Selfish green people

Last week I came across another interesting article in the Ecologist: apparently research suggests that when we act green we do it for selfish reasons and not for the greater good. That got me thinking! Why exactly is it we are doing this and what are we getting out of it. I realised that we probably do get a fair amount self satisfaction out of being green.

When we started I wanted to see if it was possible to live an ordinary family life the green way and I think it is, nobody in the family appears to have suffered serious trauma from this project; but I am wondering if I am becoming a bit smug about the whole thing.

I have never been the preaching type, and I try to not wind up everybody I know by shoving green living up their noses constantly, but maybe I do sometimes think to myself that I am morally on higher ground?

The truth is that in some circles of society there is definitely prestige in living the green life, and maybe gaining some of that prestige is as much a factor in our decisions as actually saving the planet.

I tried to analyse which parts of our green lifestyle has been most successful, and not surprisingly they are the ones that have a direct impact on the here and now. When I run around switching off lights etc to save energy, I do it just as much to save money as to save the planet. When I get on my bike to go to town rather than take the car I do it both for the sense of achievement as for the carbon footprint. When I potter about in the garden trying to grow something edible I feel some kind a connection with nature and the seasons, although that is a load of nonsense, because I would be very miserable if I had to be fully self sufficient and actually survive in Nature's conditions. When I walk the kids to school in the rain I probably like doing imaginary head shaking at all the parents in the cars. When I clean with vinegar I just might be giving myself a pat on the back.

The ones that have been less successful are the ones that cost money or otherwise make life more difficult. I mean we haven't fully given up on the car and we are highly unlikely to do that. We haven't even changed to a smaller more environmentally friendly car, because it is too expensive, and frankly if we were very very serious about being green we should just sell it altogether!
Likewise we don't buy 100% local produce (although we get a fair bit), because we would need to allocate more money to buying food and therefore give up on something else.

So where does that put the future of the Planet if we are really mainly doing it for our own gain? Well that depends, because if we can make it seriously attractive to be green lots of people are likely to do something. If it gave your image a massive boost to have a compost in your garden, lots more people would have them. If it was considered cool to arrive to work on a bike, lots more people would do it. But right now this is not the case and the 'eco brigade' has a lot of work to do to remove the image of treehuggers.

I don't think it matters why people do green stuff, if they do it for the Planet that is great, if they actually do it to achieve a feeling of self satisfaction that is fine as well - as long as it gets done.

So here is my advice to people who wants to be green, but never really get much further than thinking: find some seriously committed people to hang out with! That way you end up doing green stuff to improve your image, while hopefully saving the planet at the same time.