Dear non-greenies of the world: an apology
sustainability
On behalf of myself and any other greenies who happen to agree with me on these things, I would like to apologise. Over the years we have not seen eye-to-eye on a number of things, and at times we greenies may have caused offense, distrust or frustration, at times justified, through various failures of communication, understanding, respect and empathy. So, in the interests of respect, reason, and understanding, I would like to bury the hatchet by apologising for some of these failures, and, where relevant, offering some explanation for our positions or behaviour. I do not for a second think that I can speak for all greenies, as we are quite a diverse bunch, but I hope that this apology rings true for those who consider themselves on the greener side of the fence.
I am sorry for the times we have been rude, confrontational, or disrespectful of people who are sincerely just trying to do their jobs. Channeling your frustration and anger into constructive action can be difficult at times, especially when you are watching the things you value being destroyed, but we are working on it. We will endeavour to be more cooperative.
I am sorry we can be judgemental. We need to appreciate more that most people are trying to do the right thing and live a good life.
I am sorry that we are not all good at marketing and PR. We're working on it, but we have limited budgets, and we want to be authentic.
I am sorry about the greenwashers who try to sell you stuff based on dubious claims of "green", "natural", and "sustainable". We hate that stuff too. And some of us are trying to make the murky world of sustainability ... clearer.
I am sorry we sometimes fail to meet the expected norms of fashion. Is it ok if we wear our metaphorical hearts on our literal sleeves?
I am sorry that we sometimes ask people to make sacrifices for the sake of the future. We would not ask you to give up something that we are not willing to give up ourselves. And we will try to paint a more positive picture of the future that we envision. Seriously, it's awesome. You'll love it.
I am sorry the world is finite. It would be great if there were enough resources and environmental buffers in the world for everyone to have a big house and a big car and lots of cool stuff, assuming such things would provide satisfaction and real quality of life, but the math just doesn't add up. We're gonna have to go back to kindy and learn how to share again. Sorry.
I am sorry we sometimes seem to care more about the trees and the whales than the people— and that a minority of us actually do. The truth is that our future is dependent on those things, on the planet's ability to sustain them. We want to protect what we have, for its benefits known and unknown, whether it be food provision, water catchment, biodiversity, or things we have not even begun to imagine— like the various mushrooms, some very rare, that help fight different forms of cancer. Mushrooms are amazing.
I am sorry that we don't always seem to care about the economy. To be honest, sometimes we forget about it, in trying to protect things whose value cannot be measured in dollars or GDP points. We are endeavouring to consider it more when divising sustainable solutions to the problems of the world; at the same time we hope that social and environmental capital can also be considered when measuring the wealth, "growth" and costs of the economy. After all, "economy", by definition, is about careful use of your resources.
I am sorry about your power bills; their upward tendency is reflective of global demand exceeding supply (of oil, gas and coal). We can't do anything about that, except use less (we're trying) and find renewable sources of energy (no explanation needed). Even digging up our coal faster would not reduce the cost, because with things like energy and roads, the market tends to expand to consume the increased supply. Hopefully when the oil hits the fan you will benefit from the various renewable sources we've been investing in.
I'm sorry we seem to hate oil. In reality, many of us think oil is an amazing resource, but that it could really be put to better use than just getting burnt up, and that it's not worth sacrificing an ecosystem to get the hard-to-get stuff, and that we really don't need any more wars over it either; people are far too precious for that. Did you know a tank of petrol is the equivalent of two years of hard manual labour? And it took thousands, if not millions of years, to make the oil we use each year? And you get all that for probably less than a day's wages. Bargain.
I am sorry the news media can't provide reliable, balanced and accurate reporting on scientific material.
I am sorry about the jobs; I am sorry that some of us want to shut down the dirty industies. We understand that jobs are important, that it is painful to have your position made redundant (some of us have been through this ourselves), but history is filled with new industries being born and old ones disappearing into irrelevance. The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones, and sometimes you have to just move on to greener pastures. And if we do it right, in a planned way, that doesn't have to mean shutting down whole towns. We saw in World War II how quickly and effectively you can retool an industrial country to produce new products and materials. The dirty industries will have to go sooner or later, to be replaced with ones that are more viable and sustainable. Why postpone the invetiable, when the status quo is doing so much damage?
I'm sorry that I've spent more words explaining than apologising.
Love you guys. You're awesome.
-A greeny
(Christopher)