheaper and easier to eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or stop at Sonic than it is to cook a healthy meal of grilled salmon and spinach salad. It's so much cheaper and easier to just throw the trash "away" than it is to haul it over to the recycling center.

It's as though I don't subconsciously really believe things that, consciously, I am convinced of and will bend your ear to breaking about.

High Fructose Corn Syrup? Bovine growth hormones? Poision!

NES's Green Power Switch? Public/Hybrid transportation? Important to invest in!

And yet, I just had a (definitely not grass-fed beef) burger last week... I drive my car to work every day... I stop at Sonic like I'm addicted...

This struggle with my weight and struggle with my carbon footprint are becoming eerily similar - I have good intentions, but in the end, I fail and eat a big, sugary doughnut -slash- throw away a trashcan full of recyclables.

It's a problem with consumption.

And I can't help but feeling that I, one who is gifted with (to reference NoImpactMan) a middle birth and a stellar education, am the worst kind of sinner/addict. Because I know the consequences of what I do, but I still do it.

Maybe if I can figure out how to be green, I can figure out how to be healthy, as well.

Hillsboro Recycling center rocks! And Keep America Beautiful is maybe not so awesome after all

Back when I was working at a little community newspaper down in Williamson County, I was also living in The Gardens at Hillsboro Village. Both were themselves follies of post-graduate youth... but reading No Impact Man today made me think of another folly of that time - my resistance to recycling.

My time at the newspaper as a writer, listings/calendar editor and web editor coincided with the time I lived with my first after-college roommate - a guy who had the attitude that recycling was the status-quo and not recycling was, frankly, odd. I, on the other hand, could have cared less. The apartment complex had a dumpster, and after walking down three flights of stairs to empty any trash we had, I was unwilling to go further. But he was insistent, so we had a bin in our kitchen to collect recyclables, and our ignorance of the area had us driving 15-20 minutes to what we thought was the nearest recycling facility (Charlotte Center by the Strike-n-Spare) . This drive did not help my it's-way-too-much-effort attitude about the whole thing. When that roommate and I parted ways, so did I and the recycling bin.

Still, I continued to moderate calendar listings at the paper, which happened to be chock-full of community/government-sponsored events. The city and county governments were really good about sending in event listings and such - we never had to track them down. So there was a steady stream of these events, as well as a large quantity, and at one point there was a glut of events run by Keep Williamson Beautiful. Maybe it was around Earth Day or something. Anyway, there were opportunities for free shredding, free disposal of paint/gas/oil, and common-area clean-ups. The sheer amount of the events, I suppose, is what stuck in my mind, and I was left with the rather passive impression that Keep America Beautiful - the KWB parent organization, was a good thing. I didn't think too much about it - it seemed like the KWB events were good things, even if they bored me... I wasn't really into the whole community-togetherness thing anyway.

And I said all of this to address two things that occurred to me today.

First, I was surprised when I read this post on No Impact Man this morning. Basically, it talks about how
"...bottling and canning corporations promoted individual environmental action back in the 70s as a way to shirk their corporate responsibilities. Beverage industry interests told us all to clean up our own garbage through a front organization, Keep America Beautiful (KAB), so they wouldn’t have to."

You know, it's this sort of stuff that feeds my cynicism and sadness about capitalism and, well, people in general. I want to beat my fists against a wall in frustration over the failure of people to just try to Do Good! Why can't they simply try to respect themselves, their fellow man and their environment? Why don't they believe, at least a little, in karma? ::sigh:: I always end this train of thought by coming to the conclusion that all I can do be responsible for my own actions and choices - All I can do is all I can do.

Yesterday, I took the recycling over to the Hillsboro Recycling Center in Green Hills (check this site out for info on where you can drop off recycling). It's back behind Hillsboro High School on Hillmont Dr. (off Glen Echo), and there are not only recycling dumpsters, but there's a Goodwill collection truck there. I will admit, part of why I have started recycling is because of this center. It's super convenient! However, the other reason is because of my relatively recent preoccupation with being a little bit green... and one of the things that encourages me to at least try is Colin's blog. The point here is that the Hillsboro Recycling Center is AWESOME! Going there actually renews my commitment to recycle what I can. It's so nice that, in a community where I don't get the feeling there's much environmental awareness, there's this wonderful recycling center.

World Carfree Day, Sept. 22

Every September 22, people across the globe get together to swear off their cars – if only for one day – in a collective reminder that we don't have to accept car-dominated societies, cities, or personal lives. Since its earliest incarnations in the 1970s and ‘80s, WORLD CARFREE DAY has grown into a massive global celebration of human-centric communities and people-powered transportation.

Carfree Day 2007 could turn out to be the biggest yet. For the first time, China’s government is hopping on board, with official events talking place in more than 100 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. (Officials will reportedly be trading in their famed black sedans for public transportation.)

As the world tunes in to the fact that the climate is heating up, this is the perfect opportunity to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of oil-hungry automobiles.

Does anyone know of anything going on in Nashville related to this?

Ben & Jerry to speak at Vanderbilt Oct. 2

"An Evening of Social Responsibility, Radical Business Philosophy and Free Dessert for All"

Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at 7 p.m.

Student Life Center ballroom

Tickets: Free-$10, available at Sarratt Box Office and at the door

The Ben & Jerry's brand was build on the idea of being a socially-responsible business. Though over the years that commitment has wavered, the founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are well-known for trying to drive social change through corporate practices.

You can check out more info on that here.

While I am inclined to be skeptical of "corporate social responsibility" - because I'm a cynic and because, from what I've learned about publicly-held corporations and the quarterly earnings set-up, I figure that numbers all-too-often trump the quality of those numbers.

Anyhow, Ben & Jerry's is at least talking about being socially responsible, which is a start. And I'd love to hear what they have to say about how to do it.

All Kermit references aside - being green in Nashville isn't exactly pie.

This first post to livegreennashville, I suppose, ought to give you readers some sort of box to put me in, or at least a little idea of the why/how of me writing this.

My senior year at Vandy, the powers that be (the oh-so-beloved "Science & the World" requirement) led me to take a class called Oil & Water in the 21st Century.

Now, degree requirements being what they are... ever-changeable in their minutae but constant in their arbitrariness... I approached this class with the main goal of doing as little work as possible without damaging my GPA.

However, that class was one of the few experiences I had as an undergrad that has continued to inform my life and captivate my day-to-day thoughts currently.

The main "macro" idea that I took away from that class was that of The Tragedy of the Commons. It has provided a solid underpinning to my thoughts on being "a citizen of the planet" and "green" and "granola"... and lots of those cheesy epithets that I don't like to label myself with.

Anyhow, I guess what it comes down to is an effort to not be selfish, or gluttonous, or rude. And having a giant carbon footprint ultimately just seems sort of presumptuous and arrogant.

Hence, I'm trying, in little ways, mind you, to be a little bit greener in Nashville.

When I started looking for resources to help me, I didn't find much. Either I'm not looking in the right places or there's just nothing there... but I hope that this blog will ultimately provide a resource for anyone wishing to get a little greener here in Music City.

If you've got any suggestions/comments/calls for revolution you'd like to send my way, don't hesitate! I'd love to hear about how other people are finding ways and means to lower their carbon footprint in the city and surrounding areas.