It’s New Year’s resolution time again and along with the usual “Must finish my novel” and “Must loose weight”, both trusted old friends which I have grappled with unsuccessfully for years, I’ve added a new one this year: “Must try to be more tolerant of my mother-in-law and her green principles”, writes blogger Charlie Cashdan.
My mother-in-law is an eco-warrior, a mean, green, energy-saving machine.
The sort of person who only flushes their toilet once a week to conserve water adhering to the principle: “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”, buys fair-trade bananas, recycles everything, grows own produce in own allotment, only ever eats organic stuff and uses low energy light bulbs.
It’s not that I disagree with these principles but sometimes I feel like Green issues have become a badge of honour.
Some of us are far too busy working our socks off to pay huge mortgage payments due to inflated house prices, enduring long commutes to work, stuck in traffic or being jostled around on public transport.
I would love to buy my fruit and vegetables from the local shop but I leave the house at 7.30am and return at 7.30pm so no chance of visiting the local greengrocer for something nice for tea because it’s shut when I need it.
I’m lucky if I get time to weed the garden let alone grow vegetables in it.
Yes I buy carrots cut, washed and nicely packaged in a plastic bag from the supermarket because it’s open when I need it and the time I save not having to peel them and being able to put them in the microwave gives me a little more time with my husband.
And besides, I work hard, pay my taxes and rather think I’ve earned the right to buy whatever vegetables I want from wherever I want, and to flush my own toilet whenever I like thank you very much!
Oh dear, looks like I’ve broken the resolution already.
It’s just that there seems to be something a little false about it all, like David Cameron on his bicycle.
Like the ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ from my parents’ very middle-class village near Wolverhampton comparing where they buy their fair-trade apples and where to buy the best organic chocolate.
In our house we have to try and keep our food shopping to a budget and as all this organic stuff is more expensive I’ll often choose something standard instead and yes I do carry it home in a plastic bag because I’m always forgetting to take my Bag For Life and because I pay my taxes, it’s my right!!
Don’t get me wrong, I do have an energy saving light bulb in the bedroom, I recycle my newspapers and magazines, we had an organic Christmas turkey and I travel to work by train but not to show off about it or chastise those who don’t.
Sincerely though, I do love my mother-in-law.
She has a heart of gold and if anyone turned up on her doorstep hungry and cold she would never turn them away.
She would welcome them with open arms, an organic vegetable casserole and a mug of fair-trade hot chocolate.
* Incidentally, here are the winners of the ‘Who bought the worst Christmas gifts 2007’ competition.
In second place, my mother-in-law for buying her grandchildren (my step kids) gift aid certificates again. Every year they look at them and say “But I don’t understand? What is it again?”
And in first place, my mother for buying my father two vests (wrong size) and a non-slip bath mat. Why is it that after thirty years of marriage she still gets his sizes wrong every Christmas?
Agree with Charlie? Post your comments below.
One Comment
Dear Charlie
Yes, I prefer to flush my loo every time it’s used! We are fortunate in this country that we have clean, fresh water on tap and all the effluent that’s flushed down the drain is recycled back to us by those nice, profit making, privatised water companies and charge us heavily for it. Considering all the rain we had in 2007, there shouldn’t be a water shortage, but water companies are more focused on profits for shareholders than managing water supplies for consumers. (Don’t get me going on that one!)
And what about all those hideous flashing lights, illuminated santas, snowmen and so on which adorn the outsides of people’s houses from the end of November to the middle of January? Why do people do it? The environmental cost must be enormous!!
Re the Fairtrade thing. I have mixed feelings about this. Practically all Fairtrade goods come from abroad - bananas from the Caribbean, flowers from Africa, coffee from South America, and so on. To be truly “green” would be to cut out all these, and other, “food miles”; and consume only those foodstuffs and buy flowers grown in this country. This, in turn, contradicts our support for third world countries trying to build their own economies so as not to be reliant on people buying goats as Christmas presents.
And as for organic veg ………….. Yes, I would like to grow my own on an allotment, and when I am retired and have the time, fully intend to do so (but would probably have to drive there) In the meantime, I too use the supermarkets (which do sell organic veg - at a price).
As for your Dad’s presents - after 30 years of marriage, you do tend to run out of ideas, and packaging isn’t always clearly labelled, so it’s easily done to buy the wrong size!! Now, packaging …………… there’s another environmental nightmare!!
Happy New Year - hope it’s a green one!!!!!!!!