As many of you know, thanks to the many sermons I am prepared to provide at the drop of a hat, I am not what I call a Green Hoaxer. What's a Green Hoaxer you ask? To me a Green Hoaxer is the type of person, or corporation, that only buys into the whole carbon foot print religion because they feel they can get something out of it. Examples would be Al Gore, who makes millions off preaching what he doesn't practice, and Coca Cola, who built a whole campaign on the non reduction in polar bear populations only to ditch it when people couldn't tell the difference between the white snazzy Coke cans and the Diet variety. Cynical.
I have no beef with the rabid activists who feel passionately that man, in his omnipotence, is screwing up a climate that has suffered many cataclysmic events and shifts over 4 billion years and still seems to be coping well. I also have no beef with the masses that through manipulation and cajoling are brow beaten into marching in line with the Thought Police. Both of these groups feel they are doing the right thing. They aren't of course but that's not a topic for this column.
So what is the point? What has got me so riled up to post something about climate change or the green movement when I swore blind I would avoid it. That and politics. I mean, have you heard me say a bad word about that dildo Mulcair in this blog yet? Oops. ;)
Focus Jooge, focus.
So the point. After dropping off my boys after a weekend of fatherly fun and son-shine, I popped into the local grocery store to buy a few provisions. After returning from Europe last weekend I have been surviving on soup and duty free chocolate - it was time to haul my ass to the store. I toured the store making sure that I picked up plenty of fruit and veggies at the start so I could cover all of the good stuff that would mysteriously jump into my cart before I reached the checkout. I was feeling quite virtuous to be honest. I lived out one of my fantasies by going through the self serve checkout (man that never gets old) and swiped my card. What happened next could best be described by saying that the machine puked paper on me. Seriously. It continued to up chuck for what seemed like forever and I made vain attempts to deftly fold the receipt as best I could. I failed miserably and in the end just tucked it in its own plastic bag.
Working past my inner excitement at having now taken five bags and only paid for four, I resolved to do something. Superstore is a green company....at least that's what they say. They would embrace change right? Grasp the metal! Bludgeon their way through the green tape and use their reduced carbon footprint to kick some bureaucratic ass? Right? Right?
No.
My suggestion to build in the option for customers to have their receipts emailed directly to themselves fell flatter than an anorexic model. I was surprised, I mean its hardly revolutionary. In fact some stores offer it already. It just seemed a great opportunity. Everybody shops for groceries and most people buy a lot of items. But no. It was a non starter.
And the reason? 'Well sir, not everybody would want to do it. We have enough problems getting people to use the self checkouts.' Despite my protestations to the manager that 'if you lead people will follow, especially if you make them feel they are helping', she was unmoved. In fact she was not just unmoved she was agitated that I was taking up her time with 'nonsense'.
So an opportunity to make a real change goes begging. For sure she would 'pass on my idea to her superiors' but her lack of eye contact couldn't hide her future inaction.
Green issues.....environmental initiatives that make a difference are not born in a board room or at a parliamentary committee. Rather they develop at the grass roots level (no green pun intended) where people see the difference that real change can make. Change that makes sense to the environment and does not line the pockets of carbon traders who couldn't give two hoots for a greener world.
If we are to act as good stewards of this Earth, we all need to recognise opportunities that can incrementally cut consumption and make a big difference. We all need to take the lead and not be lead......and when a good suggestion is handed to us with bows on, we need to make sure that the present gets delivered. So buck up Dolores, buck up.
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