Convincing older relatives to be more 'green' (solar power, recycling, organics)
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I've recently had the 'pleasure' of having my parents move into my house. It's kind of ironic that when I was a kid they'd always tell me to turn the lights out when I left a room, but now that it's my house I've found they are the culprits. I may not be the greenest person in the world, but I try to reduce what I do use. I said something to them about not leaving the lights on, or leaving the blinds open during the day to help with the heat (it's Colorado, even when it snows we seem to have sunny days), or being sure to turn the TV off, etc... But unfortunately, my dad's reaction was: "don't worry about it, you're bills are cheap out here". I tried to tell him it wasn't about saving money on my electricity bill (it is, but it's not like it's not like the $10/year it'll cost to run that extra light all day will hurt me financially). In the end with the CFLs in the house and stuff, there won't be much financial impact to me at all, but it's more of the principle of the matter. If I don't make an effort, and my neighbor decides not to make an effort, and their neighbor....etc then that extra energy adds up quickly. Granted, my little house has less than nominal effect in the grand scheme, so I understand my dad's arguement... to a point.
Has anyone had to try to convince people WHY they should be more aware? Even when their reaction is "By the time it matters, I won't be around". Apparently "your grandchildren will be around though" isn't a good enough arguement.
I may have to try the "My house, my rules" arguement?
Buy a box of Cheerios. Next time you catch one of them leaving the lights on, take the box out. In front of them, pour the contents of the box into the trash. When they ask what you're doing, tell them "I can easily afford food, and there's plenty of it, so why not?".
If the neighbors are living under zionvier's roof...then, yes. There shouldn't be anything wrong with telling someone to turn off the lights if you are allowing them to live there.
Sorry to be so harsh. Your post caught me in one of my cranky moments. The point is that if you force them to do something, they're going to resent it. If you nag them, they'll resent that too. If you convince them it was their idea to begin with, they'll do it forever.
A good start would be to open the shades and mention to your mother that she looks wonderful in the natural light.
Your parents may be forgetful, or not see so well. How about not sweating the small stuff and try to enjoy just having your parents with you? You can always do the green stuff later. I would give anything for just one more day with my father.
If your parents were truly "green," they never would have given birth to you so that you could have a zero carbon footprint, not waste resources, or add to the overpopulation. I vote for cutting them a break.
If your parents were truly "green," they never would have given birth to you so that you could have a zero carbon footprint, not waste resources, or add to the overpopulation. I vote for cutting them a break.
haha, thanks :-D I'm not giving them a hard time about it or anything. Just wondering how others have dealt with family in their house that have asked the "why bother" question. Similar to the other thread started here, but in relationship to answering family that is living with you.
I don't have kids yet, but I figure you can just tell them what my parents told me... "Because I said so". But respecting my parents is still important no matter how old they get, so I don't think I'd ever try that It would be nice if they could at least understand why I go out of the way to do some things, even if they choose not to.
On the plus side, my dad is excited to help me finishing my conversion of my old VW into an electric vehicle.
Even though I'm a hard-core conservative (politically) I'm also a hard-core environmentalist. (not inconsistent views as far as I'm concerned)
I've been struggling with bringing in more environmentally sound living practices into my family for many years and I found that the best way is to remove all politics from the topic. I made the discussion about saving money, being fugal touched home with many of my relatives. I made the argument that paying the power companies to provide something that could be had cheaper and with a greater deal of energy independence was a good thing. We've been living more and more "off the grid" in an effort to be more self-reliant less dependent on organizations whos' interest is only making shareholders happy, customer satisfaction and the environment being last....regardless of all the lip service to the contrary. I often brought up how my family survived the depression by reusing everything possible. We've made an art form of reusing and rebuilding just about everything. We rarely buy things new anymore, but before we do....we first shop the flea market, garage sales looking for older items, broken down but of much higher inherent quality precisely because they CAN be fixed...unlike many products now-a-days....that are designed to be thrown away....simply not repairable...
We have tools that are thirty years old, just keep rebuilding them. We rebuild cars, bicycles, we buy used books instead of new ones....we buy used toys, clean them up and they function just fine...kids love em'....Lamps furniture clocks fans I can't tell you how many beds, desks, chairs, tables and book shelves we've saved. I've pulled FANTASTIC SOLID OAK, SOLID WALNUT furniture out of DUMPSTERS...that's right...it's is really hard to fathom...but people were THROWING IT AWAY...off to the land fill to be destroyed...and we pull it out, take it apart, refinish it...and reuse it......The kids use school desks at home that are EIGHTY YEARS OLD and built like TANKS! Why throw it out? Just because it's not "modern" WTF......(sorry)....That's just stupid....rebuild...refinish and REUSE!!!
When we worked on our house we took windows from a tear down several blocks away (they were going to be trashed) and made greenhouses out of them using scrap lumber...
Once this general idea caught on it became a passion. There are all sorts of great books out there regarding how to live more self sufficiently, from the Fox Fire series of days gone by to more up to date texts on solar power and the like.
My property is almost exclusively powered by wind/solar and wood. All the wood I have for the stove (a reclaimed stove that I fixed) I get from people who are cutting down dead or unwanted trees and just want the wood gone.....
We've fixed stoves and washers, mechanical pencils and pens of all sorts....why constantly buy new and add the old ones to the landfill? We use cloth bags for grocery shopping....
When it came to recycling I used this angle with my folks....Pay less for the smaller trashcan....by getting the cheaper recycling can....and putting every thing that is recyclable in the recycling and not filling up the trash.....They went for it!
When it came to healthy eating my sister was key, when she started a family....
My folks wanted the cleanest healthiest food for them.....so out went the artificial colors...flavors....preservatives...and all that junk...and in came the organics....all natural and home grown foods....and WOW they taste better!
It's a hard process...and the politicization of ecological living has done everyone a huge disservice...It's not political at all...but just good ol' plain livin'.....
Best of luck..
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It would be nice if they could at least understand why I go out of the way to do some things, even if they choose not to.
