How Environmentalism-Based Perfectionism Is Wasteful
I’m not here to tell you to stop caring about the environment. I was bringing my own bags to the supermarket and drug store back when that was practically unheard of in the U.S. Tell me you buy bottled water and I’ll extol the many virtues of reusable water bottles and filtered water pitchers. And when you refuse to change your ways, it will nag at me for years. Nay, decades. In fact…
#1 - You Waste Relationships
My perfectionism tells me that if only I’d stated my case better, you would’ve given up bottled water. It also tells me that I need to find the perfect conversational opening to try again. Meanwhile, someone else has probably already convinced you.
As a marketing person, I know that people need to see/hear about something approximately seven times before they decide to buy. Yet I can’t just accept that our conversation wasn’t the seventh one you’d had on the subject, and move on with my life.
At least I know that all seven of those conversations shouldn’t involve me. But thinking of this friend or that relative shouldn’t automatically remind me of their bottled water habit. I’d much rather think about how much I love them, which would boost my mood instead of filling me with regret.
#2 - You Waste Spoons
I’m referring here to Spoon Theory, where spoons are a metaphor for energy. We all have a limited number of spoons each day, and different activities use up different amounts of spoons. For example, getting dressed may take 1 spoon. But if you have a frozen shoulder, that’s a 2-spoon undertaking.
Taking out the trash takes the same amount of spoons whether our not you separate the recyclables. But worrying about how your recyclables will be treated once you put them out for pickup requires so many additional spoons that I can’t even quantify it.
I used to live in an apartment in a pre-gentrified section of Brooklyn. (Translation: the neighborhood was neglected by city services, so it was run-down.) At some point, my landlord got ticketed because the trash cans were such a mess. So he started coming around and putting all the refuse in giant black bags. Including the recycling. Which was then sent to a landfill.
So I started keeping my clear blue bag of glass and plastic in my apartment until late at night before trash day. It was constantly in the way, but at least I was doing my part for the environment. Or something.
#3 - You Waste Your Own Well Being
I’ve worn contact lenses for over 35 years. When you put in contacts and take them out again, you have to be careful not to get any lint in your eye. Because that would be bad. They tell you to wash and dry your hands on a lint-free cloth (like a paper towel) to aid you in this endeavor. But paper towels are disposable, so for decades I insisted on drying my hands on a regular towel.
And then I’d get lint in my eye, have to remove the contact, rinse it, and start all over again. Some days it took 3 or 4 attempts to get my contacts in. Once I gave in and started using paper towels, I was able to put my contact lenses in on the first try. All that stress, aggravation, and danger to my eyeball health just to keep one paper towel a day out of the trash.
You are more important than saving a tiny amount of landfill space.
Doing Something is Better Than Doing Nothing or Trying to Do Everything
We only have one planet, but we also have only one life and only one body to live it in. We shouldn’t neglect any of those things. Besides, focusing on personal responsibility uses up energy that we could be putting towards working for systemic change that would have a much bigger impact on the environment.