Midwest Memo
Green with confusion
by Alan Shultz

Does a good scolding get your attention? Does a finger pointing, guilt ridden, mend your ways lecture inspire you to change?

Me neither.

And right now, I feel like I've been lectured and finger pointed at and scolded by one too many celebrities and plenty too many politicians on the subject of conservation.

I like green, I respect the earth, but I'm confused.

I feel like the shaming of the common man on his energy use and the lecturing at him concerning precious resources comes from limo riding, mansion abiding, private airplane flying folk who absolutely never, ever practice what they preach.

I hate waste, any kind of waste, be it food or energy or time. It seems immoral to take more than one's share and foolish to claim as yours that which you cannot or will not consume or use or set aside.

But I'm green with confusion.

Lately the subject of bags seems to be in the news in a big way. And it has got me seriously frustrated. The megagrocer says if I will only bring with me some old tote container I can make an impact on the environment by him not giving me a bag for my groceries.

Really? An impact?

Well sure, I suppose. But wouldn't a bigger impact come if I just skipped a month's shopping at the megagrocers? Wouldn't things be better if, instead, I cleaned out my cupboards, made due with what's on hand, and didn't shop anywhere I needed to travel to by car.

Wouldn't that produce a better, bigger impact on the earth?

And by eating less and exercising more, wouldn't I fit back in a whole new wardrobe previously banished to the back of my closet? And wouldn't that new wardrobe render unnecessary many trips to the mall for clothes shopping?

Why, multiply out the savings from consuming less and the impact gets bigger and bigger. We could do with less roads, fewer stores, less importing, less truck traffic.

I know wealthy and wise seniors who haven't bought an appliance in decades. My aunts used to wear good wool suits that were 30 years old. The celebrities and politicians better be careful what they hope for. What happens to a consumer society when the consumers don't consume?

My daughter lives in a neighborhood where three-car garages are the standard. My sister tells me that out in Colorado the four-car garage is becoming common. I'm not sure my grocery bag makes a real difference.

Let's face it. We should shop local, consume less and put on a sweater instead of pushing the thermostat. But right now we don't appear to be ready for all that.

I suspect our ancestors would wince at our consumption

and at our waste. Or

maybe, just maybe, they would be envious of all this bounty. I don't know.

But preach to me about grocery bags.

Oh, please!

Swedish furniture maker IKEA has gotten lots of press over their policies aimed at reducing plastic bag use by their customers. Let me stress this, I love IKEA, love their products, love their stores. But the truth of the matter is that every single piece of furniture I have ever purchased at IKEA, every single accessory, every gizmo or knick-knack, every bit of it I could have done without. I could have improvised or bought used or paid considerably more for an heirloom piece.

So do without plastic bags? How about do without that curio cabinet or that designer magazine rack or that plasma TV stand? That is, if you really want to make an impact, if you really want to conserve.

I don't have the answer. I'm not sure I really know what the question is. We should respect the earth, clean up after ourselves and conserve for generations to come.

But we should not placate one another, be silly or do things for show, not when it comes to something as serious as conservation.

The silly talk, it certainly has a green effect on me. It makes me green around the gills.