Being Green – What Makes Me Choose To Do The Things I Do?

I would like to talk to you today. I’m not going to keep it down to four paragraphs to keep your attention. I’m not going to fill it with pretty photo’s. I’m not going to fill it with keyword rich text. (You can already tell cant you?)

This article isn’t meant for the faceless world at large, it’s for you, my faithful readers, who join me when I post a new article. I’m not going to push it, twitter it, stumble it, digg it, reddit it or any other number of things. If it takes off, I have only you to thank.

So now, lets talk.

How often do you get asked “Why?” I don’t get asked that a lot, but I’ve been asked a few times in the last few days. You see, my wife and I just purchased a home, and we are doing the remodel work ourselves.

My wife is a trooper, a true worker and my best friend and partner. The other day, we were both on our hands and knees, laying polyurethane on hardwood floors with every window in the house open, in 34 degree weather. Watching her work beside me, both of us in our winter coats, hats and gloves in the middle of an empty living room, made my heart swell with pride and love. She is my hiking and kayaking partner too, but there is no “guy task” that she does not want to or is unwilling to do. Sooo..

I’ve been asked “Why?” “Why are you gutting 5 rooms and redoing them yourselves? Why don’t you hire someone to do it?” Why indeed, why am I doing it? I could hire someone to do it, and they might even do it better than I can. So “Why do I do the things I do?”

Here we go.

When you think the words “I am”, what follows in your mind? The answer to that has changed over time, hasn’t it? I truly believe that it is the answer to that question that dictates why we do the things we do. Please allow me to explain.

For those of you who have been following me for a while, you may rightly believe that “I am” passionate about the environment. But the real truth behind a thing isn’t the “I am”, but “why am I?” “Why am I passionate about the Environment, and how does that permeate every other thing that I choose to do or not do?” What does the Environment have to do with me doing my own remodeling, and what does that have to do with “Reuse?”

Those of us that are “Green” struggle with it every day. We try to be deep green to help make up for all the people that are “Purple.” (The opposite of Green. Those people who consume and pollute to an excessive degree) We struggle against the very real and human instinct for comfort, taste and sensuality. We try not to eat to much beef, we recycle our toilet paper tubes, we re-set the margins on our printer paper (that ones for you Robin) and we make do with less, reuse what we can and recycle the rest. It’s difficult. It really is, but it helps define us.

Some would say that it gives us a “Martyr Syndrome”. Some would say that we look down our noses at over consumers, at those who shop because of addiction, low self confidence, ego building or boredom. Some would say that we push a “Green Agenda” because we are all poor and cant afford to consume like the rest, so we hide it behind this new “movement.” Some people say these things because they cant see it the way we see it, and that’s o.k. They ask these things because they don’t understand why. They assume that I am all the things above, but I, like many of you, am successful, make good money and have a healthy 401k, investments and savings account.

This is why. Every thing that we do, except for a few things beyond our control, like our breathing, our hearts beating and sleeping, is a choice that we make. Everything else, from the things we put in our bodies to the things we purchase, to the things that we say, are a choice. These choices that we make are predicated on priority’s. If I say “this”, “this will happen.” If I eat “this”, then “this will happen.” If I “drive this or purchase this or throw away this” then “this, this and this will happen.” If you are willing to live with the “this will happen”, chances are you will do “this.”

But where do we learn these priorities that drive our choices? Nature and Nurture. Nature dictates that we seek warmth, comfort, love and safety. Nurture dictates that we seek power, respect, peer approval, popularity and thousands of other things. Society dictates that all things, in both categories, can be bought. Why does a Coal Executive fight for Mountaintop Mining when he knows it is wrong? Because he wants to stay an Executive. He wants to keep getting paid. He wants the power and respect associated with his position. Why does an S.U.V. driver living in a McMansion insist that Global Warming is not real? Because they are vested in their lifestyle. The balance of their priority’s have not tipped the scales in favor of them making change in their lives. Because to believe otherwise would make them a hypocrite.

We don’t see things the way they are, we see things the way WE are. Priorities change the person we are and the person we are changes the choices that we make. That is why arguing with someone who is vested in a way of life makes no sense. Finding ways to change their priorities is the only way to make change.

So who, or what, changed my priorities? Why would I rather reuse my own labor, than pay someone else for theirs, to remodel my home? Why would I pull 4 good rooms of carpet out and donate it to Habitat for Humanity? Is it because I’m almost so green that I would rather someone who needs it more than me, have it? Have I taken the “Reuse” philosophy that far? The fact that there is hardwood underneath doesn’t hurt, but yes, I do get a thrill knowing that it will go to someone who needs it.

It took an extreme case for me to change my priorities. It took starting over at the age of 30, on the verge of homelessness, two dufflebags full of clothes and $10.50 in my pocket. That’s what it took to change my priorities. (I gave the $10.00 to a homeless woman with 2 children) At 30, I started over, with .50 cents in my pocket.

It was the best thing that ever could have happened to me. After losing it all, It left me free to figure out what life was really about, and I learned very quickly that it is not about consumption. It’s not about destruction. It’s not about killing yourself or other people. It’s about protecting. It’s about protecting both the present and future lives of the people who share this house we call a planet.

Its not about saving the planet, it’s about saving ourselves. It’s not about me hating anyone, or looking down my nose at them, its about me trying to convince them that there is more to the world than the world they know. That there is a world outside the front door of the house, and between the car door and the office door that is there for the exploring.

It’s about showing people that their world is like a puzzle on a table. They spend their days pushing down the corners of the pieces of their lives, so they don’t bounce out of their life puzzle. Bigger and or better houses, cars, clothes, meals, entertainment, trips, toys, careers… Longer work hours, commutes, time spent in front of t.v.’s, texting, phone calls, computers… More time spent paying builders, lawyers, child care workers, massage therapists, pedicurists, lawn care professionals….  That’s a lot of puzzle pieces. How can you have and do all that and give more than just lip service to the environment?  That’s a lot of puzzle pieces my friends.

But what if your puzzle got swept off the table? What if it fell, if it shattered, if all the pieces were suddenly gone, and the only piece that you could find, was You? That little piece right in the center. That little piece that all the other pieces had been holding together?  Suddenly you are not defined by what you have around you, you are defined by yourself alone. Would you be able to pick yourself up off the floor and turn your back on everything? Would you be able to start over?

If you did start over, what would you do differently? Would you create another puzzle, or would you create more of a picture? Would your life be based on “things and consumption” or would you base it on “relationships and beautiful, natural things that are too big to be swept off the table.”

That’s why. That’s why I use my own labor. It’s one less puzzle piece. That’s why I love the environment. It cant be swept off the table.

Or can it?

If you think this is worth sharing, please do so.

Adam

Related posts:

1. China Makes it Snow to Ease Drought, Closes Highways
2. Those Things We Choose to Reuse, are Those Things That Define Us.
3. Connect2earth: Green Online Community