I'm an environmentalist, but I like my comforts. Air conditioning I just can't do without.. because of global warming and pollution (like duh!) when I'm driving around in my car. I lecture people about alternate sources of energy and the depletion of fossil fuels, but my ride runs on petrol (unleaded of course!) and gives me 13km a litre!!! :)But i do my best.. I switch off my engine when I'm in a jam, pick up friends if they're on my way...
Even at home, I AM the reason why the lights are CFLs and the refrigerator doesn't emit CFCs. But somethings are necessary: I MUST have a hot water bath, because well, I'd definitely become an icicle if I didn't!! But the other appliances are more eco-friendly (joy!!) the air conditioner has a power-saving mode, the fan must be on all the time (because i can't go to sleep without that soothing whirring noise), but at least it has a regulator, and it's not always on full speed!
Being an environmentalist is tough, it needs you to make a lot of compromises: my appliances are now on stand-by instead of being on when I'm not using them, and I turn them off when I'm going out! But don't ask me where the old appliances I throw away go when I'm through with them, because.. well, the new one works great!
The food and drinks I buy also bring me credit- all the water and juice bottles i buy are recyclable, and I throw all my litter into dustbins! No doubt the city corporation will do its bit from there, and it will no longer be my sin! :)
As far as possible, I buy organic produce and imported canned food (because their eco-standards are much higher than ours, obviously, and so the food will be too!)
When I'm eating out at my favourite KFC or McDonald's, I prefer not to take a carry-away, and so eliminate the need to take with me the plastic wrapping they so faithfully wrap my food in! Also, dining there means that their delivery boys don't have to waste precious fossil fuel in coming home to deliver my meal. It doesn't really matter to me how far their ingredients had to travel before they reached my plate- they can import my meat and fillings, its cool with me. Besides, coke is healthier than fresh fruit juice because it doesn't put undue stress on our country's farmers, don't you think?! And so what if they're depleting the ground water resources of some unheard-of village to set up the plants, and so that they can run their high-tech machines and sterilize my bottles properly?
And so what if their food is all genetically modified?? Those veges actually look like healthy ones.. they haven't got any bugs in them, and besides, G.M. is technology that uses nature to make stuff more useful for us. Nature twisted to our benefit- could I ask for more? After all, we are CO-EXISTING! :)
But sometimes it bothers me, because mutated plants override well developed ancient DNA characteristics, and eventually eliminate any kind of natural biodiversity that ever existed. At the end of the day, I am an environmentalist, so all of this troubles me. But not enough.
Ultimately, there are things that I would do, and then there are things I just can't afford to do, given my lavish lifestyle. I'm not going to start smelling ugly because my deodorant is harmful to the ozone layer. I'm not going to wash all my dirty plastics to reuse them, because it's a dreadful waste of time. I'm not going to give up my routine chai and cigarette when I'm on breaks from work- maybe I'm an addict.. but I can't help it. I'm not going to stop running my washing machine everyday. I'm not going to stop eating at Baskin Robins, McDonald's, or SubWay. And I'm definitely not going to stop eating Kellogg's or drinking coke, Pepsi, sprite and Red Bull--absolutely not!!
BUT I TELL YOU, I'M AN ENVIRONMENTALIST..
just a PATHETIC EXCUSE OF AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.
an ARMCHAIR ENVIRONMENTALIST?!!!
