Green Mama Guilt Coronado says we can reduce the ill effects of green guilt by not holding ourselves up to an impossible standard. “There is no way in modern day society that you can be 100 percent green,” she says. She remembers vividly her recent struggle to wean herself off paper towels. It took four months to accomplish the goal and grow accustomed to using cloth rags. “I know that sounds so simple, but for me, it was a big deal,” Coronado recalls. “We went out and got a bunch of wash rags and we fold them in half and leave them stacked in the kitchen. I used paper towels for everything. I started this practice a little bit everyday, initially it was torture, I didn’t like it, I didn’t feel that it was sanitary. That was my first battle, that it was sanitary. It was easier to throw them away than deal with it in a responsible way. Well it is easier to throw it away, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work involved somewhere.” Could the reason we have such difficulty adjusting to a simpler way of life be biological? Coronado theorizes that we may have tendencies from our ancestors that helped us survive harsh climates. “I think instinctually people are hoarders,” she says. “The reason we put on more weight is an instinctual thing. Scientists say we are trying to fatten ourselves up for the winter, trying to gather up things to help us survive. Humanity is prone to hoard, because we are saving up for that rainy day, because we think we will need it.” “Cultural imprinting” may be needed to break the cycle of hoarding and affluenza: endless dissatisfaction falsely remedied with increased spending creating greater debt and anxiety. 90
“We can break that habit.” Coronado explains. “If you look at [life during] World War I and World War II, our grandparents learned to live with less. They reused. Everything from a coffee can to a nail was saved. If we can get more and more people on our cultural bandwagon, then that’s awesome ...that’s a brilliant idea.”
So We’re Not Really Deprived, But We Might be Unskilled Derek Markham pens NaturalPapa.com and spends much of his day online writing for a number of blogs and tweeting to his over 14,000 Twitter followers about sustainable living and natural family life from his town of Silver City, New Mexico. He lived for 6 years with his family of four in a 120 square foot trailer on a friend’s property with nothing more than a long extension cord providing power. He still admits to feeling cynical and guilty about the kind of impact his choices have made toward helping the environment. His worst moments came when he would opine on a topic close to his heart believing he could make a difference. Hoping for a large response, the effort sometimes wouldn’t amount to much. “Maybe 200 people will read it,” he says, “You’re competing against funny cat pictures.” Markham tries to offset his eco-sins, like the “huge Suburban from the 80’s” he rarely drives, by structuring his life simply and has learned to look at his sparer way in a positive light, instead of how some critics may view it: deficient. “It’s not what’s the problem I’m helping to alleviate, but instead what’s the solution that I’m being a part of,” he says of his rationale.